Confronting racism in counselling and therapy training—Three experiences of a seminar on racism and whiteness

Abstract

In this paper, a counselling and psychotherapy tutor and two therapists who have recently completed their training, one student of colour and one white, engage in a reflective, experiential process following a taught session on race and whiteness in the therapy room. The authors explore their own processes within and since the session in a reflexive, conversational format, candidly self-examining and confronting their experiences, including the more difficult ones. Through this process, the authors discuss the political implications and shortcomings of such training, both within this specific training context and the profession as a whole. The authors contend that the counselling and psychotherapy professions and the training provided to enter them are increasingly being challenged in contemporary society to look beyond traditional assumptions about the superiority of white, middle class, and Eurocentric values and norms in the curriculum and teaching. They conclude by offering both context-specific and general recommendations for training courses and practitioners to address the shortcomings in provision.