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Dear Therapist, I Encourage You To Think Beyond Your Cookie-Cutter DEI Answers
I beg you
Dear therapists,
I encourage you to think beyond the cookie-cutter DEI answers you were taught in class, and to actually learn and adapt your answers to what your client is bringing into the session.
I remember having an initial call with a therapist, whose answer about their experience working with BIPOC clients was:
- worked in an Indigenous centre where they learned that anti-capitalistic, anti-colonialist perspectives, particularly around policing
- that it was powerful for them to have the honour to work with BIPOC clients
- that they have worked with a number of Muslim clients
Of which are all important aspects of cultural competency, but unfortunately that’s where it ended. I am not Indigenous, I am not Muslim. And it’s important to have that training and experience to support Indigenous and Muslim clients, but if I ask about what your approach to therapy from a lens of understanding DEI and supporting me in a session, I I do expect my identity is represented in your answer.
Even if you haven’t worked with anyone of my background before, what do those aspects that you’ve mentioned before help me in these…
