[To save and read later, click here for your PDF copy] It is a lovely day today. The sun is out, there is a light breeze and I can smell the warmth of spring. The weather has been like this for the last few weeks, and I would normally feel quite excited to see the daffodils and crocuses making an appearance. However, I am carrying a heavy feeling in my heart. Since the New Zealand terrorist attacks on 15th March 2019, I am experiencing the start of spring this year differently to how I would normally. A part of me…
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[If you would like to save and read later click here] Since starting my own private practice, I have been acutely aware of the cultural backgrounds of people who contact me for counselling. Since I have worked within higher education for most of my counselling career this was never really an issue for me; clients were allocated to me purely based on the available counsellor within the team. Occasionally there might have been a discussion within the team if a client had specifically asked for a counsellor with my cultural background but on the whole, students could not choose which…
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[if you would like to download and read later, click here] The start of a new year can be a time for reflection, and for me this year, I have been reflecting on my journey as a therapist. An important part of my journey as a therapist has been being in therapy myself. I have always strongly believed that the more awareness I have about myself, the better therapist I will be – if I am more in tune with myself, then I am more likely to be in tune with my clients. The more I know about myself, also…
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[To download this blog and read later click here] Colonisation was based on racism. This abhorrent system affected approximately 400 million people worldwide and was based on the idea that one race was superior to another – that one race had the right to have power over another. Colonisation legitimised slavery and racism. It gave permission to the masses that people of colour could be exploited and abused, and that challenging this oppressive and dehumanising system was unlawful or terrorism. Some say that colonisation no longer affects us today and that decolonisation happened long ago. I was once told on…
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[To save and read later, download a PDF copy here] Reading September’s edition of the Therapy Today journal “Black matters: race and culture in counselling” felt both exciting and isolating for me. Black history month was first celebrated in the UK in 1987 to honour, remember and commemorate black history and communities. Although there has been some criticism expressing whether it is appropriate to confine the celebration of black history to one month and to only focus on celebrating one race, it is an important and meaningful step in promoting black issues within the wider community. However, I felt somewhat…
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[To save and read later, download here] Current worldwide race relations are not at their best right now. In a study published last year in the American Journal of Public Health, it found that African Americans are almost three times more likely than white people to be killed by the police. Indigenous Americans are also almost three times as likely to suffer such a fate, while Hispanic men are twice as likely. Whilst this is happening in the US, in Myanmar, the Rohingya people are being ethnically cleansed from their homeland by Buddhist aggressors. And meanwhile, in the UK anti-Muslim…
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