Queering evidence-based practice

Abstract

That which is currently understood as evidence-based practice within the discipline of psychology primarily relies upon a positivist interpretation of the world around us. Although such an interpretation may be argued by some to be useful, others argue that it fails to recognise the impact of social contexts and the role they play in producing particular negative mental health outcomes for marginalised groups. In this article, I argue for an alternate account of evidence, where the fact of social norms is taken as our evidence base and where practitioners actively strive to examine power in the counselling setting and in the lives of clients. Building on work in the field of narrative therapy in productive ways, I explore four case studies from my own practice to elaborate an approach to counselling in relation to issues of gender, sexuality and identity that (1) recognises the operations of top-down power both within the counselling space and in the world more broadly, (2) understands individuals as a ‘fold’ of the social and (3) holds practitioners to account for the evidentiary claims that we make.

Keywords:

• counselling
• queering
• evidence
• power
• accountability
• subjectivity

Acknowledgements

I begin by acknowledging the sovereignty of the Kaurna people, the First Nations people upon whose land I live in Adelaide, South Australia. Thanks must go to Sue Mann for many conversations about my counselling work and to Heather Fraser and the students in our Gender and Sexuality course for stimulating conversations on issues related to practice with LGBT people.