WORKSHOP WORKSHOP

Intersectionality

Radical Dialogues Inside and Outside the Therapy Room

Workshop Details

Kris Black

"I" cannot reach fulfilment without "thou." The self cannot be self without other selves. Self-concern without other-concern is like a tributary that has no outward flow to the ocean.- MLK

How might we develop a radical* understanding of issues of power, powerlessness, difference within the therapy room – within a profession which aims to minimise harm and maximise empathy, (the shadow of which often equates working with difference, diversity and discrimination as difficult or even dangerous?) Psychotherapy is both personal and political - our understanding of human suffering and the impact of systemic, institutional and structural oppression is both personal and political.

Can we better understand and work explicitly and empathically with the politics of difference, diversity and discrimination in our interactions with clients, with each other, within the profession and within the world?

Intersectional perspectives can help us to explore how systems of domination and oppression are linked and not separate systems or hierarchies. This radical* perspective offers the opportunity to understand and work with the impact of discrimination such as racism, sexism, misogyny, classism, homo-trans-bi-phobia. These issues affect many clients, many therapists, whilst denial impacts both our profession and the society that we live in. The person that arrives in the therapy room is not separate from contact with the impact of the political – both therapist and client operate within the same society – the same field – the therapeutic relationship is not untouched by the political.

The work is delivered via the lens of US and UK Intersectional feminist perspectives, draws on Queer Theory, Black Issues Theory Systemic & Intercultural Theory and a common-sense integration of Trauma Theory (to name some of the influences). We will explore the challenge and opportunity of integrating Intersectional perspectives into our work as psychotherapists.

*rad·i·cal | \ ˈra-di-kəl meaning of going to the root or origin; fundamental: thoroughgoing or extreme, especially as regards change from accepted or traditional forms, favouring drastic political, economic, or social reforms

**Queer, Trans, Intersex People of Color

Kris Black (they/them) IAP, UKCP, MBACP, ISN, LLB (Hons) is a Co-editor of Therapy in Colour, published by JKP in April 2023. Kris is a longstanding intersectional feminist, activist and trainer. Kris’s social locations are that they are a non-binary trans, queer, working-class, mixed racial heritage, disabled human. A committed community psychotherapist located within the UK QTIBPOC and the wider LGBTQIA+ community, Kris served on the BAATN leadership team for seven years.

Professionally, Kris is a UKCP, BACP-registered integrative arts psychotherapist, an advanced accredited gender, sex and relationship diversities therapist, child and adolescent counsellor and clinical supervisor. As a therapist-activist, Kris founded Radical Dialogues, an intersectional training and education foundation, has served as a visiting lecturer for several psychotherapy institutions and has published papers in various journals. Kris is a senior clinical associate and member of the teaching faculty of Pink Therapy. Kris runs groups and intersectional training courses for BAATN members and also assisted with the launch and development of BAATN’s pioneering Each One Teach One Mentorship Programme.

Kris is active within the Psychotherapy and Counselling Union and has served on the Executive Committee. Kris is an active member of Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility, having served on their Executive, organized their 2013 TABOO Conference, and been an invited keynote speaker on Intersectionality. Kris is a committee member of the Coalition Against Conversion Therapy.

Kris works as an independent clinical supervisor and consultant with several charitable organizations within the UK serving the education, housing, legal and LGBTQIA+ mental health sectors.

Since the early 1980s, Kris has served on the editorial and management boards of a number of grassroots campaigning organizations and charities furthering the liberation of racialized and marginalized gender, sexual and relationship diversity communities. Kris has also worked extensively therapeutically with children and young people from racialized and working-class minorities. Kris has contributed to the collective production of grassroots radical community publications.

Contact Kris at: www.arctherapy.co.uk and arctherapy@protonmail. com