(Guest Post by Makensie Mauney-McDaniel)

Working in a field that’s in a broken system can be frustrating.

It’s vital to ensure that your work and field are safe and do not endanger clients more. Lack of access to mental health services, disparities in diagnosis based on race and ethnicity, forced hospitalizations, therapy requirements, low pay, inadequate training for numerous underrepresented groups, overwork, and evidence-based interventions that lack cultural competence are just a few examples of the lack of progressiveness in this field.

“Therapy is personal, and the personal is political” is a quote I see everywhere, and someone suggested that it originated from Carol Hanisch’s 1969 essay. People need therapists who share this belief because, in my opinion, it demonstrates their comprehension and skill as therapists to be aware of their ethical obligations.

Their field has many ethical codes and principles of justice and advocacy. You are trained to be more impartial in graduate school and on licensing examinations, but that isn’t how things actually work when you apply ethics to real-world scenarios. It would be detrimental to our clients if we remained impartial, which would involve ignoring the sociopolitical impacts on them.

When we talk about access to care, stigma reduction, treatment and prevention, and fundamental human rights, policy intersects with the field.

To determine whether your therapist is genuinely establishing a safe space for you, I urge everyone to inquire about their beliefs and areas of alignment. If someone is deliberately voting against your rights and best interests, they cannot be able to sympathize with the pain you’re experiencing and hold space for you.

Don’t get me wrong, therapists should never force their beliefs on others, but if the client asks, there should be transparency, mainly depending on the type of work we do in the field. If the client is dealing with trauma, they need to be able to trust that the person in front of them sees them as human beings and believes in their rights.

Therefore, asking your therapist about their political beliefs and determining whether they fit you well should be normal. It’s worth knowing if they are implementing or engaging in decolonizing, antiracist, somatic practices.

It’s essential to have a therapist who’s not going to tell you to self-care yourself out of oppression.

It’s crucial to avoid getting gaslighted by a therapist who uses cognitive behavioral therapy to reframe your unreasonable beliefs about hate crimes against your community or the threat to your fundamental rights.

Seek out somebody who will affirm you, listen to you, allow you to grieve, teach you your rights, and assist you in locating support and community.

Makensie Mauney-McDaniel holds a Master of Science in Counselor Education from  East Carolina University.  She is the mother of a beautiful baby boy named Myles and is currently enjoying her role as a stay-at-home mom.