Anti-Racism in Therapy Here at Whole Connection by Phillip Horner LCSW and Laia Jorba LPC

During this difficult time, we at Whole Connection want to share our sorrow for the loss of life of the many People of Color due to racism. The impacts of these losses impact many of you in different ways and we hope that some of the resources below are supportful and if we can be of more help please reach out. 

Anti-Racism is core to the practice of counseling and psychotherapy and integral in all the work we do with clients. We understand therapists’ role as focused on relieving the suffering of people and the communities that shape and form their experiences. Being anti-racist means actively engaging in the room with clients, advocating for them and their groups of belonging, engaging our voices in the community to transform and change sociocultural myth and biases, and importantly looking at how we might perpetuate racist ideas and behaviors in our daily encounters so we stop automatic resposes and practice dimantling social norms in person-to-person relationships.

Before, during, and after this most recent horrific event we have and are providing training for all our clinicians in how to identify gross and subtle forms of racism, broach identities and social locations as part of our daily practice of recognizing each other, look at how we impact and interact with our clients based on our identities, and discuss and give healing space to traumas that occur from these events. As stated, this commitment will not change and we will continue to train all clinical staff in order to best serve our community during this time, from the therapy room to the public space we can impact as counselors, as well as to continue engaging in a practice of self-reflection and challenging everyday biases, which in the long term can contribute to a cultural change.  Read more..