06 June 2024
The four spiral chat themes were chosen collaboratively by the team of eight key collaborators based on their pivotal importance to contemporary therapeutic practice.
Curated by Dr Gávi Ansara (He/him), Convenor of the Diversity in Gender, Body, Kinship, and Sexuality (GBKS) Leadership Group, the Day 2 spiral chat workshop series will follow this sequence:
Spiral Chat 1: 10:00 am-11:15 am. Moving beyond the Myth of the Alphabet Soup
Spiral Chat 2: 11:30 am – 12:45 pm. Addressing racism, colonisation, and ethnocentrism in professional models of GBKS lived experience
Spiral Chat 3: 1:45 pm-3:00 pm. Queer kinships and GBKS community care
Spiral chat 4: 3:15 pm-4:30 pm. Good intentions, harmful practices: Making the shift from performative allyship toward accountable solidarity
Deepening and broadening practitioners' understanding
Past Deputy Convenor of the GBKS Leadership Group PJ Menon (they/she) expressed excitement about collaborating with the group again, this time as a key collaborator. Describing their hopes for the day, PJ said, "through our collaborative spiral chats as practitioners drawing on insights from lived experience, we hope to deepen and broaden practitioners' understanding of our distinct vocabularies of emotion and kinship, cultural protocols, needs, and communities."
Noting the need for Spiral Chat 1, PJ explained that "the Alphabet Soup model prioritises certain excluded or marginalised lived experiences while deprioritising and excluding others. This approach can often result in confusion about the range of distinct lived experiences being described. Many practitioners are unfamiliar with more inclusive conceptual models from around the world. I'm looking forward to multiple perspectives on how to find inclusive and accurate language that centres lived experience perspectives and makes deeper and broader understanding of our distinct experiences as folks with excluded or marginalised GBKS lived experiences."
College of Creative and Experiential Therapies (C.CET) member Rae Sabine (they/them), an arts therapist, psychotherapist, and accredited supervisor who is featured in PACFA’s June edition of the Day in the Life Series, noted that the Day 2 lived experience leadership workshops offered practitioners an opportunity "to move beyond the conventional relationship models dictated by dominant societal norms."
Rae also shared their reason for wanting to attend both the Indigenous Healing Practices workshops on Day 1, and the Day 2 Spiral Chat 2 on Racism, colonisation, and ethnocentrism in professional models of GBKS:
"As a practitioner with white Anglophone privilege and settler privilege, I feel it's important to learn from those who are directly affected by racism, colonisation and ethnocentrism in order to decolonise my own practice. This is why these Learning from Lived Experience workshops are so important", Rae said.
Rae also reflected on the importance of Spiral Chat 3:
"As a queer practitioner, queer kinships are a significant part of my life and wellbeing. However, numerous practitioners are lacking personal experience with queer communities and may not fully grasp the importance of why queer forms of kinship and queer community care are vital to us. It is crucial for professionals working with queer participants to comprehend the fundamental significance of queer relationships in our lives, and to familiarise themselves with the roles, ideas, and cultural dynamics that shape our relationships."
Convenor of the Diversity in GBKS Leadership Group and curator of the Day 2 workshop series, Dr Gávi Ansara (He/him), highlighted the value of Spiral Chat 4:
“So often, folks in our communities share experiences of attempting to raise concerns with their ‘well-meaning’ therapist or clinical supervisor, only to be met with denial, blame, or hostility that shut down possibilities for healing and growth. Genuine good intentions give people a reason to transform their practices, not an exemption from accountability. I’m passionate about developing a professional culture in which we as practitioners can acknowledge unintended harm to marginalised people without denial or blame, prioritise the feelings and needs of marginalised people who raise these valid concerns, and develop the skills to hold each other accountable with respect and support. Spiral Chat 4 is an invitation to be part of this essential process.”
Reflecting on his hopes for Day 2, current member of the Diversity in GBKS Leadership Group, Francis Voon (he/him) said, "Join us as we speak about themes from our lived experience. Spiral chats are always an interesting journey, so we look forward to seeing what unfolds in the conversation."
In addition to their comments about Days 1 and 2, Rae added:
"As a neurodivergent practitioner, I also look forward to attending Day 3, as I aim to challenge oppressive, pathologising perspectives that could unintentionally affect my work. Depathologising mental health matters to me, because I am passionate about people's autonomy to interpret the meaning of their own lived experiences."
Click here to learn more about and register for PACFA’s 3-day Lived Experience Leadership Workshop Series.