Integrating Questions of Privilege, Oppression and Power in the Therapeutic Encounter

In this episode, Jane discusses her own experience of growing up in a privileged white community and the subsequent development of her career in social justice. That was the beginning of her journey working with different organizations concerning the effects of wide-spread oppression particularly in education in the United States and in Israel at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. When she became a psychotherapist years later, she realized that her training did not specifically cover the effect of the “isms,” and their relationship to the life experience of clients and their mental health, even though family therapists were trained in systemic thinking and the importance of context. After becoming a Visions consultant, she became more aware of her own privilege and the historic and present oppression others continually experienced. Intersectionality became very important as well because each person usually has some places where they have privilege and some where they are oppressed. How each of us behaves in those different places becomes an important area of exploration, both for therapist and client. Briefly, she discussed three important characteristics that therapists hopefully bring to their work. One is cultural humility, another is authenticity, and the third is a constant awareness of context and privilege and how it intersects with individual and relational mental health. She discussed how the role of therapist itself brings power into the room, and even if there is intersectionality, where there is shared race, gender, sexual orientation or a number of other characteristics, the therapist continues to hold power. She shared her experience in Kosovo dealing with grieving and traumatized families just after 9/11 occurred. She used the term “open listening”, which is a valuable way to be completely present, stay with the person’s experience empathically, while at the same time not losing oneself.

Jane Ariel, PhD, LMFT is a psychologist in Oakland, California, and works with individuals, couples, and families. She has been an adjunct professor at the Wright Institute in Berkeley and has worked also with the Women’s Therapy Center and other institutions in the Bay Area. She is an active member of the American Family Therapy Academy, and works with Visions, a national organization dealing with issues of equity, inclusion, and multiculturalism.