Sharing approaches to anti-oppressive practice (part 2)
Conversations
InSight – Autumn 2024
We invited authors Hannah Taylor-Johnson, Kim Valldejuli and Lesli-Ann Belnavis Elliott to share their approaches to anti-oppressive art therapy practice by asking each other questions about their recent articles, published in the International and Canadian journals of art therapy.
In this second part, Hannah puts her questions to Kim and Lesli-Ann, whose paper calls for a more robust intersectional approach in art therapy training.
Your paper speaks to feelings of disconnect, invalidation, and moments reminiscent of ancestral enslavement. What parts of creating this framework helped you find that re-validation and reconnection to the career and, perhaps, yourself and your ancestral lineage?
Hannah
Kim and Lesli-Ann: Our framework, the ‘Afro-Caribbean Art Therapy Approach’’ uses an intersectional framework to engage in a more equitable, culturally relevant practice. This framework honours our shared colonialised histories, the resulting integrations and struggles, and the emerging perspectives of practitioners from and within the Caribbean.
In articulating the need for this framework, we recognised an unspoken sense of community. We realised that although our experiences were unique, they shared a common thread. This understanding reinforced the idea that even though we came from different Caribbean islands and trained in different countries, there was a powerful resonance in our journeys. This shared connection was not only validating but empowering.
Part of this empowerment was being able to acknowledge our feelings of disconnect, invalidation and to make meaning of our experiences in the context of the colonialised ‘other’, in turn, recognising that our colonial histories have shaped who we are.
These were transformative moments of acknowledging our identities and reconnecting with our essence as a ‘people’. It asserted the role of intuition, community and lived experiences while also embracing cultural respect, awareness and diversity within therapeutic space. Albeit, whilst remaining mindful of the complex and dynamic layers inherent in our therapeutic approaches.
A key aspect of this multifaceted experience is the spirit of intuition and shared experiences within communal spaces ;such as being female Caribbean art therapists trained in Eurocentric models and returning to our native countries, where identifying, navigating, and integrating cultural practices are deeply connected to our ancestral lineage
We cannot disconnect our ancestral histories from who we are or who our clients are. People of Black heritage can often be dismissed within academic discourse because our experiences can be difficult to capture using the established western research methodologies. However, it does not mean that the experience is any less important or should not be valued.
Creating this framework has been a labour of love. We hope it will give voice to our ways of knowing and challenge the status quo.
Do you have any reflections on art therapists and their willingness to engage in a level of self-reflexivity where voice can be given to the client’s cultural and spiritual experience?
Hannah
Kim and Lesli-Ann: Self-reflexivity is critical and should be approached on a tiered level. Growth can never occur if one, especially a therapist, is unwilling or unable to question self, their actions, how they perceive and understand what the client presents, nor are open to meet the client where they are at.
Training encourages art therapists to engage in self-assessment, but it often feels like this is to be done with specific themes or topics in mind. The concept of spirituality, for example, does not seem prioritised as an area requiring self-reflexivity, even though, for a client, it may be holistic and integral for building connection within the therapeutic space.
Often, when cultural elements and biases exist within the therapeutic relationship, it is difficult to engage the client in a way that is useful. Meeting a client where they are at means having an openness to understand how they communicate and express themselves outside of talking, and what grounds or centres them on a spiritual or cultural level (ie. prayer, use of crystals, arts-based outlets). This strengthens connection because within our cultural context that gives voice – we see them and they see us for who we are. This is a complex dynamic but one that supports the disclosure of often unvoiced generational traumas.
This work is challenging especially when belief systems and language differ because understanding socio-cultural phenomena may vary. This is where culturally sensitive supervision is helpful for a therapist, as self-reflection may mean reassessing one’s ever-changing roles and interactions with a client. For example, the therapist’s role may shift from being a teacher, friend, parent figure, to healer or guide. As a therapist, it means being open and honest with yourself to adjust.
Your paper speaks to competence building and validation of the therapist working within the Caribbean diaspora. It’s a great step toward making therapies accessible and safer for this community. I’m curious how you think the narrative could continue shifting in order to reduce the constant need of resistance to taught practices that aren’t as beneficial to Afro-Caribbean clients?
Hannah
This is a challenging process because the ‘narrative‘ has been so ingrained in pedagogy, the performance of therapy and academia in general. Shifting the narrative may also entail a constant revisiting and redefining of what therapy looks like and how different clients respond to it, supporting the transition from linear to evolving dialogues.
This process of shifting the narrative has unique layers, values, approaches and responses which are dependent or adapted based on who is conducting the therapy, where it is being done and with whom. The narrative needs to be less black and white and more accommodating, open and honest, with the understanding that the Afro-Caribbean client is multifaceted.
As we continue to engage in these intersectional reflections which have the power to be evocative and transformative, we draw on our traditions and our ancestries, utilising the artforms to strengthen our practice, engage with individual self-reflexivity and to guide us in how we may best continue to build community.
There is a proverb with connections to west, east and southern Africa that says, “If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far, go together.” This is part of an ethos of our ancestry which values community. Building community is an important part of continuing to shift this narrative, acknowledging and reaffirming our practices and ‘decolonising’ our approaches in ways that fit with our values and the needs of our clients. There will always be resistance, but building community and sharing our voices is a huge start.
Read part one of this series
In our previous issue, Kim and Lesli-Ann put their questions to Hannah, whose paper explores knitting as a way of honouring Black ancestry and creating storytelling through community, belonging and reframing guilt.
Read more about anti-oppressive art therapy
To read more about anti-oppressive art therapy, you can read the special issue of the International Journal of Art Therapy. If you are one of our members, you can read the journal for free through your memberzone.
References
- ‘Shifting the narrative: an intersectional exploration of art therapy in the Caribbean’ Belnavis Elliott, L and Valldejuli, K. International Journal of Art Therapy
- ‘Knitting as a way of honoring Black ancestry and creating storytelling through community, belonging, and the reframing of grief: a womanist perspective’ Taylor-Johnson, H, Canadian Journal of Art Therapy (2023)