Event Description:  Microaggressions have been defined as brief everyday exchanges, often unintentional and automatic, that send negative messages to individuals because of their group membership (e.g., due to race, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability). The term microaggression can be useful in understanding barriers to a well-intentioned clinician’s ability to engage therapeutically with clients across a spectrum of differences. Throughout the various codes of ethics, there is a universal mandate to provide culturally sensitive care to clients. Yet, when microaggressions are unknowingly committed by the helping professional, communication suffers, and credibility is lost with the client, which impedes the therapeutic process and may lead to early termination of services. Clinicians are therefore ethically compelled to enhance their understanding of microaggressions and work to minimize their occurrence when interacting with clients. Clinicians engage with a cross-section of society and therefore have a particular need to understand what microaggressions are, how they impact clients, and how they themselves have experienced or perpetrated microaggressions. NOTE: This program may be counted towards ethics requirements for license renewal.

This presenter is being supported through a partnership between UNC-CH, School of Social Work and the NCAHEC Program.