‘Why should we care about race in the consulting room?’ is a series of seminars that aims to bridge the gap between the theoretical discussions on race and culture in psychotherapy and the difficulty of the practical application in clinical practice.These seminars will focus on clinical exchanges from within the consulting room with the aim to create an exploratory space to discuss the dynamic clinical significance of paying attention to race and culture in the consulting room.

The Work of Whiteness in the Consulting Room

In this seminar, Helen Morgan will be sharing her thoughts on how the unconscious dimensions of racialisation and racialised identity surface in analytic practice. She will explore how the white liberal therapist can avoid the necessary engagement with their own racism through the defence of disavowal leading to the client having to carry the burden of the work. Helen will be sharing some clinical vignettes which highlight the challenges and responsibilities for practitioners. We hope to create an explorative space where we can freely discuss this and think together.

Speakers’ Biography

HELEN MORGAN is a Fellow of the British Psychotherapy Foundation and a training analyst and supervisor for the British Jungian Analytic Association (BJAA) within the BPF. Her background is in Therapeutic communities with adolescents and in adult mental health. She has written a number of papers on the subject of racism and psychotherapy, and her book, The Work of Whiteness. A Psychoanalytic Perspective, was published in 2021 by Routledge. She is also co-author with Fanny Brewster of Racial Legacies in the Jung, Politics and Cultural series published by Routledge in 2022.

Certificates of Attendance available on request.

These events will not be recorded.

Organised by the Race and Culture Committee of the Guild of Psychotherapists