SOCIAL JUSTICE
IN ACTION
At Homa, we are committed to putting social justice into
action in the psychotherapy world
We are determined to make our training accessible to all people based on their interest, commitment and motivation to become psychotherapists. We are committed to training therapists who are willing to explore and acknowledge their privilege, prejudices and assumptions and who actively engage in deepening their cultural competence as ongoing work.
HOW DOES HOMA WALK THE WALK?
We know that having good intentions is not good enough. We are committed to ensuring that our social justice policy is not just a statement but that we translate it into action. We are determined to be a force for change, both in our organisation and in the wider community.
Homa as an organisation takes responsibility to ensure that all its tutors and staff educate themselves about racism, sexism, and discrimination on the basis of ability, gender, sexual orientation, body size, age, class, economic status, religious belief, culture, nationality and that we address our privilege, biases and prejudice in all the forms in which they show up. We expect Homa tutors, staff and trainees to take an active role in combating prejudice and discrimination in our profession and in the world.
We also know that however good and proactive our actions and intentions, we cannot create a safe space for our trainees. We will acknowledge our shortcomings and our mistakes, we will not shy away from difficult conversations, we will keep learning and making changes where we need to so that we can do better as individual tutors and as an organisation. We actively welcome any form of feedback from applicants, trainees and tutors so that, by listening and reflecting, we can continue to learn, grow and change.
Homa is aligned with the values of Psychotherapists for Social Responsibility. This means that as a training organisation we are committed to:
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locating counselling and psychotherapy in its social, political, ecological, and economic context
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recognising the impact of the political dimension on the client-therapist relationship
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developing ideas about how social, economic, political, ecological and cultural issues can be integrated into theory and practice
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identifying and challenging adverse discrimination at all levels within our profession and in the wider world
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generating action, launching campaigns, and seeking to influence political processes
Homa supports the work of Combatants for Peace, a grassroots movement of Israelis and Palestinians, working together to end the occupation and bring peace, equality and freedom to their homeland
Below are some of the ways in which Homa currently takes action as part of our training programme to challenge prejudice and privilege in the many ways they can show up
ABILITY
We aim to meet our trainees' different physical and learning needs wherever possible. We have developed our course delivery, materials and assessment to meet trainees' different learning styles and neuro-diversities. We accept both written and audio-recorded work and each trainee is actively invited to discuss their specific needs with their Training Advisor. The Homa diploma is a non-academic course, this does not mean that there is no writing at all nor that the programme is less rigorous or demanding than a traditional Masters qualification. This does mean that trainees do not have to write academic essays nor are they expected to read many academic books. The course resources are offered through a variety of media and the assessments and assignments are designed to be accessible to all our trainees, regardless of their academic experience. We acknowledge that our training venue is currently not accessible to wheelchair users.
MEANS
Homa offers a number of bursaries of up to 75% of the total fees to ensure, wherever possible, that our training is accessible to people who do not have the financial means to cover the training fees.
RACE
The Training Programme tutors ensure that they and anyone involved with Homa takes responsibility for acknowledging, challenging and addressing their own privilege, prejudices, and biases. We are inspired by George Dei's view of inclusion “inclusion is not about bringing people into what already exists; it is about creating a new space, a better space for everyone." We do this by being willing to listen, learn and change. We are committed to ongoing tutor training and development as well as specific modules as part of the training to deepen trainees' cultural competence as well as ongoing education and dialogue throughout the training. We are committed to calling people in to acknowledge their own, societal and institutional racism and specifically the impact that this has in the training group and in the therapy room for people from the global majority (Black, African, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, and people indigenous to the global south, and or, people who have been racialised as ethnic minorities). We actively welcome applications from people from the global majority.
The Homa tutor team is supervised regularly by Dr Aileen Alleyne, a psychotherapist who offers ways of deepening understanding of black psychological reactions to the negative impact of racism. As a starting point, all Homa tutors are required to actively work through, reflect on and discuss Leyla Saad's workbook "Me and White Supremacy: How to Recognise Your Privilege, Combat Racism and Change the World".
We acknowledge that being part of a training group which is made up of predominantly white people can be difficult and painful. We offer all trainees from the global majority the opportunity to have meetings with a completely independent psychotherapist to hold and process their experience of being in the training group, particularly in relation to the work that we undertake on anti-racism. These meetings are optional, paid for by Homa and are kept confidential between the psychotherapist and the trainees, with no feedback to the tutor team except at the request of the trainee. The meetings are not a replacement for therapy, they provide a space to talk specifically about the challenges and experiences of training in a predominantly white space.
To read about our Race, Power & Privilege module, click HERE
GENDER & SEXUALITY
Homa’s aim is to train psychotherapists who are in an ongoing process of becoming safe hands for all their clients, including people of diverse genders, sexualities, identities, relationships, lifestyles and practices. The Homa Training includes a unique, in-depth, 54-hour Gender and Sexuality Programme as well as exploring sexuality and gender being woven into the fabric of the training. The course content is designed to challenge people's ignorance, prejudice and biases, with curiosity and compassion, when it comes to our own and others' sexuality, gender and sexual orientation. We actively welcome applications from people of diverse sexualities, genders and identities. Click HERE to read more about Homa's approach to sex, sexuality and gender.
BODY SIZE
People experience prejudice and discrimination with regard to body size in so many ways, every day, overt and subtle. We ensure that whatever body you live in, you can be physically comfortable at Homa. We actively challenge the prejudices of a culture which discriminates against and judges people based on the size of their bodies.
AGE
Whether you are in your twenties or an elder, your unique experience and perspective is valued and we welcome your application.