Practical applications of a social justice agenda in counselling and psychotherapy: the relational equality in education framework (REEF)

ABSTRACT

Recently there has been an increasing focus on the social justice agenda in counselling and psychotherapy. To ensure that this does not merely function as rhetoric, therapists must consider how to translate their social justice values into action. In this paper we aim to extend current understandings of social justice by foregrounding an emphasis on relational equality and power. We consider the importance of educational settings as a site of social justice action for therapists, and set out the Relational Equality in Education Framework as an illustration of how therapists might work to enhance relational equality in education on micro, meso and macro levels. Such efforts would ensure the social justice work of therapists takes an important shift from rhetoric to action.

KEYWORDS:

• Counselling
• psychotherapy
• relational equality
• social justice
• education
• power

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Additional information

Funding

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Notes on contributors

Anna Fitzgibbon

Anna Fitzgibbon is a Trainee Counselling Psychologist at the University of Manchester, UK. Her research interests centre around social justice, equality, and education and how these can be incorporated into counselling psychology practice. Her current doctoral thesis is exploring relational (in)equality in educational settings.

Laura Anne Winter

Dr Laura Anne Winter is an HCPC registered Counselling Psychologist and Senior Lecturer in Education and Counselling Psychology at the University of Manchester, UK. Her research interests focus on the interrelationships between (in)equality, emotional well-being and educational experiences. She has published widely in counselling, counselling psychology and education, with much of her work looking at what social justice might mean for therapists and educators in theory and in practice. She co-edited the 4th edition of the SAGE Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy with Professors Colin Feltham and Terry Hanley.