Therapists Cafe is committed to providing a welcoming environment for therapists from all backgrounds. 

We are basing our work on The Anti-Discrimination Framework (TADF) outlined in Mamood Ahmad’s A New Introduction to Counselling Psychology – www.tadf.co.uk

As stated on their website:  #TADF is for individuals or organisations who wish to reimagine relationships, knowledge, practices, and training by embedding and considering the influence of the whole person in context by design. This includes, but is not limited to, integrating essential yet often overlooked and fragmented concepts such as social context, identity, diversity, culture, neurodiversity, power dynamics, intersectionality, anti-discriminatory practices, and trauma- and harm-informed models.

When these elements are included in our understanding of both ourselves and our clients’ experiences, the foundation of therapy becomes stronger, richer, and more equitable.’

At Therapists Cafe, we are seeking to apply this complex understanding to our own identities and biographies, and those of our colleagues. We recognise that many colleagues experience discrimination and hostility during their training, and that, often, this did not get challenged. We recognise that oppressive and discriminatory dynamics in society are also frequently reflected in therapists’ spaces after training, and that this issue deserves attention, reflection, challenge and change. We believe that diversity in all shapes and forms is something to be celebrated and actively encouraged and developed, so we can all learn from each other, and enrich each other’s understanding of and participation in the world.

Therefore, we commit to:

• An attitude of openness and curiosity about other colleagues’ experiences, values and worldviews 
• An attitude of value and celebration of diversity, even when this is sometimes strange or effortful 
• An attitude of empathy and care where colleagues speak of experiences that are or have been difficult
• A readiness to reflect on our stance and learn new things and a willingness to dialogue
• An embrace of the attitude of ‘not knowing’ in the Socratic sense – being comfortable with the fact that it’s not possible to ‘know everything’ and that there is no shame in not knowing
• An attitude of self-compassion and care – it is not necessary to try and be perfect, as long as we’re willing to keep learning
• Related to this, an attitude of not judging where another person is at in their journey with this – it is not about a competition, or superiority, but about being ‘fellow travellers’ on the imperfect journey of being human. 

From a psychoanalytic perspective, we think that it is always challenging to encounter ‘the other’ – and that processes like projection, identification, splitting and oedipal competition can always be alive and well in ourselves and in the room – we consider enactment as inevitable. There is no shame in this – trying to be ‘perfect’ will only stifle the relationship. However, there IS a requirement to keep working on it – to continue shared reflection and try to repair what has been ruptured.

We expect that colleagues who attend our meetings share this understanding, and commit to the above principles.