The Neglected Characteristic: A Conversation about Class – Carly Read

Counselling and psychotherapy is often stereotyped as a middle class, privileged profession-perhaps for good reason? Not only is it notoriously difficult for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds to train as therapists in the first instance-there is also the issue that for so many people therapy itself is unaffordable and inaccessible, meaning that those from lower income backgrounds often don’t have the chance to get through the door at all. Though Carly recognises that we are far away from ‘revolution’, she aims to shed light on a topic we don’t (in her opinion) talk about enough, while exploring ‘our’ social responsibility as a profession in breaking down ‘class’ barriers, drawing upon examples from her own client work and experience.

Learning Objective Participants Can Expect From This Event

• I want for people to take away a deeper understanding of why acknowledging class as counsellors is important if we truly want to cultivate a diverse and inclusive practice
• I want for people to have an opportunity to reflect upon their own ‘class’ background and how this might impact upon or influence their own therapeutic work
• I want for me to go away with having reflected upon the responsibility of the profession in breaking down barrier to access.

Who is This Workshop Appropriate For?

• Therapists, and those interested in therapeutic work or in supportive roles. It might also be of interest to those from working class backgrounds who have accessed therapy or plan to, yet find themselves disillusioned with the process.

How May This Workshop Impact Your Practice?

• By providing a deeper understanding of how ‘class’ may impact on the therapeutic relationship and how its might affect opportunities to access and engage with counselling in the first instance.

ZOOM 

This event will be hosted on the Zoom meeting platform where we will use our cameras and microphones to interact with each other as a group.

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At Onlinevents, we and the presenters we collaborate with are committed to working in a way that aligns with the ethical codes and frameworks of our respective professional organisations. We expect all colleagues attending our events to uphold the ethical principles of their professional membership.

If you are not a member of a professional organisation, we ask that you participate in a way that is both authentic and respectful, fostering a space of mutual learning and professional engagement.

By registering for this event, you agree to be present and interact in a manner that reflects these principles.

Carly Read

Carly is a feminist Marxist therapist and Art activist, with a background in the voluntary sector and years of experience in private practice. Currently she works as the Creative Arts therapist for a young people’s social mental health charity in Bristol. Carly is also a member of the Red Clinic- a collective of left-wing therapists committed to promoting radical approaches to counselling & psychotherapy, with the goal of making therapy accessible to the working classes and ‘the oppressed.’ She holds qualifications in Counselling, Sociology, Politics and Art which have enabled her to ‘transcend’ (though she rejects the concept) her working-class roots and feel smug. She believes that the ‘personal really is political’, a key thread which runs throughout all of her work.