The Handbook of Social Justice in Psychological Therapies

Dr Laura Anne Winter is a HCPC Registered Counselling Psychologist and BPS Chartered Psychologist. She currently works at the University of Manchester as a Senior Lecturer in Education and Counselling Psychology and is the Programme Director for the Doctorate in Counselling Psychology and the Associate Director for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion for the School in which she is based. Laura's research and writing has focused on social justice, equality, and related issues in counselling and psychotherapy, psychology, and education. Her clinical practice has been based in NHS, third sector, and University counselling service settings. Divine Charura is professor of counselling psychology and programme director for the doctorate in counselling psychology at York St John University. He is a chartered counselling psychologist and registered psychotherapist and has co-authored and edited numerous books in counselling and psychotherapy.

Chapter 1: An Introduction to Social Justice in the Psychological Therapies Chapter 2: Engaging with Minoritised and Racialised Communities 'Inside the Sentence Chapter 3: Identity and Intersectionality Chapter 4: The Individual in Context Chapter 5: Integrating the Psychological and the Socio-Political: A Directional Framework Chapter 6: Core Principles for Social Justice Informed Therapeutic work Chapter 7: Social Justice Informed Therapy and Racially Minoritised Individuals Chapter 8: Social Justice Informed Therapy and Social Class Chapter 9: Social Justice Informed Therapy and Visible and Invisible disabilities Chapter 10: Social Justice Informed Therapy and Neurodiversity Chapter 11: Social Justice Informed Therapy and Gender Chapter 12: Social Justice Informed Therapy and Sexuality Chapter 13: Social Justice Informed Therapy with Refugees and Asylum Seekers Chapter 14: Therapy in the Shadow of the Climate and Environmental crisis Chapter 15: Advocacy and Working with Individual Clients Beyond Traditional Therapy Models Chapter 16: Social Justice in Clinical Supervision Chapter 17: Critical Community PSYCHOLOGY & PARTICIPATORY Action Research Chapter 18: Influencing Policy and Socio-Political Change

Like all effective activist organizers, the editors have courageously utilised their platforms as leaders in the field to demistify social justice education, and, successfully collate a diverse ecosystem of contributors. Each contributor uniquely evokes, provokes, and mobilises the reader to take seriously the lifelong project of interrogating power relations, politics and social change. I would consider this text akin to Wilkinson and Pickett's the "The Spirit Level" applied to the psychological therapies, as a primer for purpose-orientated readers. This text offers hope to those wanting to make a positive impact in their communities as everyday 'change agents', by channeling their human potential for healing, advocacy and solidarity. -- Dr Jonathan Day (PsychD), Senior Counselling Psychologist (HCPC reg.) This ambitious book aims to demystify 'social justice' - once a term reserved mainly for therapeutic activists and writers on the fringes - by broadly exploring its place in the heart of the psychological professions. A range of contributors ponder the meaning of this concept, and how we might make individual sense of it, as well as now it might be applied in the therapy room and beyond Split into three sections, the first part is theoretical, where ideas and models are given as suggestions for practitioners to use when attempting to embed social justice into their work. The second and longest part, 'Social justice informed therapeutic practice, includes chapters that offer thoughtful reflections on working with a diverse range of client groups. The third section looks at other creative ways that those working in the psychological professions can engage more widely with social justice. Although I enjoyed this book - and it is undoubtedly an important addition to the crucial conversations around anti-oppressive practice - at times it felt a little unbalanced in style. The first part felt much more academic and perhaps less accessible than the rest, which makes me wonder what type of readership this book best appeals to in its totality. There's an argument to suggest that this title tries to deliver too much, but despite this I am left with new insights that I can tangibly apply to my work and life. If the reader can pick and choose what sections may be of most interest to them I believe they too will find this an extremely valuable resource. -- Caz Binstead (MBACP) * Therapy Today *