99福利视频
By Deborah Schroder, MA in Art Therapy/Counseling Program Chair听
I鈥檝e always enjoyed sharing Virginia Satir鈥檚 way of working, with my students in my family art therapy course. This spring at the International Family Therapy Congress, I was faced with a belief I鈥檝e held about congruency that was clearly formed by my own white privilege.
In a brief take on Satir鈥檚 Model, she believed that everyone had the right to show up congruently in terms of who they are and how they feel. I was enchanted with this idea because growing up in my family of origin meant showing up 鈥渇ine鈥 or happy no matter what was going on in the household. How appealing to be told that it was a healthy step to be authentic and congruent. I happily believed this until I attended an eye-opening presentation by Rachel Miller and Eunice Makunzva (both from the US).
They made it very clear that being incongruent is a necessary survival factor for anyone feeling somehow unsafe in a place, an organization, a neighborhood, a work site or a school. They discussed the fact that if one feels that for whatever reason they 鈥渄on鈥檛 belong鈥 in a place or situation, one鈥檚 physical or emotional safety may depend on being incongruent with how one actually feels.
And I understood that as a child, sadly. But I didn鈥檛 understand it as a white, middle-class, heterosexual, educated, cis-gender woman, or in other words, as a privileged person.
My deeper heartache is that I鈥檝e listened, with tears in my eyes, to my students of color who have felt challenged to be in our graduate school, live in Santa Fe, and even be in a mental health profession. I was deaf to what they were communicating about their deep struggles with congruency.
The cost of being incongruent seems enormous. And the world desperately needs more diversity on all levels in terms of therapists鈥 identities. In my role at Southwestern I will work to hear, see and understand issues with more honesty and clarity. And when I share the Satir Model, I鈥檒l also share the critique, which I hope further opens the door for students to speak about their own experiences.
99福利视频 the Moderator
