This is incredible work and right up what I have been thinking about ....how to completely shift the accrediting structure and create alternative bodies. Can we chat? I am also creating a therapist directory for non ideological neutrality based therapy. Think psychology today but without the capture! Simplytherapists.org will be launched soon!
Well thanks. I have been digging into the history, standards and other details for the last year. I’m a little salty that I won’t get a PhD for it, but I’ll settle for seeing some real change. And for the record, I only sent out my letter on Monday and I have already heard back from my lawmakers with proposed legislation that could address this situation. So I hope most of all that you make use of it.
But yes we can chat. Give me a minute (a big minute) to organize myself. I have a lot of plates spinning atm.
In the meantime you might be interested in the other groups that have organized to provide ideology free therapy. I wrote about them here:
Geez I had to stop reading. This is a fascinating take. My biggest input is that counselors SHOULD promote the welfare of their clients WITH their cultural identity in mind. Not necessarily what the heterosexual cis-gender white woman thinks is best for them. In order to do this, it’s important to identify our own perspectives on the world and how clients undeniably have had a different experience. To sit in a session with someone from a BIPOC community who shares with me that they are being harassed at work due to their race/religion/sexual-orientation/gender-identity/ethnicity/etc., responding in a way that diminishes that experience because “I don’t see color” / “I think you’re being dramatic “ / “we all have equal opportunity in this country” is incredibly damaging and alienating for an individual who is coming to the counselor for help, support, and ADVOCACY. My experience is not that I am made to feel guilty for being white or having the privileges that I do, but to acknowledge they exist so I can be open to someone else’s experience of the world and truly be helpful to them. I’m sorry that you felt belittled in your classes, and I also hope you recognize that in order to truly create a field that is understanding and helpful to ALL clients (the literal role of a counselor), it is essential to understand the history, racism, oppression, and system that this country is shot through with. And if that means “breaking the law”, regardless of my own values or ideologies, becoming a counselor means setting those aside in order to serve my clients. If I’m not in the profession to uphold the integrity and dignity of those I serve in the face of current laws, then I would be doing the field of counseling and those seeking help a disservice. People don’t seek therapy so they can have another human in their life give them unsolicited, inappropriate advice or telling them to “man up” or “racism isn’t real”. They show up for help and sometimes it might be the first time they have a White person sitting in front of them admitting they haven’t been through that and affirming their experience, rather than being dismissed like they historically have been. I’m grateful to be in this field, to know my privilege AND my worth, and that CACREP is working against a system that upholds an unapologetic hierarchy that prevents individuals from having access to knowing their own worth.
Well howdy there mo. There is just so much going on in your comment, I hate that it had to come up this way because text is such a poor forum for a nuanced conversation, and I expect that most of the things I’d like to point out would come across as an attack, even though that wouldn’t by my intention.
So I think what I’d like to leave you with is a question or two.
1)Does personal autonomy have value - like in should that be applied to everyone, even therapists, people who don’t believe in systemic racism, or minority clients who _don’t_ want to be treated based on race?
2)If someone is putting aside their own values, at what point have they lost their personal integrity?
This is incredible work and right up what I have been thinking about ....how to completely shift the accrediting structure and create alternative bodies. Can we chat? I am also creating a therapist directory for non ideological neutrality based therapy. Think psychology today but without the capture! Simplytherapists.org will be launched soon!
Well thanks. I have been digging into the history, standards and other details for the last year. I’m a little salty that I won’t get a PhD for it, but I’ll settle for seeing some real change. And for the record, I only sent out my letter on Monday and I have already heard back from my lawmakers with proposed legislation that could address this situation. So I hope most of all that you make use of it.
But yes we can chat. Give me a minute (a big minute) to organize myself. I have a lot of plates spinning atm.
In the meantime you might be interested in the other groups that have organized to provide ideology free therapy. I wrote about them here:
https://www.diogenesinexile.com/p/how-to-find-mental-health-care-in
Geez I had to stop reading. This is a fascinating take. My biggest input is that counselors SHOULD promote the welfare of their clients WITH their cultural identity in mind. Not necessarily what the heterosexual cis-gender white woman thinks is best for them. In order to do this, it’s important to identify our own perspectives on the world and how clients undeniably have had a different experience. To sit in a session with someone from a BIPOC community who shares with me that they are being harassed at work due to their race/religion/sexual-orientation/gender-identity/ethnicity/etc., responding in a way that diminishes that experience because “I don’t see color” / “I think you’re being dramatic “ / “we all have equal opportunity in this country” is incredibly damaging and alienating for an individual who is coming to the counselor for help, support, and ADVOCACY. My experience is not that I am made to feel guilty for being white or having the privileges that I do, but to acknowledge they exist so I can be open to someone else’s experience of the world and truly be helpful to them. I’m sorry that you felt belittled in your classes, and I also hope you recognize that in order to truly create a field that is understanding and helpful to ALL clients (the literal role of a counselor), it is essential to understand the history, racism, oppression, and system that this country is shot through with. And if that means “breaking the law”, regardless of my own values or ideologies, becoming a counselor means setting those aside in order to serve my clients. If I’m not in the profession to uphold the integrity and dignity of those I serve in the face of current laws, then I would be doing the field of counseling and those seeking help a disservice. People don’t seek therapy so they can have another human in their life give them unsolicited, inappropriate advice or telling them to “man up” or “racism isn’t real”. They show up for help and sometimes it might be the first time they have a White person sitting in front of them admitting they haven’t been through that and affirming their experience, rather than being dismissed like they historically have been. I’m grateful to be in this field, to know my privilege AND my worth, and that CACREP is working against a system that upholds an unapologetic hierarchy that prevents individuals from having access to knowing their own worth.
Well howdy there mo. There is just so much going on in your comment, I hate that it had to come up this way because text is such a poor forum for a nuanced conversation, and I expect that most of the things I’d like to point out would come across as an attack, even though that wouldn’t by my intention.
So I think what I’d like to leave you with is a question or two.
1)Does personal autonomy have value - like in should that be applied to everyone, even therapists, people who don’t believe in systemic racism, or minority clients who _don’t_ want to be treated based on race?
2)If someone is putting aside their own values, at what point have they lost their personal integrity?
Wishing you all the best.