Why mental health therapists need to learn how to practice in an anti-racist way
Mental health professionals are in a position of power and privilege and need to be aware of issues of race, culture, class, poverty, gender and more
When I first moved to the UK, my expectations of the mental health training I would receive here were very high. I assumed the UK would be ‘more progressive’ in how this subject is taught and delivered.
During my university years, I found Glasgow at least had the resources to help those who needed mental and emotional support. But my experiences have led me to deep disillusionment about the mental health industry.
Participating in learning about mental health was a very isolating experience. Throughout my education, theories were presented with westernised, Eurocentric perspectives, dominated by experts and authors from the same cultures and often exploring the same themes.
I would often challenge this. I would bring attention to the fact that maybe this is not how the whole world thinks and nor is it how many communities in Scotland think. When you show up in the world as somebody who is very obviously not white or perhaps not conforming to whatever the societal norm is perceived to be, being taught in these environments and with these theories can be jarring. It feels like there's a spotlight on you to be the voice of difference, the voice of culture.
And that is what ended up happening during my training; I was often the one shouldering the responsibility of representation. If I wasn't forthcoming with sharing my experience or offering another perspective, there was no other perspective in the room, and it would be assumed that what was being taught was the default for all.
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Many flaws in the system
Let’s take an example: Say you are a woman who has experienced anxiety and trauma, you come from a different cultural background where there is significant stigma around mental health, and you have felt the consequences of racism and discrimination when trying to access services to support you.
You need a mental health system that understands these compounding, intersecting issues, that responds with empathy and supports your recovery in an appropriate way. That can only happen if those who are supporting you are taught about these experiences and perspectives. No matter who you are in Scotland, you deserve to have access to support that can adequately help you.
There are so many flaws within the system and so many insecurities to keep this structure afloat. And as a result, as much as critical thinking and challenging theories and systems are encouraged, we can only do so to the extent that it doesn’t threaten the foundations of these systems.
It is absolutely necessary to challenge this, especially within a profession that is meant to care for and protect the mental health and lives of all people, regardless of background, but unfortunately that is not happening. We see that today in the cracks deepening within the system; the majority of people do not feel heard, do not feel seen, and do not feel supported in the way they need to live healthy lives.
From my experience as one of the few people of colour during my training, seeing the lack of representation of people who look like me, East Asians especially, was a huge source of frustration, especially when we know these are some of the communities least likely to come forward for the support they need and deserve.
Microaggressions
Whilst my challenges were met with an open mind in the classroom, deeper in the system, I felt incredibly unseen and dismissed. When I pointed out these important issues, it has been met with phrases such as “I'd never thought about it that way” or “wow, that's such an exotic experience” or “that sounds exhausting” – genuinely this has been said to me, and these are microaggressions.
There is a level of duty and responsibility on people within this profession to constantly educate and actively practice in anti-racist and anti-oppressive ways, so that issues related to race, culture, class, poverty, gender, and more can be responded to when they arise.
If we don’t actively educate those within the profession then, in the same way in which I felt the burden of responsibility to explain these issues to my peers, clients will feel an obligation to educate the practitioner, or will end up assuming counselling is not for them, because it does not understand them.
I am of the school of thought that everything is political and, whether or not we admit it explicitly, power and politics will come into the therapy space, because that is simply how we are as humans and much of the trauma we experience is as a consequence of political systems around us, including the political choice of how mental health is invested in and for whom.
Open to being challenged
Issues of racialisation are so deeply and historically embedded across society that they arise within silence. Let me give you another example. If a white, male-presenting therapist enters the room and a black, female-presenting client comes into the space, whether or not either of them say anything about their race or gender, these identities are in the space.
The power dynamics will be felt, and that is just the reality that we as therapists have to accept, by owning and naming them. Mental health professionals do hold a certain amount of power and privilege, as the person in the so-called professional role.
Therefore, it is crucial that the sector is not defensive but is open to being challenged about the ways that it thinks and the ways that it teaches. We need mental health practitioners to pathologise difference less, and we need mental health practitioners to not just “make space for” difference but to truly embody anti-oppressive practices.
That’s how we create a mental health system that truly delivers for all who need it, when they need it.
Sophie Fong Clarke (she/her) is a QTIPOC (Queer, Transgender and Intersex People of Colour) mental health practitioner in training, and part of the Pass the Mic writing programme