Counselling and Psychotherapy in Times of Political Violence

Only if you are a CPASS student/staff, please register on this link, NOT on Eventbrite: https://forms.gle/wS5bWMmUT62cWcXs7

“Counselling and Psychotherapy in Times of Political Violence” is a transdisciplinary symposium addressing poverty, forced displacement, racism, and misogyny as key forms of political violence which we see on the rise globally. Grounded in the psychosocial perspective that our inner world and the sociopolitical environments are intertwined, the symposium explores the potential of counselling and psychotherapy in understanding and working with the impacts of political violence in therapeutic and training settings. The symposium brings together researchers from various fields such as culture and media studies, psychoanalytic and psychosocial studies, post-colonial studies, and feminist studies. It promotes a collaborative, reflexive approach to generate a collective inquiry on the impacts of political violence within therapeutic and training settings and how we may bridge the gap between theory and practice, psyche and social, by exploring the political dimensions of counselling and psychotherapy.

The symposium will be held at the University of Edinburgh's Old College. The symposium is convened by Dr Nini Fang and Rhea Gandhi in collaboration with several PhD and ProfDoc students based at Edinburgh, Mingxi Li, Kartika Ladwal, and Sarah Nghidinwa. It is organised jointly by the Centre for Creative-Relational Inquiry and the Association for Psychosocial Studies and is supported by alumni and friends of the University of Edinburgh through the Student Experience Grants scheme.

The symposium is free to attend and open to all, bringing together counselling and psychotherapy communities both within and outwith Edinburgh. Lunch (meat, vegetarian, and vegan options) and light refreshments will be provided on the day. We would kindly invite that participants with specific food allergy and intolerance to prepare your own food.

Conference convenors:

Dr Nini Fang, University of Edinburgh [email protected]

Rhea Gandhi, University of Edinburgh [email protected]

SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE - 30TH JUNE , FRIDAY

10.00 - 10.20 Registration

10.20 – 10.40 Symposium Opening: “Counselling and Psychotherapy in Times of Political Violence” by Dr Nini Fang, Lecturer and Convenor of the Symposium [University of Edinburgh]

10.40 – 11.40 Session i:“Poverty as Political Violence” by Dr Lucy Stroud [University of Aberdeen]

Chaired by Mingxi Li, Prof-Doc Researcher [University of Edinburgh]

11.40 – 12.00 Coffee/Tea Break

12.00 – 1.00 Session ii:“Forced Displacement as Political Violence” by Shireen Dossa, PhD Researcher [University of Essex]

“Coloniality and racism as political violence”by Rhea Gandhi, PhD Researcher and Co-convenor of the Symposium [University of Edinburgh]

Chaired by Kartika Ladwal, Prof-Doc Researcher [University of Edinburgh]

1-2.30: Lunch @ Playfrair Library, Old College

2.30 – 3.30 Session iii:“Misogyny as Political Violence” by Lasse Schaefer, PhD Researcher [University of Edinburgh]

“Transphobic ideologies as Political Violence” by Jaz Halow, Prof-Doc Researcher [University of Edinburgh]

Chaired by Sarah Nghidinwa, Prof-Doc Researcher [University of Edinburgh]

3.30 – 3.50 Break

3.50 – 4.50 Final Plenary: “Counselling and Psychotherapy in Times of Political ViolenceG.159 MacLaren Stuart Room, Old College

4.50 – 5.00 Closing and Event Evaluation

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME AND SPEAKER INFORMATION

Opening:

“Counselling and Psychotherapy in Times of Political Violence”

Dr Nini Fang [University of Edinburgh]

Symposium Introduction

How can psychosocial perspectives inspire more critical and reflexive understanding of the often traumatising yet little-discussed impacts of political violence? How can counselling and psychotherapy respond to and work with the sociopolitical sufferings of our time? This symposium highlights the significance of exploring these questions as essential to enabling the potential of counselling and psychotherapy in allyship with social and racial justice endeavours. Most importantly, the symposium recognises the importance of establishing spaces within the university as institutional and educational settings which play a crucial role in promoting community care, solidarity, and support and in serving as a platform for collective knowledge production that directly addresses real-world issues.

Speaker information

Dr Nini Fang is a Lecturer in Counselling, Psychotherapy and Applied Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. She has published extensively in the field of psychosocial studies and recently won the Good Practice Research Award in the category of Positive Disruptor in 2022 in recognition of her sustained achievements in innovating and revitalising research practices that promote social and racial justice and equality. She is a Scholar of the British Psychoanalytic Council. She sits on the Executive Board for the Association for Psychosocial Studies and the Editorial Boards for New Associations and Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society.

Session i:

“Poverty as Political Violence” by Dr Lucy Stroud [University of Aberdeen]

Session Information:

“My mum is like my best friend, and she always comes to me quite a lot saying she’s worrying about things like with money and stuff and she’s really stressed, I worry about her a lot.”

“What am I supposed to do because right now I’m unemployed. How am I supposed to cover my bills and get a job? What I’m getting now, just isn’t enough, so what am I meant to do?”

“The UC (universal credit) I’m getting is not enough really for everything. Do you eat, do you keep warm, do you have a roof over your head?” (Quotes from young people at Station House Media Unit)

The austerity programme, implemented by the Coalition and Conservative governments in 2010 and reignited in 2021, has had devastating consequences that continue into the present-day cost of living crisis. It involved withdrawing support from vulnerable members of society, resulting in an additional 335,000 deaths between 2012 and 2019 in Scotland, England, and Wales. Austerity measures have significantly impacted life expectancy, especially in the most deprived areas of the UK. For many, the effects of these policies have been fatal, leaving survivors of such policy "fatigued, stressed, depressed, and ill" (Cooper & White, 2017: 02). Dr. Stroud will argue for a psychosocial exploration of poverty and the impact of austerity measures, examining the interconnectedness of psychic and social processes, which are mutually constitutive and co-produced (Frosh, 2018: 7). Drawing on her fieldwork at Station House Media Unit (shmu), an organization in Aberdeen that supports young people from regeneration areas, she will explore to what extent spaces like shmu can mitigate the effects of living with austerity. The discussion will conclude with attendees invited to reflect on our current social milieu and engage their knowledge and experiences in dialogue with shmu's Challenge Poverty Week film.

Speaker information

Dr. Lucy Stroud conducted her PhD research at the University of Aberdeen, analyzing Real Life magazines from a psychosocial perspective. Her extensive experience as a journalist for national newspapers and Real Life magazines informed her research. She specifically focused on socio-economic and political loss, employing a psychosocial lens to explore the psychological implications of loss and how it is influenced by social class and gender, leading to melancholia. Dr. Stroud holds the ISRF Independent Scholar Fellow (2023-2024), based at the University of Edinburgh, where she is working on her research project titled "Reimagining the Real Life magazine, teenage girls and melancholic communities." The project involves collaborating with socially deprived teenage girls from Aberdeen to create a real-life magazine. Dr. Stroud's work extends beyond academia, as she serves on the Executive Board of the Association of Psychosocial Studies and is recognized as a Scholar of the British Psychoanalytic Council.

Session ii:

“Forced Displacement as Political Violence” by Shireen Dossa, PhD Researcher [University of Essex]

Session Information

For refugees, seeking safety is an ongoing challenge which goes beyond fleeing conflict and violence in the home country. Refugees are met with further marginalization and politicization of their identities in host countries through hostile environments, policies, labels and language around the asylum system. This session is to consider and explore the complexity of the refugee experience, its sociopolitical nature and its presence in clinical encounters.

Speaker information

Shireen Dossa is a registered Counselling Psychologist currently working with refugees and people seeking asylum, particularly children and young people. Her PhD thesis looks at the experience of agency of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the UK. Some of her interests include multilingualism in therapy and couple work.

“Coloniality and racism as political violence” by Rhea Gandhi, PhD Researcher [University of Edinburgh]

Session Information

Coloniality and racism take an interwoven and insidious form within our psyches and societies. These dynamics play into our relationships with ourselves, others, our clients, our experiences with counselling professionals and how we practice as psychotherapists. This session attempts to explore and bring to life the intersectional nuances of how this presents and manifests in our psychosocial, relational worlds.

Speaker information

Rhea Gandhi is an Indian psychotherapist (MBACP), group therapist, educator and PhD student at the University of Edinburgh. She is the winner of the Division of Psychoanalysis (APA - 39) Scholar Award in 2022. She is on the executive committee of the Association of Psychosocial Studies and the Indian Chapter of the International Attachment Network. Her published research and interests seek to explore therapy as a space for working through not only intrapsychic & interpersonal distress but also systemic, transgenerational wounds & hegemonic trauma.

Session iii:

“Misogyny as Political Violence” by Lasse Schaefer, PhD Researcher [University of Edinburgh]

Session Information

This presentation explores how misogynistic beliefs are formed within incel ideologies. By analysing data from an active incel forum, it focuses on an examination of popular discussions that contribute to the creation and perpetuation of incel narratives. Using a discursive psychology framework, the presentation examines how personal experiences, case studies, and scientific claims are transformed into justifications for extreme misogynistic views. By shedding light on this discursive creation of 'evidence', the presentation will deepen our understanding on how incel beliefs are developed and sustained. Moreover, the presentation highlights the implications for countering misogynistic ideologies and addressing political violence, calling for a closer examination of regulatory strategies that consider the discursive shaping of evidence. This research contributes to the broader discussion on extremism, misogyny, and online radicalisation.

Speaker information

Max Lasse Schaefer is a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh since 2020, specialising in the discursive creation of evidence for misogynistic beliefs within incel ideologies. Under the guidance of Sue Widdicombe, Lasse examines the day-to-day processes involved in the formation and perpetuation of these extreme ideologies.

“Transphobic ideologies as Political Violence” by Jaz Halow, Prof-Doc Researcher [University of Edinburgh]

Session Information

Within the context of embedded western ideologies, Transphobic witch hunts, and haunting reveries, my fictive client Charlie and I invite you to join us in a wondering of how counsellors may use intersectional feminism and reflectivity in their practice to approach the less named of politics in the counselling room. From the introduction of how these stories of gender relations and sexual violence emerge to the murky soup of a fictive case study it generates; we will attempt to savour the less tolerable of how a post Trump presidency has built upon colonised gender relations and left the counselling profession with pressures to how they may respond to Transphobic legislation. The hope, in these reflections and exploration through the use of fictional writing, is how we may find an answer to be with my fictive client Charlie and articulate where these Transphobic ideologies emerge in the intersubjective space of our fictive session.

Speaker information

Originally from the United States, Jaz Halow is a BACP registered counsellor, CIMSPA certified fitness instructor, and a final year professional doctorate researcher at the University of Edinburgh. Jaz's counselling practice and doctoral thesis focus on clinical reflections on working with clients who have experienced sexual violence in the United Kingdom. Her research interests revolve around the embodiment of trauma and the intersubjective dynamics that arise when the client's and counsellor’s political realities intersect within the counselling setting.

If you have any further inquiries, please contact Rhea Gandhi on [email protected]

We look forward to seeing you on the day.

Conference convenors

Dr Nini Fang, University of Edinburgh

Rhea Gandhi, University of Edinburgh

Host or Publisher University of Edinburgh, CPASS