There may be a belief that the container of therapy should be above, immune to, and free from the power dynamics and white supremacist forces that exist throughout the world. But in truth, therapy is part of this world, can reproduce harm, and can enact oppression through some of the same mechanisms that replicate oppression everywhere, including through assumption, fear, judgment, cognitive and implicit biases, blind spots, social training, internalization, dehumanization, marginalization, and microaggressions. These mechanisms can occur in multiple directions all at once. However, because of the power dynamic embedded in the professional role of the therapist, and because of the therapist's duty to care for the client, we may need to be particularly mindful about and accountable as a society to disrupting reenactments of oppression by therapists. In the face of this challenge, therapists, clients, consulting partners, supervisors, supervisees, and professors can all play a role in raising awareness and in co-accountability. We can all support the wider landscape of psychotherapy and counseling practices to stay open and curious and committed to this ongoing reality: that client care, healing, and wellness is bound up in our collective, consistent effort across lifetimes and in all spaces to heal and end racism and the patriarchy. How have you experienced oppression in therapy or in any healing profession?
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#TherapyCan
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#TherapyCan
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