As an agency, CAPS supports Purdue University’s mission to promote human and intellectual diversity by providing equal access and opportunity through fostering an inclusive environment for all members of the University community. Thus, our staff members are committed to offering culturally responsive psychological services to all Purdue University students, especially to those from traditionally marginalized populations.  Similarly, we aim to foster a respectful training environment that promotes an atmosphere of safety for our trainees and uplifts the values of diversity, inclusion, and equity. The training program has adopted APA’s document titled, Preparing Professional Psychologists to Serve a Diverse Public (APA, 2013) (https://www.apa.org/ed/graduate/diversity-preparation.aspx).

We expect that trainees and staff members view all of their professional work at CAPS from a multicultural and social justice perspective. We take a developmental and supportive approach to acquiring this competency and recognize multicultural competence to be a lifelong journey in which we are all actively engaged and never finished. Therefore, trainees and staff members are requested to regularly examine their attitudes, assumptions, behaviors and values to work for the benefit of a diverse public and to engage in both self-reflection and discussion attempting to resolve inherent biases and prejudices which may hinder culturally responsive treatment. This emphasis on respect for diversity and competence to bridge cultural divides is consistent with the core values of the training program and has implications for the roles and mutual obligations of trainers and trainees. These roles are further articulated in the Counseling Psychology Model Training Values Statement Addressing Diversity (CCPTP, 2006).