An Invitation to White Therapists

Are you ready to look within?

H.C. Dawes, LCSW, LCAS
Elemental

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Photo: SDI Productions/E+/Getty Images

In 2012, I fell in love with the art, science, and practice of psychotherapy. As I see it, spaces created by this discipline serve as oxygen to the crushing suffocation of the anti-Black, homophobic circumstances permeating the air I strive to breathe.

Learning how to be a therapist has not only sharpened my eyes to see myself more clearly, but also honed my ability to see my colleagues and the world. I believe the world can be changed by clearly seeing ourselves and others.

It is with love and dedication to what it means to see ourselves, as therapists, that I offer the following invitation.

Over the past eight years, I’ve worked in a number of settings that have exposed me to various mental health disciplines, including social work, psychiatry, counseling, and psychology. With this professional background, I can confidently attest that we, as therapists, are failing to create space for Black and Brown people and the totality of their lived experiences.

Your lack of action becomes another retraumatizing vehicle failing to undo the pervasive messages that say Black and Brown people are subhuman — less than dogs.

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