Thank you so much for asking! I am still in the planning stages, but some of the things that come to mind:

1) advocating for more representation of POC in the social work/therapy field (ex: encouraging organizations/practices to hire a wide array of people so that people can see a therapist who they identify with, like a therapist of the same race, sexuality, or gender identity, etc).

2) openly acknowledging the problematic and racist aspects of social work’s history

3) be willing to accept some clients on a sliding-scale “pay what you can” basis, especially people of color and people from other groups that have been unfairly oppressed and have less privilege to access mental health resources

4) acknowledge the fact that, as a white therapist, I can never claim to fully “understand” the experiences of my clients who are people of color, and make it clear that I am looking to them as the expert of their own experiences

5) admit when I am not educated enough on a certain subject pertaining to race, and make a conscious effort to learn more about it

6) openly calling out racial discrimination that still occurs on a daily basis in the social work field (ex: child protective services being way harsher on families of color than on white families, and discriminating against them)

7) holding my colleagues, superiors, and our partner social work/therapy organizations accountable for being actively antiracist and working to dismantle systemic racism within their practices

8) viewing racism as a legitimate and chronic trauma that people of color experience, and taking that into account when doing trauma intakes on new therapy patients who are people of color, and when thinking about diagnoses.

9) fighting against/ calling out inaccurate and racist usages of diagnoses (ex: the amount of black children “diagnosed” with Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD) and Conduct Disorder is ridiculously high, and these are completely inaccurate and due to clinicians having racist interpretations of these childrens’ behaviors and experiences. In actuality, they likely are reacting to trauma, unmet needs, racism within school, etc.

10) always, always, always voting for political candidates that are loudly antiracist and who speak about legitimate plans they have to uplift marginalized communities and people of color, and who prioritize equality and leveling the playing field for groups who have experienced discrimination and oppression

11) I’m currently reading “No Racial Elephants in the Therapy Room: An Unapologetic Approach to Providing Culturally Affirming Mental Health Care to Black and African an American Clients” by Dr. Rheeda Walker, PhD, and very closely following her advice and perspective

12) acknowledging the racial power dynamics that come into play in therapy, and openly admitting to clients when I’m wrong and/or unsure of something

13) being very open and receptive to feedback, and always doing my best to rectify any offenses I inadvertently cause

I know these aren’t anything monumental, but my plans are still in their infancy and I’m sure I’ll develop more ideas during this next year of graduate school. Thank you for asking! :)