Who does thy think thy art?
Vicky Gaughan MA
After the uprising –by Robert Koenig
a sculpture of 7 sweet chestnut trees
Who do you think you are?
‘You’ve got to swing it, shake it, move it, make
it, who do you think you are?
Trust it, use it, prove it, groove it,
show me how good you are,
Swing it, shake it, move it, make it,
who do you think you are?
Trust it, use it, prove it, groove it,
show me how good you are’
CLASS IN ME
 Self exploration revealed a
BIGGER PICTURE
We cannot separate the social
from the psychic – Walkerdine
(2007)
ABSENT FRAMEWORK
Class has the potential to evoke extremely
charged and difficult emotions; it can be a
determining aspect of early experience; some
internalised aspects of class experience can
be unconscious; and yet there appears to be
an absence of frameworks for thought and
discussion within the psychotherapy
profession
– Ryan (2006)
CLASS IN YOU?

A phenomenological study using
grounded theory data analysis.

The lived experience of seven
Psychotherapists & Counsellors

60 – 90 minute interviews
A WORD TO
DESCRIBE THE
PHENOMENA?
Classism
‘overly dogmatic and overly
focussed views = ism’
– Brislin (1993)
CULTURE SHOCK




Not understanding
the rules
Isolation &
Confusion
Feeling Shame
Being Infantalised
To ignore issues of
class is detrimental
Issacs (2006)
CIVILISED OPPRESSION
Subtle
 Concealed
 Intangible
 Distorting
 Privilege
 With a Smile…

Harvey (1999)
In my second year of training I kinda
isolated myself… it’s difficult to have
those issues ignored constantly…
there were aspects of myself just
absolutely shut down because it was
not possible to have those
conversations in any way. I feel very,
very irritated… it’s very, very
painful…and has left me feeling
(emotion in her voice), I don’t know…
left me feeling… erm… very
disillusioned – Imla
INTERNALISED
OPPRESSION
I think there’s this
absolute blindness you
know, that actually
anybody can be sitting
there feeling
inadequate, inferior
having their language
undermined erm and
the people in authority
don’t see it. – Margaret
AN ELITE ACTIVITY?
‘The counselling community’s failure to
confront class inequalities and different
experiences of class disadvantaged
people (trainees as well as clients),
results in counselling becoming an elite
activity’ (pp. 113 – 114, Kearney 2003).
CLASS IN YOUR
PROFESSION
Without
Vision?
Without
Hearing?
FAILING INSTITUTION?

The innovative work of
the last two decades on
gender, race and
sexuality within the
psychoanalytic field has
not been matched by
equivalent attention to
class. – Ryan (2006)
 Omission
is
logically a
natural outcome
of a greater
culture of
silence –
Nelson et al
(2006)
Very few would have an understanding...
it’s one thing having one level of
understanding if one tutor understands,
she may come from a working class
background. It’s not enough…the
institution isn’t permeated with
understanding, it needs to be somewhere
at the heart, the beating heart of the
organisation…it’s not enough, it’s
breadcrumbs, it’s not enough. One tutor
or two tutors out of three or four years of
training… there needs to be much more
awareness of these kinds of issues – Imla
CARDIAC ARREST
Defibrillation (electric
shock treatment for
heart attack) of current
counselling and
psychotherapy training
is called for to place
class issues, to use
Imlas’ words, at the
‘beating heart of the
organisation’.
THE FUTURE

Boldly going…
– C&P for social responsibility
UKCP Diversity Equality Social
Responsibility Committee (DESR)
PCSR
Economic
Inequality/Class
References:



Kearney, A. (2003). Class and Counselling. In:
Lago, C. and Smith, B. ed. Anti-Discriminatory
Counselling Practice. London, Sage Publications,
pp.109-119.
Kearny, A. (1996). Counselling, Class and Politics:
Undeclared influences in Therapy. Manchester,
PCSS Books.
Issac, M. (2006). Psychodynamic Counselling and
Class. In ed.Wheeler, S. Difference and Diversity
in Counselling: Contempory Psychodynamic
Perspectives. Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan,
pp.156-167.
Harvey, J. (1999). Civilised Oppression. USA, Rowan
and Littlefield.
Ballinger, L. Wright, J. (2007). ‘Does Class Count?’
Social Class and Counselling, Counselling and
Psychotherapy Research. 7(3), September, pp.157-163.
Anthias, F. (2005). Social Stratification and Social
Inequality: Models of Intersectionality and Identity.
In: Rethinking Class, Culture, Identities and Lifestyle, ed
Divine, F. Savage, M. Scott, J. Crompton, R.
Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 24 – 44
Nelson, M. Englar – Carson, M. Tierney, S. Hau, J.
(2006). Class Jumping Into Academia: Multiple
Identities for Counselling Academics, Journal of
Counselling Psychology. 53(1), pp.1-14.
Ryde, J. (2009). Being White in the Helping
Professions: Developing Intercultural Awareness.
London, Jessica Kingsley.
Ryan, J. (2006). “Class is in you”: An Exploration of
some Social Class issues in Psychotherapeutic
Work, British Journal of Psychotherapy [Internet] 23(1)
pp. 49-62 available from: Leeds Metropolitan
University Library online [accessed 4/1/09].
Scott, J. (1990). Domination and the Arts of
Resistance: Hidden Transcripts. New Haven, Yale
University Press.
Walkerdine, V. (2007). Class in the Consulting
Room, Psychotherapy and Politics
Ward, C. Bochner, S. Furnham, A. (2001). The
Psychology of Culture Shock 2nd Ed. New York,
Routledge.