July 16, 2020

The Psychotherapy Institute’s Board of Directors and its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and the Movement for Black Lives. When the Minneapolis police murdered George Floyd on May 25th, 2020, their actions reflected our country’s culture of state-sanctioned targeting and murder of Black people that has existed for many hundreds of years. We join the protesters in demanding an examination of our culture of white supremacy and a re-imagining of the United States of America that fulfills the ideals of dignity, safety, equity, and justice for Black people.

Similarly, we are working to examine the culture of white supremacy in our profession and our Institute, and we want to re-imagine with you how to fulfill the ideals of dignity, safety, equity, and justice for Black clients in our consultation rooms and Black clinicians in our Institute. We acknowledge that Black therapists and Black clients experience psychological trauma caused by the persistent ordeal of interpersonal, institutional, and systemic racism and that anti-Black racism continues to exist in our profession. We recognize these racist dynamics provide a barrier in the education and training of Black psychotherapists. Therefore, we advocate for (1) ongoing analysis and exploration of the concepts of mental health and therapeutic treatments for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized communities impacted by systemic racism and oppression, and (2) incorporating the understanding of such impact to make changes within institutions involved in the education and training of psychotherapists.

As mostly non-Black psychotherapists and trainers of psychotherapists, we, the Board of Directors of The Psychotherapy Institute, clearly and publicly acknowledge that anti-Black racism and white supremacy are present in our governance, training programs, and interpersonal interactions. We commit to transparently engage in the work of undoing it and to be held accountable in the process.

This ongoing anti-oppression work involves all TPI members and the greater psychotherapeutic community.