Black Identities and White Therapies

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. His two latest co-edited books are Love and Therapy: In relationship (with Stephen Paul) and The Person-Centred Counselling and Psychotherapy Handbook: Origins, developments and current applications (with Colin Lago). Divine is a lover of photography, art, music and outdoor pursuits. – Colin Lago was Director of the University of Sheffield’s counselling service from 1987 to 2003 and now works as an independent counsellor/psychotherapist, trainer, supervisor and consultant. He is a Fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. He has published numerous articles, videos and books on transcultural concerns and psychotherapy. His books include Race, Culture and Counselling: The ongoing challenge; Anti-Discriminatory Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy (co-edited with Barbara Smith); The Handbook of Transcultural Counselling and Psychotherapy and The Person Centred Counselling and Psychotherapy Handbook: Origins, developments and current applications (co-edited with Divine Charura). His passions include mountain travel, biking, swing dancing and art.

‘This book speaks of the profound need to address the shortcoming of racial competency in therapeutic training and professional practice… reminding us to challenge exclusion, reflect on our practice and address our own positions of power and privilege.’ – Susan Cousins, author of Overcoming Everyday Racism. ‘In this book are rich resources and practical suggestions that will support and challenge us to open our minds and embrace multicultural ways of thinking and working.’ – Janet Tolan, counsellor/psychotherapist, supervisor, tutor and author

• Preface – Colin Lago and Divine Charura, 1. Race, culture and ethnicity: A systemic failure of attention in the psychotherapy profession? – Colin Lago and Divine Charura, 2. The cultural complexity of training counsellors abroad: The case of Afghanistan – Lucia Berdondini, Ali Ahmad Kaveh and Sandra Grieve, 3. Can you talk about race without going pink or feeling uncomfortable? – Delroy Hall, 4. Exploring the racial self in counselling training – Billie-Claire Wright, 5. An anti-racist counselling training model – Courtland C. Lee, 6. ‘Look in the mirror... and just below the surface’: Critical reflection, personal stories and training implications – Valerie Watson, 7. Where are you from? The effects of racism and perceived discrimination on people of colour – Priscilla Dass-Brailsford, 8. Re-imagining the space and context for a therapeutic curriculum: a sketch – Robert Downes and Foluke Taylor, 9. Twin tribes: Exploring unconscious privilege and otherness in counselling and psychotherapy – Dwight Turner, 10. Lifting the white veil of therapy – Neelam Zahid, 11. The legacy of colonial history and the ongoing challenge to therapist training and practice – Vedia Maharaj, 12. Towards the re-emergence of meaning: Existential contributions to working with refugee clients – Benjamin Mark Butler, 13. Who is transforming what? Ideas and reflections on training, practice and supervision in radical mode – Carmen Joanne Ablack, 14. Negotiating the Faustian pact: A psycho-social approach to working with mixed race people – Yvon Guest, 15. Developing a diversity-sensitive psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy: Personal and professional reflections – Lennox K. Thomas, 16. Colour blindness as microaggression: Perspectives on race and ethnicity in counselling and psychotherapy training and practice – Mark Williams, 17. Towards a decolonised psychotherapy research and practice – Divine Charura and Colin Lago, 18. Religion, therapy and mental health treatment in diverse communities: Some critical reflections and radical propositions – Rachel-Rose Burrell, 19. Race and cognitive dissonance: Could supervision be a way of connecting tutors to students? – Fiona A. Beckford, Postscript