Sometimes I think that the ways in which many of the Therapy Today articles come about could be features in themselves, and particularly so with this issue. Kwame Opoku’s fascinating article, ‘The legacy of the barrel children’ started from an email from Kwame enquiring about how Therapy Today planned to cover the 75th anniversary of HMT Empire Windrush. An email exchange was followed by a Zoom chat in which Kwame talked with passion about creative projects that have recently explored the impact of the fracturing of families due to immigration. I am pleased to say he agreed to channel that enthusiasm into an article.
For some features, the route is more direct. Our ‘Big interview’, for instance, came from a simple request from member Helen George, who has been a committed advocate for Therapy Today marking Black History Month since 2018. Helen told me how much she’d like to interview Foluke Taylor about her new book, Unruly Therapeutic, which among other subjects explores feminism through a black lens. Given that Helen is a current doctorate researcher immersed in black feminist scholarship, I could think of no one better to do it.
Research and the people driving it is a thread that runs through the whole issue. In our regular ‘Research digest’ pages we spotlight four practitioners whose research aims to develop understanding of race in the therapeutic context. And in our ‘Big issue’, PhD candidate Anthea Benjamin talks to the female practitioners who are breaking down barriers to bring the black female voice to academia and counselling and psychotherapy research.
"An idea formed about what might emerge from a conversation about black men and therapy between two such innovative practitioners"
There’s a research connection to our ‘Talking point’ story too. That all started from an email from Joden Joseph, introducing himself as one of the first recipients of BACP’s new bursary scheme. I had recently also been in touch with Rotimi Akinsete about his Black Men on the Couch project. An idea formed about what might emerge from a conversation about black men and therapy between two such dynamic and innovative practitioners, from different generations but with a shared vision and creative approach to their profession. But then the question was, who would lead the conversation? It needed a practitioner who could bring the benefit of their own informed standpoint. In a kind of serendipity, that same day I happened to attend a seminar in which Mary Atito presented her PhD research into black men’s experiences of therapy and I knew immediately that she would be perfect. Happily she agreed and you can read the resulting conversation.
I’d like to also thank the rest of the contributors to this issue who have shared their experiences and knowledge. Although the themes are related to Black History Month they are also universal and cover humanity, ethics, best practice and how we break down barriers to understanding people who feel different from us.
As ever, we welcome your feedback to therapytoday@thinkpublishing.co.uk
Sally Brown, Editor
