THE POWER OF BALANCE & EQUITY
Enriching the Learning Experience for All
At Homa we are proud to offer a unique approach to psychotherapy training. Our course aspires to bring together a balanced cohort of 50% of trainees from the Global Majority (Black, Brown, Asian, dual-heritage and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities) and 50% from white backgrounds. This aim is not just about fairness or Social Justice, it’s about creating an enriching and transformative learning experience for everyone involved.
A Training Community Rooted in Representation and Respect
If you come from the Global Majority, you may know what it feels like to be the only one, or one of very few, in a predominantly white group, at work or in educational or social settings. It can be isolating and exhausting. You likely find yourself navigating racism, microaggressions and the unspoken expectation to represent your entire community. You may feel both hyper-visible and invisible at the same time, excluded from informal networks, or carrying the emotional weight of code-switching to fit in.
At Homa, we are committed to challenging that experience. In a balanced cohort, you are not a token, you are part of a rich, intentionally balanced group where your presence is fully seen and valued. This kind of environment supports you to show up authentically, bringing all of who you are, reducing the burden of stereotypes. We recognise that racial tensions or discomfort will likely arise; however, we believe it will feel different when that experience is shared and held by half of the group rather than borne alone.
Representation here isn’t just about numbers; it’s about creating a training community where you can thrive, feel supported and know that your voice matters.
When trainees are equally represented, everyone learns, grows and thrives
Balance & Equity In Action
Our approach is about aiming to create a balanced and equitable training environment, one where both Global Majority and trainees racialised as white have equal voices within the training. Up until now, psychotherapy training spaces have been overwhelmingly white, leaving many voices underrepresented. At Homa, we are committed to transforming that status quo. 50/50 is an aspiration rather than a guaranteed outcome and reflects the learning environment we are working towards over time.
This balance is not about excluding or disadvantaging white trainees, it’s about opening doors for those who have historically faced barriers and ensuring that every trainee learns in a space that reflects the richness of the society we serve. This isn’t about quotas; it’s a conscious effort to level the playing field and to create a learning community where everyone can thrive, contribute, feel seen and progress.
For you as a trainee, this means being part of a group that mirrors the diversity of the world you will one day work in, particularly in London. A group that will challenge, inspire and prepare you to be the kind of therapist who can hold space for every story and every person.
“Beloved community is formed not by the eradication of difference but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world.” bell hooks
Fostering Connection, Not Division
Aspiring to a 50/50 cohort at Homa is about connection and belonging, not division. In this space, you’ll learn side by side with trainees whose life experiences and perspectives may be very different from your own. Together, you’ll engage in honest, meaningful conversations that challenge you to see the world in new ways, with respect, curiosity and openness.
This isn’t just classroom learning; it’s a living, breathing experience of collaboration that will stretch and deepen you, both as a person and as a future therapist. By learning in a truly diverse environment, you’ll develop the insight, humility and empathy needed to navigate the complex, multicultural world in which your clients live.
"We thrive through community, not competition. Liberation is a
collective project." Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan
A Legally and Ethically Sound Approach
Aiming to create a balanced, diverse cohort is not discriminatory under legal or ethical guidelines. It is based on the principles of equity and justice as enshrined in the Equality Act 2010, not on exclusion or preferential treatment.
At Homa, we are committed to widening access to psychotherapy training and to increasing the participation of trainees from the Global Majority, who have historically been under-represented in the profession. Our aspiration is to work towards a learning cohort that includes equal representation from both Global Majority and white trainees, reflecting the diversity of the communities we live and work within.
This aspiration is directional rather than guaranteed. Selection decisions are made through a transparent and structured process based on individual readiness for training, and all trainees admitted meet the same standards of suitability. We do not operate quotas or reserve places on the basis of race or other protected characteristics.
Our commitment to equity shapes how we design and review our outreach, admissions criteria and support structures. While we may monitor patterns over time to inform this work, demographic information does not form part of individual selection decisions. All trainees admitted to the programme meet the same standards of readiness and suitability for training.
Difference must not only be tolerated, but seen as a spur for collective creativity. Only within interdependency of different strengths can we collectively imagine new ways of being. Audre Lorde
Balance and Equity Benefits Everyone
At Homa, we know that real growth happens when we step beyond what’s familiar and engage with different perspectives. Our commitment to a 50/50 cohort is about aiming to create a truly transformative learning space.
For trainees raciallised as white, this offers something deeply powerful: the chance to learn, listen and grow alongside peers whose lived experiences may be very different from their own. It’s an opportunity to examine unconscious assumptions and prejudices, broaden cultural awareness and cultivate a deeper sense of empathy and connection.
For Global Majority trainees, this balance offers the experience of being part of a group where your presence is not tokenised or marginalised but represented and valued. We also recognise that this doesn’t make the space free of difficulty. The work of engaging openly with race, identity and power can be complex and challenging and the legacies of inequality don’t disappear overnight. Our commitment is to hold these complexities with honesty, care and accountability, aiming to create a space where healing, dialogue and mutual growth are possible.
Over time, this shared learning fosters genuine, lasting relationships across difference, connections that expand understanding, challenge assumptions and nurture solidarity beyond the training room. These relationships matter not only for the psychotherapy profession but for the wider world and the communities we serve, where the capacity to listen, connect and stand alongside one another has never been more needed.
This experience won't just make you a better psychotherapist; it will enrich you as a human being. Being part of a diverse, reflective community means discovering new ways of seeing the world and yourself, leading to a more grounded, compassionate and socially aware practice.
"We can choose courage, or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both.
Not at the same time.”” Brené Brown
Encouraging Critical Thinking & Self-Reflection
Learning alongside trainees from diverse backgrounds challenges everyone to think critically about their own biases, assumptions and blind spots. Being part of a group where different cultural and racial experiences are present fosters deeper self-reflection and enriches the conversations. It encourages trainees to question their own worldview and expand their understanding of human experience. This process of internal examination is fundamental in psychotherapy, both for personal growth and for becoming a skilled therapist. It is an explicit invitation to stay curious, take responsibility for your learning and engage honestly with discomfort as part of your development as a practitioner.
“We seem to have replaced doing anything with saying something,
in a space where the word ‘conversation’ has achieved an obscenely
inflated importance as a substitute for action.”
Emma Dabiri
Taking Action at Homa
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Equity in opportunity → together we create fairer pathways into training, supervision and professional development, addressing barriers that prevent some from progressing.
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Representation → our teaching team, trainee cohort, curriculum, leadership and decision-making spaces aim to reflect and value the voices, perspectives, and contributions of the Global Majority. This is ongoing work at Homa, and we are committed to continually reviewing and strengthening representation across all areas of the organisation.
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Policy change → we review and reshape our recruitment, assessment, and training policies in dialogue with trainees and staff, so that anti-racist practice is woven into every aspect of Homa.
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Challenging stereotypes → we aim to notice and interrupt harmful assumptions in case studies and teaching material and replace them with more accurate and respectful narratives.
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Redistributing resources → we direct bursaries and learning support in ways that support historically excluded groups, based on shared discussion of need and impact. We are committed to fundraising to make this sustainable.
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Building solidarity → we nurture relationships in which trainees and staff learn across cultures, hold each other accountable and grow through continued professional development opportunities.
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Global perspective → we bring into our curriculum the global histories of enslavement, colonisation, empire, migration and resistance, recognising how they shape present-day mental health.
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Creativity and imagination → we make space to envision and create new psychotherapeutic worlds, beyond what we know and what has always been, drawing on the richness of diverse cultural traditions and collective imagination.
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Attribution and acknowledgement → we actively acknowledge, credit, and reference ideas, practices and scholarship originating from the Global Majority wherever they exist, ensuring that knowledge is attributed to its sources and not detached from the communities and contexts that created it.
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Joy and thriving → our training celebrates the beauty and diversity of human experience, creating space and opportunities for all to thrive.
Why focus on trainees from the Gloabl Majority and not from other protected characteristics ?
We are aiming for greater balance between Global Majority and trainees racialised as white because racial inequity remains one of the most enduring gaps in psychotherapy training and practice. Our intention is to help reshape this landscape, to build a learning community that reflects the richness of the world we live in and the city we serve.
We are deeply committed to equity across gender, sexuality, ability, age, faith, class and body size and shape. Our approach embraces this diversity within both Global Majority and white communities, recognising how these identities intersect, overlap and bring depth to our shared learning. Because these experiences exist across all racial groups, centring race in our approach also opens space for other marginalised voices to be heard, held and supported.This focus doesn’t take away from our wider commitment to belonging; it strengthens it.
“Anti-racism takes work. The work starts with you.” Jeffrey Boakye
How We Hold the Training Groups
The Homa team is made up of experienced psychotherapists, tutors and supervisors who are deeply engaged in anti-racist and socially just practice. We are well resourced, personally, professionally and collectively to hold the complexity of a balanced training environment. Our tutors are in ongoing supervision and professional development, including supervision with Dr Aileen Alleyne and Patmarie Coleman, both leading psychotherapists in the field. This means we are supported to recognise and respond to the emotional, relational and group dynamics that arise when exploring race, identity and power.
Our approach is informed by multiple theories including Non Violent Communication and Deep Democracy, a facilitation method that enables every voice, including those that are often marginalised or unheard to be recognised and included in the collective process. We also use creativity as a tool for liberation and holding, allowing art making, movement and imagination to help explore strong feelings, deepen insight and open pathways for transformation and repair.
We know that meaningful dialogue about racism can evoke strong feelings: grief, anger, shame, defensiveness, and we approach these as opportunities for learning, reflection and growth. Our emphasis is on containment, care and accountability, ensuring that this work takes place within clear ethical and therapeutic boundaries and supported structures for reflection, mentorship and independent supervision.
Our practice does not exist in isolation. We align ourselves with the values of the Black, African and Asian Therapy Network (BAATN), Pink Therapy and Psychotherapists for Social Responsibility. Homa is also the founding home of Therapists Walking the Walk (TWTW) an association that brings together qualified and trainee psychotherapists and counsellors to engage meaningfully with social justice.
We understand that social justice work is ongoing and imperfect. Our approach is one of praxis; a continual process of learning, reflection and action. We are committed to listening, adjusting and improving as we go, staying open to feedback from trainees, colleagues and the wider community.