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BAATN Conference: Celebration of Diversity in the Profession
The main picture on this blog post was taken on the 16th April 2023, at a conference to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Black and Asian Therapy Network (BAATN). BAATN is an organisation which brings together therapists from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, offering support and opportunities to network, connect, reflect, and process our experience of being therapists in the UK. It seeks to amplify the voices of therapists and trainees and create a safe space for all its members. BAATN has many resources, including a directory of BAME therapists, newsletters, CPD workshops, mentoring programmes, bursary opportunities, jobs, and facilitates other educational pursuits. The 2-day conference was in Milton Keynes, and it was attended by up to 160 therapists from all over the UK. I was only able to attend one day (Saturday); l regret not committing to attending the 2 days. Some may wonder why this conference was such a big deal. I hope by reading this post, you will get an idea of why it matters so much. The silent struggle of therapists from minoritized background needs to be heard.
Stepping out of my comfort zone
I do my very best to remain professional, and avoid sharing my political views or leanings in my work life. That's my boundary. But race as a concept is political indeed, and not talking about matters that relates to our lived experiences as black therapists would be me doing myself a disservice. I did not intend to write about my experience, prior to attending the conference. However, upon reflection and processing all day, l realise I needed to. For my own benefit, in order to put my thoughts and feelings into words. My experience of the conference was very meaningful and enriching to me and everyone else in that shared space. I feel invigorated & replenished as a practitioner, having spent what was a very special time with people who knows what’s it like to be me. It felt like l was "home", I didn't have to sensor myself or edit what I say, how I say it & how l will be perceived. I felt seen & heard and we honoured each other. It reminded me of the significance of community.
Why does BAATN matter?
Black and Asian people have endured many centuries of suffering and subjugation- slavery, colonisation, Windrush etc. The psychological impact and trauma of the dehumanising injustice and the festering wound of centuries-long racism cannot be overstated. Racism remains rife in our societies today. Therapy is about alleviating human suffering and distress. As BAME therapists we have continued in our work to support others in emotional and mental distress while carrying our own pain from our own lived experience of racism and discrimination. When the whole world went on a standstill, following George Floyds murder, we were part of it. We saw it on TV, just as you all did. There was an influx of people coming to therapy to talk about their own experiences of discrimination and racism. It’s their trauma. It was ours too. We had to and continue to bear others’ pain, while going through it ourselves. It’s not an easy place to be, and one which requires a lot of emotional stamina and psychological strength. How do we look after ourselves & each other? Our struggle needs to be acknowledged.
It is not an easy path to become a psychotherapist. Being a therapist of colour means working ten times harder than everyone else. It doesn’t get easier after qualifying as the role itself is very challenging, practicing in a white world. Therapists from minoritised backgrounds face bigger hurdles in the profession. Unless we get together to explore and identify what these hurdles are as we did at the conference, and in BAATN, we remain disconnected, divided and conquered.
Decolonising Theories and Diversifying Training
Psychotherapy is a western concept, and the theories which underpins the philosophies and practice are Eurocentric. Many trainees from the BAME background really do struggle with grasping these theories; it feels like they are learning a new language altogether. And it’s not their fault. What’s sad is that many of them fail and leave the course, hurt and disappointed. Is there room to decolonise the curriculum; if so how can we go about that? As a lecturer, and someone who is seen as “having a seat on the table” l am often perceived as the token, the puppet, because l am not helping them. Many do not realise just how painful it is being in the space in between-interface between students & the university, such a powerful organisation. Watching others, while being observed at the same time. As a tutor, it’s difficult not to feel complicit in these students suffering and feeling guilty. Many a time its as if l have become the perpetrator myself, and a traitor. But l am only doing my job. The fact that there are not many black academics in my field, leaves a void where I cannot share some of my experiences in a nuanced manner. I must deal with this myself, and process. BAATN gives me the opportunity to share my experience with other academics who are in the same path as l am and hear their stories. There is validation and processing in being able to share and connect over painful experiences.
In relation to psychotherapy training, of great interest is a mixed method study carried out by Ciclitira and Foster (2012) where they interviewed trainee psychoanalytic psychotherapists of BAME backgrounds eliciting their experiences in psychoanalytic training. One of the key themes that came up was that trainees felt that the clinical programs failed to adequately address issues of race, culture and ethnicity and there was a lack of multicultural competence. A key theme that came out of this research was that students of BAME backgrounds felt silenced, and unable to fully articulate issues of diversity including race. Another study was from Gordon (1993) who surveyed thirty-three psychotherapy training institutes and found that most of them did not address the low ratio of Black trainees despite them supposedly committing to equal opportunity policies. Lowe (2006) writes about psychoanalytic training institute’s avoidance of issues of race and becoming colour blind, which again mutes the conversations on race and other differences. Morgan (2007) argues about the harmfulness of racial “colour blindness” in training and supervision which arises where issues of racial skin-color difference is seen as external and irrelevant to the work. While these issues stem from training organising, they become even more pronounced in the profession where the concepts of diversity and inclusion, and equal opportunities are simply tick box exercises.
Psychotherapy is a White Middle-class profession and the disparities in the ratio between white and non-white therapists is high. This is a known fact confirmed by Ciclitira and Foster (2012), Gordon (1993), Morgan (2008), and Tummala- Narra (2004). The nuances of one’s identity in relation to the intersections of race, class, gender become very much heightened when you are a therapist. Why? Because the caricature of a therapist is a middle age-old aged bearded white male, or a middle-aged cardigan wearing white middle class woman. All black therapists including myself neither embody nor represent what society views as the conventional version of a therapist. A psychotherapist colleague of mine- who is also a well respected author and lecturer, Dr Dwight Turner, started a viral hashtag #thisiswhattherapistlookslike after being racially profiled. He was in a pub and he was asked if he was a pub bouncer, only because he is a tall black man. I have received similar treatment on many occasions. In the past, l have had clients allocated to me, terminate therapy when they learnt that l was black. Sadly, some black clients have done the same too. There is an assumption that white is good and black is bad. Dalal (2006, p. 152) make very potent claims highlighting the semantic use of the words Black and White as racial categories arguing that Black has historically, from mediaeval times, been associated with darkness, death, evil, dirt, misfortune and badness, while White is seen as clean and pure. Dalal (2006) argue that these ideas are translated on how Black and White people are viewed and treated in society. While this view is helpful in highlighting the associations made due to skin colour variations between the so called Black and White races, its main significance is in how we internalise meaning of good and bad based on the language we use and how black is a symbol of lack/bad/evil/grotesque/dark. No matter how highly qualified and competent you are, you are seen as not good enough, by virtue of being black or other.
Safety and Risk
Therapists are regulated by regulatory bodies- BACP, UKCP, HCPC, NCS. Therapy is risky business, it is unsafe. It is a highly litigious profession and there is an occupational hazard of having vexatious complaints made against you. It is confirmed that therapists from minoritized backgrounds face a much higher risk of having complaints made against them (Cox, 2023). They are easy targets for pathological acting out the fantasies of punishing and causing harm. The motives behind complaints which may be racial are never questioned. The regulatory bodies take the complainant’s side, l understand to protect the public. Surely that can be done without turning against your registrants. If you are a therapist from minoritized background, you face greater risks of the process being doubled down and it being incredibly adversarial. Ellis (2021) refers to this as “dialling down of empathy towards people of colour” (p. 77). I have been a victim of this experience myself following a crafted complaint by a white male client, leading to a lengthy and heinous treatment by a regularity body. I am very aware of how unsafe and dangerous Black Excellence is. I consider myself to be a highly qualified and highly experienced and exceedingly competent therapist. Ellis (2021) made this clear by arguing that “People of colour understand that if they put their foot on the accelerator of their lives, they can only get so far before they run the risk of losing their reputation…” (emphasis added: Ellis, 2021, p. 206). I take pride in my profession and hold it to the highest standard. If this detestable experience happened to me, what more the newly qualified therapists who are not as confident and seasoned in the profession?
There is abundant literature which evidence that therapists of colour are at greater risk of facing investigations for lesser perceived practice infractions than their white colleagues, and endure harsher penalties (Cox, 2019: Naqvi, 2019). I was subjected to a 2-and-a-half-year (9 hearing days) investigation procedure for saving a suicidal man quoted above, by referring him to the Crisis Team following an assessment. No other therapists have ever been brought to a hearing for safeguarding a vulnerable client. No surprise the case was dismissed as there was no evidence of malpractice. In fact, the panel commended my practice for its rigor and robustness. In my past l worked in a Crisis Resolution Team with highly complex and high risk clients. Carrying out risk assessments is something l do in an evidence based and in skilful manner. I teach risk assessing skills. Hearing similar stories through the BAATN confirms just how unsafe being a therapist of colour in the UK is. The professional bodies do not protect us, and we are effectively up against a powerful persecutory force. Racism is embedded in the systems, and enabled.
As therapists of colour, what have we tried to do about it? Eddo-Lodge (2017) asserts that, “entering into conversations with defiant white people is frankly a dangerous task for me. As the hackles rise and defiance grow, I have to tread incredibly carefully, because if I express frustration at their refusal to understand, they will tap into their prescribed tropes about angry black people who are a threat to them and their safety (p. xi).” I have been called the angry black woman in white spaces when l have asserted myself and tried to put boundaries in place. It is exhausting.
Dr Robin DiAngelo (2018) describes the concept of ‘white fragility’ as: “In the dominant position, whites are almost always racially comfortable and that have developed unchallenged expectations to remain so. We have not had to build tolerance for racial discomfort and thus when racial discomfort arises, whites typically respond as though something is ‘wrong’, and blame the person or event that triggered the discomfort (usually a person of colour). This blame results in a socially sanctioned array of responses towards the perceived source of the discomfort, including: penalization; retaliation; isolation and refusal to continue engagement” (online).
I have nothing further to add to these succinct assertions from Eddo- Loghe and DiAngelo.
Happy 20 year birthday BAATN
We shall prevail….
References
Cox, P. (2023a). Uses, misuses and abuses of complaint processes. In A. Sachs and V. Sinason. (Eds.). The psychotherapist and the professional complaint: The shadow side of psychotherapy. (Chp. 11, 153-176). London: Karnac
Ciclitira, K. and Foster, N. (2012). Attention to Culture and Diversity in Psychoanalytic Trainings. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 28(3):353-373.
Dalal, F. (2006). Racism: Process of detachment, Dehumanization and Hatred. Psychoanalytic quarterly, 75: 131-161.
Eddo-Lodge, R. (2017). Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race. London: Bloomsbury Press.
Ellis, E. (2021). The race conversation: An essential guide to creating life-changing dialogue. London: Confer Books.
Gordon, P. (1993) Keeping Therapy White? Psychotherapy Training and Equal Opportunities. British Journal of Psychotherapy. 10 (1) 44-9.
Morgan, H. (2008). Issues of „Race‟ in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy: Whose Problem is it Anyway? British Journal of Psychotherapy: 24, 1.
Tummala-Narra, P. (2004) Dynamics of race and culture in the supervisory encounter. Psychoanalytic Psychology 21(2): 300-11.