Understanding Resistance as Failed Colonization: Confronting Self in the Therapeutic Alliance with Minoritized Groups

Duration: 57m 23s

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Most therapists have been taught that resistance is a “normal” part of our client’s process. There is often an underlying tone of blame in our case formulations when we employ the term resistance. The client is the culprit who has erected walls of resistance, and the aim of the therapeutic work is to demolish these walls.

What if we reframed resistance using a decolonial lens? What if we shifted from examining resistance as the client’s unwillingness to engage? What would we open ourselves to learning and unlearning if we interrogated our unwillingness to engage with clients from minoritized groups?

In this one-hour talk, Tracie explores how we can unintentionally create abusive dynamics in the therapeutic relationship when we do not practice from a place of awareness grounded in the reality of the systems of oppression in which we have all been socialized. Tracie outlines core tasks that we must rumble through if we are to decolonize our practice specifically when it comes to behaviours and approaches we typically label as “resistance.”

Tracie Rogers is a psychotherapist with formal training in social work and expressive arts therapies. She is the owner and managing director of Wholeness and Wellness Counselling Services Limited – a group private practice staffed by a range of professionals including a clinical social worker, sexologist, and clinical and counselling psychologists. Tracie has worked as a mental health professional for 19 years with a focused practice on psychosocial support for members of marginalized groups. She works with individuals and couples as well as provides clinical supervision for mental health professionals.

Akilah Riley-Richardson, MSW, CCTP, is a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, a Brainspotting Therapist and Relational Healing Facilitator. She has received training in various areas including Somatic Experiencing, Playback Theatre, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, Neuroscience, Compassion Focused Therapy, and Internal Family Systems Therapy.