Return to Articles Roberta K. Timothy & Mercedes Umana Garcia Introduction The therapeutic alliance between psychotherapist and client has been demonstrated to be a key element for psychotherapy effectiveness (Wampold, 2015). The alliance, however, exists within transnational, socio-historical contexts determined by social and structural relations. For this reason, there have been multiple calls for …
Category Archive: Articles, Volume 8, No. 2, December 2020 Special issue on anti-oppressive practice in psychotherapy and counselling
Resisting the “attachment disruption” of colonisation through decolonising therapeutic praxis: Finding our way back to the Homelands Within
Return to Articles Riel Dupuis-Rossi Introduction Whether it concerns matters as sweeping as governance or as intimate as loving ourselves and others, colonisation forces a model of relationship on Indigenous Peoples that is fundamentally about domination and subjugation. This form of genocidal violence infuses every level of our existence. There is no consent. We …
“Gender dysphoria”: Therapist negotiations of oppressive practices
Return to Articles Julia Ellis Introduction It has long been demonstrated that psychological and psychiatric fields pathologise and discipline certain bodies and identities. However, fewer have explored practitioners’ resistance to gender oppressive practices. By reporting empirical data gathered from semi-structured interviews with six therapists in Sydney, Australia, this study explores possibilities of anti-oppressive transgender …
Reflections and (un)learnings on supporting transgender and gender diverse people and their families in a mental health family service new to this work
Return to Articles Henry von Doussa, Julie Beauchamp, Sally Goldner & Belinda Zipper Introduction As the space for transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people to affirm their gender expands in the Australian context, families are increasingly seeking support. It is estimated that about 1.2% of Australian adolescents are TGD (Telfer, Tollit, Pace, & Pang, …
Challenging everyday monogamism: Making the paradigm shift from couple-centric bias to polycule-centred practice in counselling and psychotherapy
Return to Articles Y. Gavriel Ansara Introduction This paper explores everyday monogamism and couple-centric bias in counselling and psychotherapy. The term monogamism (Anderson, 2010; cf. Twist, Prouty, Haym, VandenBosch., 2018) describes the systemic oppression enacted through ideas and practices that valorise monogamous people and relationships while systematically devaluing polyamorous and multi-partnered ones. One component of monogamism …