Advocacy and Social Justice
- lionessrising
- May 19, 2024
- 1 min read
My experience in advocacy and social justice working as a former psychologist. This involved recognising that there were larger societal issues impacting on the individuals mental health. Many of the clients I saw were dealing with systemic challenges. Barriers to support in schools or discrimination and violence.
In terms of my role as a former psychologist, I did not like the psychological testing and diagnostic model, and I made my views clear to my supervisors. In South Africa I experienced the way IQ test were used to discriminate in the Apartheid system. So I chose to work in a client centred model that focused on preferencing the client’s story. I did not do any formal personality or cognitive ability assessments and I referred the clients who wanted this support.
The feminist movement calls upon therapists to consider principles of the subjective, the personal, empowerment and advocacy. The code of conduct and the medical model and regulatory bodies however are focused on objectivity and a separation between the therapist as a person and the work of therapy. I found this very hard to not be personally emotionally moved by the stories people shared with me in their sessions.
I come from South Africa and embrace the humanitarian principles of UBUNTU - that a person is a person through others. This website by Rolando Thompkin Jones has interesting ideas on equity and justice.
https://www.relandothompkinsjones.com/ubuntu-a-humanitarians-philosophyhttps://www.relandothompkinsjones.com/ubuntu-a-humanitarians-philosophy/
Here is an interesting article of psychologists advocacy regarding changes from the medical model to the recovery model:
