Intro to Liberation Theories

Catalog description

In this course, we will discuss the impact of systemic oppression on our clients’ wellbeing, our own and our client’s intersectional identities, ways to decolonize mental health practices, interventions that incorporate decolonized ideals, and how to engage our clients in radical healing practices that uphold their humanity. This is achieved in a 4-session, vibrant, sometimes personal, discussion and experience. Feminist Therapy is a core foundation of this course, which although constructed by women, in the feminist tradition, can be applied broadly for a wide range of clients. While some background in feminist theory or other liberation theories is helpful, it is not required. The impacts of sexism, racism, and classism in the U.S. will also be touched on heavily throughout our time together. While we will offer resources, provide some education, and facilitate discussion, some background in this area is also helpful, though not required. Our hope is to raise consciousness around the systemic factors that impact the lives of your clients, while simultaneously offering you new perspectives and models of thinking for how to approach your work with them. We want the course to be additive, each class increasing building upon the last until we reach our final meeting and the end goal of understanding radical healing. We want you to see radical healing as a potential approach to therapeutic intervention, a broad clinical lens, and a possible inspiration for action in terms of the way you engage with clients and with your communities. Topics addressed in this course include intersectionality and how it both applies to identities within the therapy room as well as clients’ experiences in the real world; historical and current perspectives of sexism, racism, and classism in the U.S. and Philadelphia specifically and how racism and classism impact clients’ interactions with…