Critical Race Counterstories| The Personal and Professional Borderlands of Anti-Oppressive Clinical Practice and Pedagogy

• Main Author: Garza, Cynthia Michelle
• Language: EN
• Published: The Chicago School of Professional Psychology 2018
• Subjects: Clinical psychology
• Online Access: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10822445

<p> The current study was informed by Critical Race Theory and joins an interdisciplinary body of work of activists and scholars resisting oppressive systems. The aim of the current study was to explore the impact of anti-oppressive pedagogy on the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competency (MSJCC) of marginalized therapists. Anti-oppressive clinical training and pedagogy prepares student-therapists to self-reflect, own, and resist the impact of oppression on themselves and their clients. Critical consciousness and racial identity development are personal factors that play a role in MSJCC. As such, the role of educators and clinical supervisors may extend past &ldquo;professional&rdquo; territory. The current study examined stories of 11 marginalized therapists and focused on how personal growth related to clinical competency. All participants told critical race counterstories, that is, personal experiences of oppression that occurred within the education system. Their counterstories of racism and sexism in learning and healing spaces will be told. Of the 11 total participants, 6 student-therapists also reported exposure to anti-oppressive clinical training and/or pedagogy. Racial identity development, critical consciousness, and social justice competency development were unique themes that came up among the six participants who were fortunate to have mentors, supervisors, and peers willing to make space for personal growth in classrooms, professor offices, training spaces, and other professional territories. This study calls mental healthcare professionals to learn and work in the gray borderlands of our personal and professional development. In social justice praxis, this research was conducted with an anti-oppressive stance. With humility and accountability, I walked along the borders of student-therapist-researcher.</p><p>