This seminar explores the concept of epistemic justice in therapy—how knowledge, power, and voice influence therapeutic relationships, and vice versa. Nicola will describe the ways dominant narratives, implicit biases, coloniality, and institutional structures can create epistemic injustices, particularly for minoritised and marginalised clients. She will unpack how as therapists we can recognise and challenge these injustices by responding to clients as credible knowers of their own experiences, and by advocating for the validity of lived experience knowledge.
Through a combination of theoretical discussion and reflective exercises, attendees will learn how to integrate epistemic justice into their therapeutic practice, ensuring that clients’ voices are heard, respected, and centred in ways that align with ethical and anti-oppressive frameworks.
Learning Objective Participants Can Expect From This Event
- Understand and recognise epistemic injustice—differentiate between testimonial and hermeneutical injustice and their relevance to therapy.
- Challenge dominant narratives that silence or discredit clients’ lived experiences.
- Develop epistemically just practices, including active listening, co-construction of meaning, and transparency in therapeutic decision-making.
Who is This Workshop Appropriate For?
- Qualified and trainee therapists and allied health professionals.
How May This Workshop Impact Your Practice?
- This workshop will enable participants to deepen their knowledge and awareness of epistemic injustice, and view their anti-oppressive practice through the specific lens of epistemic justice.