Abstract
That which is currently understood as evidence-based practice within the discipline of psychology primarily relies upon a positivist interpretation of the world around us. Although such an interpretation may be argued by some to be useful, others argue that it fails to recognise the impact of social contexts and the role they play in producing particular negative mental health outcomes for marginalised groups. In this article, I argue for an alternate account of evidence, where the fact of social norms is taken as our evidence base and where practitioners actively strive to examine power in the counselling setting and in the lives of clients. Building on work in the field of narrative therapy in productive ways, I explore four case studies from my own practice to elaborate an approach to counselling in relation to issues of gender, sexuality and identity that (1) recognises the operations of top-down power both within the counselling space and in the world more broadly, (2) understands individuals as a 'fold' of the social and (3) holds practitioners to account for the evidentiary claims that we make.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 87-98 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Psychology and Sexuality |
Volume | 2 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jan 2011 |
Keywords
- Accountability
- Counselling
- Evidence
- Power
- Queering
- Subjectivity