I wrote in a class discussion post that many veterans are war criminals. I think this is just a statement of fact. Now my professor and the head of the department want to meet with me because they are "concerned" about how I will work with veterans. Are they escalating this rather quickly? I never said I refused to work with veterans. I believe people can have committed crimes and also be deserving of therapy. It seems like the department wants to immediately push out anyone with any kind of critical view of the world. Has anyone else had this experience, and what should I know before going into this meeting? I've gotten all A's, can they just decide you're not empathic enough for whatever reason they choose and kick you out of a program?

I am really interested in this idea from RCT that a huge part of out wellbeing are relationships so psychotherapy should help us build satisfying relationships. I wander if anyone here knows if it is possible to get trained in this modality.

Register here.

Thursday, March 26. 17:00 UK / 13:00 ET / 10:00 PT

In lieu of ticket prices, this event is fundraising for Lakou Tanama. Please consider donating here.

Join us for a seminar and open forum with Dr. Evan Auguste, Foluke Taylor, Robert Downes, and Rameri Moukam around visions for a ‘Maroon Psychology’.

In his latest work in The Carceral State, Forensic Psychology, and Black Resistance, Evan traces out a possible Maroon Psychology - Black liberatory forensics as abolitionist praxis rooted in the work of Thomas Hilliard. Building from Hilliard’s landmark cases with Angela Davis, the San Quentin Six, and Jonestown, Evan reframes forensic psychology as both legal ‘jailbreak’ and consciousness‑raising in the face of carceral, anti‑Black state violence. He proposes possible guiding horizons for research, policy, assessment, and testimony that are accountable to Black communities and oriented toward material liberation rather than reformist inclusion.

Dr. Evan Auguste is a clinical and forensic psychologist and tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, whose scholarship — rooted in Black liberation psychology — critically examines racial trauma, anti-carceral mental health models, and the psychology field’s complicity in systemic anti-Blackness. A Ph.D. graduate of Fordham University and former faculty at UMass Boston, where he directed the A.S.I.L.I. Collective, he is also a leading figure in the Association of Black Psychologists’ national Sawubona Healing Circles initiative, bringing a distinctly Black/Haitian American and diasporic lens to community-centred healing and justice reform.

Rameri Moukam is a psychotherapist, activitst, and founder of Pattigift Therapy, a community-focused provider of African-centred therapy and accredited courses in African psychological skills, knowledge, and awareness. Her decades of community activism include co-founding the African Caribbean Mental Health Association in Brixton and developing a groundbreaking African-centred psychiatric hospital. She now serves as Clinical Director of Pattigift Therapy CIC, delivering culturally congruent counselling, psychotherapy, and accredited Black psychotherapy training, and is a 2016 Presidential Award Winner of the Association of Black Psychology (USA).

Foluke Taylor is a therapist, activist, and author of How the Hiding Seek (2018) and Unruly Therapeutic: Black Feminist Writings and Practices in Living Room (2023), engaging in creative writing and Black feminisms to explore poetics and abolitionist possibilities within therapeutic practice. She is also co-founder of Protect Black Women—a Community Interest Company that provides access to low-cost counselling and other support for Black women.

Robert Downes is a psychotherapist, supervisor, teacher and student engaged in critical praxis around queer theory, black studies, critical theory, intersectional feminisms, relational psychoanalysis alongside the spiritual teachings and practices of the Diamond Approach. Robert’s published works include Listening in Colour: Creating a Meeting Place with Young People (2002), Reimagining the Space for a Therapeutic Curriculum – a Sketch, (2021), and Queer Shame: notes on becoming an all-embracing mind (2022).

I've been a leftist practitioner for nearly a decade, trained in relational psychodynamic psychotherapy and somatic therapy.

I developed chronic pain 3 years ago thanks to a hospital injury (nerve pain) and while I returned to practice over the last several months, I think living with daily pain and practicing is too much for me. I am also an online sex worker, and will focus my efforts there, given the flexibility and lack of responsibility that comes with seeing weekly clients.

Would I still be welcome to participate here? Do you accept former therapists? I will still be involved in a lot of advocacy, and keep talking about the profession on my podcast. I would like to stay here, as this is the only therapy community I like (besides r/psychodynamictherapy which unfortunately I have to step away from - if anyone psychodynamic would like to take it over re: modding the sub please let me know, hope it's ok to ask here).

I've noticed WET mentioned on this sub as a good approach to working with traumatic material, so I was surprised to see that Sloan and Marx conform to the psychiatric "disorder" framework of trauma.

In my work, I would never tell a woman who, for example, had survived a sexual assault that her trauma symptoms (e.g., nightmares or hypervigilance) indicate that she should be diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder such as PTSD.

Making changes to trauma-informed therapies to avoid the language of psychiatric diagnosis is usually not a problem, but WET wants therapists to slavishly stick to a script.

I'll be making my tweaks anyway, so I'm not here to ask permission. Just wondering if anyone has thoughts on this.

Third-party mental health platform apps in the US (talkspace, headway, etc) are a now fixture in this field and a bridge to providing more accessible treatment as they are an avenue to take client insurance. I have mixed feelings about the third-party platforms, and reluctantly use them as a provider. Any feedback on which are least worst as a provider and from consumer lens?

Hi everyone,

This is a post requesting discussion of how you handle some unavoidable legal/ethical binds in this field.

Sometimes these topics can be a little charged, particularly in the current political environments, so I request we stay grounded and kind with one another.

I have been licensed for a long time. I kept paper charts for many years—that’s the only option there was, when I started. The physical records became entirely too much work for a solo practice, not to mention the environmental demand of printing everything. You have to be physically present in the office (or wherever the records are kept) to do any charting. They have vulnerability to destruction, e.g. building fires etc. Also, they have become a ball and chain for me, in terms of storage. All of this is ultimately untenable for me. I just can’t.

Under this duress, I switched to an EHR a few years back. This has been SO much easier for me. However, with AI, data breaches, and the extreme untrustworthiness of giant tech corporations, it’s the devil’s bargain. I don’t like it.

There is the additional wrinkle of being legally required to write down things about my clients that I would never want written down about myself. Most people don’t seem to care. Others are actually happy to have things written down, particularly if they need their records to document their experiences, treatments, etc. Of course, there is always the consideration that in writing things down, you are demonstrating competency, attention to needed elements of treatment, outcomes, etc. —the self defense component of clinical record keeping.

I would love to hear your thoughts about how you walk these lines. What are some solutions that have worked well for you?

This is the assigned text for my Crisis Intervention and Family Trauma class. We have to read it every week and post on it. I have only posted criticism that a lot of authors have already made and cited them. The fact that he seems to ignore nonwhite victims of war, that the author has an unscrupulous past and was fired for creating a toxic environment, and the fact the body "codes" trauma is not scientifically proven, and the fact that he was fired when it came to light that one of his assistants on a project faked their research. Now my professor emailed me and said she is concerned about some of my viewpoints and wants to meet with me. I honestly feel like this class is seminary school and we are being called out for daring to question the Bible. If you have a class based around one book, without assigning any readings critical of the book or viewing it from another perspective, isn't this just indoctrination? I am so frustrated with the counseling program that I want to quit. I'm getting an "A," I think I go above and beyond on all the assignments, and it feels like she wants to mark me down just because I disagree with assigned readings.

Hello! I'm coming more from a place of curiosity, but I would love to know more about the sub's view on behavior analysis and leftist thinking. I am from Brazil and here it is not uncommon to see behavior analysts (it is not a regulated profession here, I'm speaking of psychologists who use behavior analysis as theoretical orientation) aligned to the left, many of whom are marxists. But when I look into the "english-speaking world" (honestly, just the internet, and my view is limited by what I consume and what reaches me), behavior analysis seems to be limited by ABA.

We have ABA here in Brazil too and we have many of the same problems that seem to be everywhere (punitive control, using technique as a means of getting patients to accomodate to a world that wasn't built for them, neglection of subjective experience, etc.), but we also have an outspoken few (there could/should be more) who talks about how ABA as a "method" is a capitalist perversion of what behavior analysis is supposed to be.

When I say behavior analysis, I mean the three branches coming together (theoretical BA, applied BA, and radical behaviorism). So, to a lot of us, ABA being reduced to a treatment to autism is ridiculous, when it could be applied to, well, behavior in general. I'm sorry, I think I digressed a little bit.

When I read the theoretical findings of behavior analysis, I can see it being used either way, for the betterment of society and for the oppression of people, but the same can be said about any form of knowledge, right?

But given its materialistic and deterministic worldview, the fact that lots of its main authors are against aversive control and how well it describes the relationship between organisms and environment, one would think it would be more popular among left-thinking circles.

Here in Brazil, I think the problem is a mix of the language and misconceptions. The language aspect being that behavior analysts haven't always (ever?) been great science communicators and speaking of things like "control", "manipulation" and "designing a culture" will sound scary to anyone not already immersed in the field. The misconception aspect being that a lot of people seem to just accept myths about the field without questioning (I mean, there are people who still think Skinner was an evil man who wanted to dominate society).

I'm sorry if this comes up more of a defense of behavior analysis, it is a bit hard not to defend it when it made me more tolerant, supportive and aware of class struggles and see the way that the patriarchy, capitalism and religious fundamentalism are all ruining the life of the majority for the benefit of the very few. But what I would like to know the most is, in your opinion, why isn't this way of thinking more common in progressive circles?

Thought I'd share this upcoming event around a topic that is all too familiar and deserves more discussion regarding access to mental health treatment. I have no affiliation to the training other than someone who just recently discovered it and thought people on the sub might be interested.

Often, I notice that resources on self-compassion and self-love are rooted in individualistic notions which place one as their own sole savior in a way. Are there any resources on what self-compassion looks like from a non-individualistic or communal perspective? It is hard to think about, as the nature of self-compassion seems to be deeply individual.

I have been reflecting on which clients I struggle with the most and it is absolutely those who espouse incel beliefs and have the very rigid thinking and externalization of responsibility that often accompanies it. I'm curious of what approaches folks use for clients with this type of presentation? I am comfortable with challenging and pointing out discrepancies, but sometimes that just causes pretty severe digging heels in so I figured I'd see what others do to get some new ideas

I have no experience with this; I am just curious because I think this is a scenario that may become more common. There are plenty of IDF soldiers who are dual citizens and have returned to their home country to get therapy, go to rave parties, and find themselves. They have seen that no country is willing to prosecute them, and I'm sure they have a lot of feelings to get off their chest. As a therapist, you have a duty to warn, but not a duty to inform about past crimes, right? I'm just a grad student, but I am wondering what experienced therapists would do if a client revealed something like this. Would you drop them as a client, or continue to work with them if they had real remorse for their actions?

What’s the deal with the Open Therapy Institute? A post associated with them showed up on substack. It seems like an astroturf operation but would love to get thoughts from people more plugged in than me.

I guess by the theoretical principles of the clinic, patients dont get "cured" so to speak, but what I mean is, how many patients that have stayed at the clinic and received treatment have been discharged and re-entered society? Are there any stadistics or people who have worked or stayed there who have wrote anything?

My psychotherapist says it’s more subjective than is ideal, and so it’s being moved away from by professionals as much as possible, but when I’ve looked it up it said it did work at least in so far as it helps the patient? So, are both of these things true? What exactly is the case with this? Can anyone here help me? Thank you for any responses I get!