THERAPY IS POLITICAL

Client: Cooper Therapy
Role: editorial development, structural editing, and ghostwriting support

Therapy is political. To be a therapist is to be an activist.

If this statement feels uncomfortable, I’m writing this for you. If this is something you already feel in your bones, I invite you to continue reading as an exercise of marination in the therapeutic code of ethics, your role in society (therapist or not), and what it all means.

Each therapist registered with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO), at some point or another, throughout hundreds of hours of schooling, training, practice, client hours, reflection, and research, must swear an oath in front of an officiant.

This job is not just permission to do our best to help people and to give quirky advice; it is a sworn duty to society. This is some serious stuff we’ve signed up for.

When I say “to be a therapist is to be an activist,” I’m not just expressing personal sentiment. This is something concrete and provable. Let’s take a hard look at the 7 pillars of the CRPO’s Code of Ethics and examine the political and social responsibilities therapists take on and swear by as professionals.

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