The mental health fields have long been leaders in understanding and raising awareness of the importance of understanding power and privilege. Multiple critiques in the past decade, however, have suggested that an overly simplistic understanding of these constructs can impede personal and professional development in multicultural awareness and, as such, be detrimental to those with whom we work. Thus, in this presentation, nuanced understandings and analyses of power and privilege will be discussed on the basis of advancements in the anti-oppression and antiracism literature.
Melanie Wilcox, PhD, ABPP
Dr. Melanie Wilcox is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences, Institute of Public and Preventive Health, and Department of Psychiatry at Augusta University. She is also a licensed psychologist and board certified in counseling psychology and works part-time in private practice providing both therapy and assessment via telehealth. Her clinical areas of expertise include culturally responsive and trauma-informed care as well as substance abuse and addiction. Her research focuses on culturally response and antiracist psychotherapy and training, racial and socioeconomic inequity in higher education, and racial and social justice more broadly. She is in her final year as a member of the American Psychological Association’s Board of Educational Affairs, which she chaired in 2020, and is currently President Elect-Elect of APA Division 17, the Society of Counseling Psychology.
