The program recognizes the importance of cultural and individual differences and diversity in the training of psychologists. Individual differences and diversity is defined as including, but not limited to, age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, language, national origin, race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status.

1. Department environment and culture

   The program ensures a welcoming, supportive, and encouraging learning environment for all individuals, including interns and staff from diverse and underrepresented communities. The program takes steps to maintain an atmosphere that promotes the success of all staff and interns. Program climate is reflected in the development of staff, training supervisors, and interns, as well as in district-wide service provision. These efforts are bolstered by didactic and experiential training that fosters an understanding of cultural and individual differences as it relates to professional psychology.
    

2. Culturally competent supervision and training

   We support and challenge each other’s understanding of our own biases and experiences through dialogue, discussion, readings and speakers. 
   
   The department acts to ensure a supportive and encouraging learning environment appropriate for the training of individuals are diverse and the provision of training opportunities for a broad spectrum of individuals. Further, the program avoids any actions that would restrict program access on grounds that are irrelevant to success in graduate training, either directly or by imposing significant and disproportionate burdens on the basis of the personal and demographic characteristics set forth in the definition of cultural diversity.  In addition, we recognize the importance of individual and cultural diversity as a foundational component imbedded throughout the supervisory process. This is accomplished through a collaborative working relationship between the supervisor and supervisee as well as in each of our competencies of professional practice.

3. Cultural competent service provision

   Our highly skilled and interdisciplinary staff develop evidence-based interventions tailored to each individual’s unique background and needs by working with students and community partners. When conducting evaluations, we strive to ensure our evaluations use evidence-based assessment tools striving to ensure cultural sensitivity and fairness. Psychological service providers consider the validity of a given instrument or procedure and interpret resulting data, keeping in mind the cultural and linguistic characteristics of the person being assessed. Psychological service providers are aware of the test's reference population and possible limitations of such instruments with other populations. We believe that effective consultation is dependent upon our understanding of the diverse populations we serve and our ability to work with individuals from varied cultures. 
    

4. Recruitment and retention of minority interns and staff with efforts on ongoing qualitative assessment (i.e., exit interviews)

   The program has made systematic, coherent, and long‐term efforts to attract and retain interns and faculty/staff from diverse backgrounds into the program. The program has made and continues to make systematic, coherent, and long‐term efforts to attract interns and staff from different ethnic, racial, gender, and personal backgrounds into the department. It reviews its success with these efforts and makes changes as appropriate. The program must demonstrate systematic and long‐term efforts to recruit and retain faculty/staff who are from diverse backgrounds. 
    

5. Community Outreach

   The department strives to enhance our community’s appreciation of diverse perspectives and to increase awareness of the value of cultural differences. Our department is dedicated to actively expanding our understanding of the role of diverse experiences and backgrounds in the lives of individuals and in our community. With over 100 languages and dialects spoken in the district and the majority of students from culturally diverse backgrounds, the department strives to integrate cultural understandings of macroscopic and microscopic approaches. We accomplish these goals through community outreach programs, including but not limited to periodic district and school-based parenting classes, parenting workshops (offered in multiple languages and at a reduced fee), participation in the district health expo, and the provision of diverse resources for parents. We also collaborate with district stakeholders, families and the community at large to gauge needs and solicit feedback.