Exploring White Racial Identity and it's Impact on Psychotherapy and Psychotherapy Organisations

I wish to acknowledge all my teachers, particularly my supervisor, Donna Ladkin, whose enthusiasm and appropriate challenge kept me going and helped me walk an extra mile with each thought I had. Other teachers have been many throughout my life including my late parents, Fred and Sally Ryde, my sister, Cath Ryde, my children, Adam, Daniel and Katherine; my formal teachers, particularly Heather Parr who told me that there were no 'ceilings' when it came to learning; my colleagues, particularly Tricia Scott and Michaela von Britzke who were always there to discuss ideas, Whiz Collis who trod the path with me some of the way, Robin Shohet and Joan Wilmot at the Centre for Staff Team Development who have accompanied me through much of my life and taught me so much; and others who engaged with me in dialogue throughout my inquiry including John Kirti Wheway who introduced me to the intersubjectivists, authors whose books enlightened me, particularly Robert Stolorow and Lynne Jacobs from the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in California; my friends Nicola Groves and Michaela Von Britzke for selflessly proof reading my drafts; my students who taught me more than I taught them; and my clients who taught me most of what I know about psychotherapy. Most of all I would like to thank my husband, Peter Hawkins, who always gave me love, encouragement and a good dose of often uncomfortable, but always useful, challenge.

I also wish to acknowledge my debt to Ben Okri whose poem Mental Fight I have used as chapter headings and in other places within the text. I used this poem as it repeatedly came to my mind as I wrote and then found that it spoke beautifully to each of my chapters. Maybe it is ironic, or maybe it is fitting, that, in writing a thesis about racialising whiteness, I should find inspiration in a poem written by someone who was born in Nigeria.

ABSTRACT

EXPLORING WHITE RACIAL IDENTITY AND ITS IMPACT ON PSYCHOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY ORGANISATIONS

PhD Thesis for the University of Bath

This thesis explores and examines my identity as a white psychotherapist within a racialised environment. In doing so I recognise the cultural power held by white people and that white people tend to regard themselves as culturally neutral. I explore the effect of these factors on myself, my practice, the psychotherapy profession and, to some extent, the wider society.

The thesis is in three parts, the first of which sets out the philosophical approach to my inquiry. The first chapter explores ontological and epistemological questions and the second sets out my methodology and shows how my inquiry and my thesis are valid.

The second part is a nuanced and detailed exploration of the experience of being white. I give an account of a co-operative inquiry with white psychotherapists and counsellors and show how this changed my own and other participants' perception of themselves within a racial context. I further explore guilt and shame in white people as this emerged as a particularly important theme.

The third part shows how my inquiry informs my practice as a psychotherapist. This includes, in chapter one, my work with individual clients where I explore the application of intersubjective psychotherapy to working across difference in culture as a white person. In chapter two I reflect on and act within the profession to improve sensitivity to cultural difference and diversity among practitioners, students and clients.

In conclusion this thesis contributes to the field by:

demonstrating the ways in which intersubjective psychotherapy can be applied to working as a ‘white’ person in a diverse environment or across cultural boundaries.
furthering an understanding of racism by showing how organising principles form and shape the way that we think.
showing how an awareness of 'whiteness' is important within a racialised environment as well as the implications of this for the way I practice.

Over all this inquiry is a many layered and nuanced account of a journey that has led me into to a deeper and deeper understanding of ‘white’ as a privileged racial identity. This has had a significant affect on my practice and has led me to conclusions which are important for the good practice of ‘white’ psychotherapists, ‘white’ psychotherapy institutions and for awareness of ‘whiteness’ more generally within a racialised environment.

Attention is drawn to the fact that copyright of this thesis rests with its author. This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author.

This thesis may be available for consultation within the University Library and may be photocopied or lent to other libraries for the purposes of consultation.

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