The Handbook of Social Justice in Psychological Therapies

Dr Laura Anne Winter is a HCPC Registered Counselling Psychologist and BPS Chartered Psychologist. She currently works at the University of Manchester as a Senior Lecturer in Education and Counselling Psychology and is the Programme Director for the Doctorate in Counselling Psychology and the Associate Director for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion for the School in which she is based. Laura’s research and writing has focused on social justice, equality, and related issues in counselling and psychotherapy, psychology, and education. Her clinical practice has been based in NHS, third sector, and University counselling service settings.  Divine Charura is professor of counselling psychology and programme director for the doctorate in counselling psychology at York St John University. He is a chartered counselling psychologist and registered psychotherapist and has co-authored and edited numerous books in counselling and psychotherapy.

Like all effective activist organizers, the editors have courageously utilised their platforms as leaders in the field to demistify social justice education, and, successfully collate a diverse ecosystem of contributors. Each contributor uniquely evokes, provokes, and mobilises the reader to take seriously the lifelong project of interrogating power relations, politics and social change.  I would consider this text akin to Wilkinson and Pickett’s the "The Spirit Level" applied to the psychological therapies, as a primer for purpose-orientated readers. This text offers hope to those wanting to make a positive impact in their communities as everyday ‘change agents’, by channeling their human potential for healing, advocacy and solidarity.

• Chapter 1: An Introduction to Social Justice in the Psychological TherapiesChapter 2: Engaging with Minoritised and Racialised Communities ‘Inside the SentenceChapter 3: Identity and IntersectionalityChapter 4: The Individual in ContextChapter 5: Integrating the Psychological and the Socio-Political: A Directional FrameworkChapter 6: Core Principles for Social Justice Informed Therapeutic workChapter 7: Social Justice Informed Therapy and Racially Minoritised IndividualsChapter 8: Social Justice Informed Therapy and Social ClassChapter 9: Social Justice Informed Therapy and Visible and Invisible disabilitiesChapter 10: Social Justice Informed Therapy and NeurodiversityChapter 11: Social Justice Informed Therapy and GenderChapter 12: Social Justice Informed Therapy and SexualityChapter 13: Social Justice Informed Therapy with Refugees and Asylum SeekersChapter 14: Therapy in the Shadow of the Climate and Environmental crisisChapter 15: Advocacy and Working with Individual Clients Beyond Traditional Therapy ModelsChapter 16: Social Justice in Clinical SupervisionChapter 17: Critical Community PSYCHOLOGY & PARTICIPATORY Action ResearchChapter 18: Influencing Policy and Socio-Political Change