Clients I work with often have questions about the ways in which social justice informs the work we do together in therapy. Social justice is a constant presence in the therapy room. This presence is largely because social justice is a constant in life outside of the therapy space, which the therapeutic relationship reflects. Below are a few of the ways that social justice is folded into therapeutic work.
Power Dynamics
The undercurrent of many social justice issues is the issue of power— who has it, who does not, and how it is enforced. Power systems often show up in the therapy space through systemic barriers.
A client pays for services
A therapist has clinical and educational expertise
A client holds the lived experience
Policies like confidentiality and cancellation fees enforce professional boundaries
These are just some of the dynamics in the client-therapist relationship that often create a power dynamic. Part of the social justice work that shows up in therapy is working together to create a power conscious space. Now honestly, because of the way power dynamics are baked into our society, power neutral spaces are fully achieved. We use the ideal of a power conscious relationship to help us not look away from the power dynamics in the therapy room but to notice them together and have an open dialogue about how they may be affecting care.
Intersectionality
The term Intersectionality was coined by Kimberly Crenshaw and is used to talk about the ways in which overlapping or intersecting identities can create unique experiences of discrimination and privilege. In my work, it is important that I see my clients with a whole person view. This means that we often talk about:
How your specific intersecting identities shape your daily experiences
How my identities interact with yours
Where our shared or differing lived experiences create opportunities for growth—or moments of friction
Our intersecting identities are deeply connected to our mental health and are treated as such from a social justice lens in therapy.
Systemic Trauma
Therapy through a social justice lens also means looking at how our environments have created experiences of trauma. Our society is often the perpetrator of violence as it relates to racism, classism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, and many more areas of institutional, cultural, and societal harm. In our therapy work, it is important to not only consider the impacts of your immediate circles but also the broader societal impacts on the experiences of trauma you hold. This includes:
The ways in which institutions have responded to or perpetrated traumatic experiences
The impacts of ongoing experiences of microaggressions in daily life
The cumulative impact of intergenerational and historical traumas
Therapy needs to act as a healthcare space where we can tackle and talk about systemic trauma directly.
The Impact Of World Events
A social justice lens to therapy also shows up in the way in which we make space for the impact of world events in therapy. We are living in a turbulent period of time and many of my clients have reactions to real world events that are happening around them. It's important that in therapy we make space for the whole person and this includes the ways in which you are impacted by things happening around you, even oceans away. There's always space in the therapy room to talk about current events, no matter how polarizing or complicated you feel that they are, and work together to find processing and understanding. Therapy is unique in that it is a place where we can truly work to understand each other and so I invite you to bring the impact of the world in all forms into our space.
Finding a Social Justice Informed Therapist
This article has only brushed the surface of the ways in which social justice shows up in the therapy space. But, the most important take away is that issues of social justice are always a topic in the therapy space as we look at how they impact you as a client but also our relationship. The therapy space is not immune to the impacts of social inequality and injustice. It can be a place where talking about social inequality and injustice directly and examining its impacts on the therapeutic relationship can provide deep, relational, healing. If you are looking for a therapist who will sit in issues of social justice with you and be real about the impacts of the world on your mental health, I would love to talk more about how I may be a good fit. You can reach out today via the contact form on my website.