Social Justice in the Therapy Room

You’re wanting to reach out to a therapist, but you worry as a BIPOC or as someone with a marginalized identity that you’re going to get dismissed, blamed, and judged for your experiences and hardships.  

Here are things you can ask about when interviewing therapists:

How do they acknowledge their privilege in the room and check in with how you’re going to experience it?

One of the issues with therapy is that if you do not trust your therapist or feel like you’re not able to connect, then it’s going to be really difficult for you to be vulnerable in the ways that you need to be in order to heal and grow. Therapy is uncomfortable, intense, and, at times, painful. You need to know that you’re therapist is actively working on anti-racism (and anti-oppression work, in general) so you can freely be yourself. There are so many other places where you have to code switch and tone police, this shouldn’t be one of them.

They will not minimize your experience of OPPRESSION

If they have privilege in this area (ex. White therapist with BIPOC client, cis with a trans client, etc.), they will not minimize or compare their different lived experience with yours, but validate the hardships and barriers you have had to overcome thus far. If you find your therapist is comparing inappropriately, tell them. If they are actively doing the work, they will take the feedback. 

They are accountable for their mistakes

Look, therapists are people and they will make mistakes. They will engage in a microaggression because there is no way to be 100% not racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, etc. HOWEVER, if they are actively working on anti-oppression, they will take accountability and try to do better instead of becoming defensive in their privilege fragility. If you have to put in emotional labor and soothe your therapist after making a mistake, you may need a different therapist.

For those who work with culturally humble therapists, how do they engage in social justice in the room with you?