Rethinking Mental Health Practice: Four Shifts Towards Anti-Oppressive Wellbeing
Four ideas at the heart of my message
On Saturday, I had the privilege of speaking at the MCB Muslim Mental Health Summit, where I shared some reflections on how our profession is evolving, to best support clients and communities with a faith and culturally-sensitive, anti-oppressive approach.
Four ideas sat at the heart of my message:
1. There is no such thing as a "safe space".
Rather than assuming I am automatically a safe person, my role is to support people to feel safe enough, and hold in mind that they may not feel safe or safe enough with me, and recognising that I, too, have the potential to cause harm. That awareness is part of ethical practice.
2. To move from mental health to holistic wellbeing.
Mental health matters, but wellbeing is more than our minds. It is spiritual, emotional, physical, physiological, relational, social and cultural. We cannot understand wellbeing without considering the whole person.
3. To move from cultural competence to cultural attunement.
Competence suggests we can eventually "know enough." Attunement reminds us to remain curious, relational and responsive, recognising that people, identities and contexts are always evolving and individual to their Truth and lived experience.
4. To move from working 'with' diversity to working within diversity.
This idea sits at the heart of my book, Working Within Diversity. Diversity isn't something we occasionally encounter - it's the context within which every relationship exists.
Anti-oppressive practice isn't a checklist; it's an ongoing process of reflection, humility, accountability and learning.
These ideas continue to shape my work as a therapist, supervisor, trainer, colour analysis consultant and author, and I hope they encourage us to keep asking difficult questions about how we practise.
🌿 Which of these four ideas resonates most with you, and why?
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