A fair, inclusive and diverse profession. 
My view - Aseia Rafique

Our goal is to ensure that anyone who needs counselling is able to access equitable, ethical and effective support which is right for them.

We believe valuing inclusion and improving the diversity of our organisation will mean we’re better equipped to support our members, their clients and the profession as a whole. And we want to ensure that Â鶹ԭ´´ is a place where people feel they belong and can thrive. 

As therapists, inherent in the work you do, is helping people to be able to protect themselves from bias and discrimination. But how easy is it to do that? As an organisation, we’re working hard to provide resources and information, as well as invite colleagues and experts to discuss and shape the way we work. Fundamentally, we want to make sure that therapy is available to people in the way they need it, taking into consideration the lived experiences of those from diverse backgrounds.  

Power imbalances can hinder therapy when societal power dynamics, such as ethnicity, socio-economic background, disability, sexual orientation and/or religion or belief are left unacknowledged or simply set aside. We want to proactively support therapists’ knowledge and understanding of the needs, cultures and backgrounds of clients who may access therapy.  

We know a client’s experiences and perceptions may be considerably different from our own but if a dominant culture member disregards the client’s own beliefs and perspectives, the power imbalance can become exploitative. 

This is why our equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategy sets out the ways in which we’re supporting this work. We’ve an EDI Third Sector Grant Scheme in place, focusing on access to counselling for those from racialised and minority communities. The pilot has been hugely successful and we’re continuing with our work on this. The strategy has seen nine further projects to completion, including the creation of a Support and Inclusion Officer. We’re working hard to mainstream and embed EDI in everything we do.  

This includes creating a profession, not just for the future but for now. We’re making our accreditation more accessible and inclusive and widening our reach, so we’re able to partner with and work alongside our stakeholders to advocate for good practice on EDI. 

As we transition to our next strategy period, we want to continue the work we started. Our ambition is to do more and shape the future of our work to reflect good practice from the inside out. We plan to focus on two key areas: 

• To encourage and strive to ensure fairness and inclusivity in our profession and for our members.
• To foster a diverse and inclusive workplace for our staff where they feel they belong.

We understand achieving belonging, diversity, equity and inclusion can throw up multiple challenges to us all. So, what more can we do? We can:

• recognise and understand historical inequality, which continues to impact people today, often resulting in unequal access to resources, opportunities, and power.
• reduce our implicit bias, where people hold biases that affect their decisions and actions.
• better understand structural barriers, where existing systems and policies may be designed in ways that unintentionally or intentionally disadvantage certain groups.
• support changes that would redistribute resources more equally.
• Learn more about how some societal norms and cultural values may reinforce exclusion or discrimination.

At Â鶹ԭ´´, we’re keen to encourage and promote EDI. Please support us to further develop our EDI strategy. Share your input with our EDI team by emailing us at EDI@bacp.co.uk.