Category: Class

Counselling Class and Politics: Undeclared Influences in Therapy – Rory Lees-Oakes

Rory Lees-Oakes

All of our interactions with others are dictated by our own person politics, and counselling is no exception to this rule.

In this interview, Lecturer and Counsellor Rory Lees-Oakes , re-visits some of the ideas first explored by Anne Kearney in her seminal book, ‘Counselling class and Politics” first published in 1996.

Rory will explore some of the ‘Undeclared influences in therapy’ described in the book, as well as a reflection of more contemporary issues that face therapists working in ,what has been described as an Age of Austerity.

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We Don’t Have A Name For It – Clare Slaney

Clare Slaney

Modern counselling emphasises the importance of empathy and many therapists believe that this is possible with all clients. Since the psychological professions have once more become a wealthy middle class monoculture how can this possibly be the case? We have lost the theories and language of grassroots action that informed theorists like Rogers who understood the importance of authentic egalitarianism. Whether we like it or not, we have become – and the state is treating us as – experts in the lives of our clients.

How do we talk together about the hard realities of our professions? If we can’t talk together as equals, with curiosity and courage, daring to be vulnerable and truthful with each other, to listen with care and restraining the desire to alter each other, then perhaps we really are in more trouble than we care to admit.

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Me, My Family, My People: Social Identity and Radical Psychiatry in Transactional Analysis – Karen Minikin

Karen Minikin

The radical psychiatry movement in the late 1960’s and 1970s proposed all mental difficulties are forms of alienation.

At the social level, this means feeling isolated from our work and relationships. Internally, we may feel psychologically alienated from different parts of our self.

This #TATuesday discussion explores the significance of social identity in TA and the ways in which radical psychiatry can inform our thinking and practice.

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