Jenny has become more and more aware of the contradictions and logical fallacies of Critical Social Justice Ideology over the past several years.  While she was a counseling student, Jenny felt frustrated by the lack of academic rigor in her graduate program, but she mostly accepted  CSJ ideology. However, all along there were aspects of her training that she found jarring and fraught with intellectual inconsistencies.   Now a licensed counselor and self-employed in private practice, Jenny has a clear sense of how Social Justice Ideology short-changes the counseling client and contradicts the ethical standards counselors are bound to follow.  In this discussion she shares valuable insights from her own experience as well as her concerns about the shortcomings of contemporary counselor training. 

If you would like to contact me, my website is: https://theradicalcenterconsulting.com/ and I have a substack account at: https://theradicalcenter.substack.com/ 

I am on twitter @JLeslieElliott  

If you would like to contribute to my legal fund, thank you!  The fund is at: https://www.givesendgo.com/theradicalcenter  

And if you appreciate this ongoing project and would like to support my continued work in this area you can chip in at any of the following  (thank you very much!): https://www.paypal.me/jleslieelliott https://www.buymeacoffee.com/radicalcenter https://www.patreon.com/theradicalcenter

“A group collective can easily attract the projection of the Self and swallow up the individual who succumbs to it. Identification with political parties or religious creeds would be examples of solutio within a group.”  -Edward Edinger, Anatomy of the Psyche.  

After a therapist was instrumental in helping him overcome a some serious challenges in his life, Neil was so inspired by the process that he decided he wanted to provide a similar service to others.  He went  back to school, devoting a great deal of time and significant financial  resources to the study of transpersonal therapy.  The first two years were amazing: full of growth and connection.  After his second year,  Neil needed to step away for a time in order to save money to complete the program.  When he returned after his leave of absence, something was different: the students were speaking a new (Social Justice) language, and there was a new mandatory DEI course which seemed entirely out of place in the context of the program’s other teachings.

Following the DEI course, Neil was so disappointed and disturbed that he decided he could not stay in the program.  He was able to speak with the founder and head of the school prior to leaving, and to his  surprise, the founder agreed with him about the inappropriateness of the inclusion of CSJ ideology.  He revealed to Neil that he was forced to include it in order to maintain accreditation, and that the accrediting body was responsible for structuring the DEI course.  In this conversation Neil provides details of his experience and shares how he has pivoted, adjusting his career goals despite the setback and finding a creative and fulfilling alternative way to use his skills to help people who need support.  

Neil recommends the book “Spiritual Dimensions of Psychology” by Hazrat Inayat Khan. You can find more of Neil’s work at his blog on Medium: https://medium.com/@seidr Here is the letter that Neil wrote to CCPE: https://medium.com/@seidr/separating-political-ideological-signal-from-therapeutic-noise-5129987cc252  

If you would like to contribute to my legal fund, thank you!  The fund is at: https://www.givesendgo.com/theradicalcenter  

And if you appreciate this ongoing project and would like to support my continued work in this area you can chip in at any of the following  (thank you very much!): https://www.paypal.me/jleslieelliott https://www.buymeacoffee.com/radicalcenter https://www.patreon.com/theradicalcenter

Katie is a graduate student who, like myself, is near the end of a master’s in counseling program.  She has volunteered to come forward and talk with me about some of her experiences in her counseling program (at a different university- not Antioch) and has given me permission to share that conversation with you.  Her experiences are very similar to my own, with indoctrination and propaganda taught alongside evidence-based therapy concepts, and an atmosphere of orthodoxy in which differing opinions are not welcome.   She has a unique background and some excellent insights.  

Katie recommends the following two books:  The Psychology of Totalitarianism by Matias Desmet Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism by Robert Jay Lifton.  She also has two Substack accounts you can follow for more of her perspective: The Kids are Not Alright http://hideyourkids.substack.com/ The Tyranny of Virtue http://yesitsmarxism.substack.com/  I am grateful to Katie for her courage in speaking out and her willingness to discuss these experiences with me.   

If you would like to contact me, my website is: https://theradicalcenterconsulting.com/ and I have a substack account at: https://theradicalcenter.substack.com/ I also have a new twitter account: https://twitter.com/JLeslieElliott  If you would like to contribute to my legal fund, thank you!  The fund is at: https://www.givesendgo.com/theradicalcenter  

And if you appreciate this ongoing project and would like to support my continued work in this area you can chip in at any of the following  (thank you very much!): https://www.paypal.me/jleslieelliott https://www.buymeacoffee.com/radicalcenter https://www.patreon.com/theradicalcenter

Stephanie Winn is the host of You Must Be Some Kind of Therapist podcast, and Associate Producer of Affirmation Generation. In Oregon, where she is licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist, Stephanie has a small, online private practice called Real Talk Therapy PDX, offering Therapy Without Ideology. Stephanie has dedicated a portion of her career towards advocating for the needs of survivors of gender malpractice, and families that have been impacted by the ideological capture of the counseling profession. Follow Stephanie on Twitter at  @sometherapist, and on Instagram @sometherapist. Follow her podcast on  Twitter @some_therapist. Follow Affirmation Generation on Twitter @2022affirmation and on Instagram @affirmationgeneration.  

If you would like to contact me, my website is: https://theradicalcenterconsulting.com/ and I have a substack account at: https://theradicalcenter.substack.com/ And I am now on twitter @JLeslieElliott  If you wish to contribute to my legal fund, thank you! The fund is at: https://www.givesendgo.com/theradicalcenter   

And if you appreciate this ongoing project and would like to support my continued work in this area you can chip in at any of the following  (thank you very much!):  https://www.paypal.me/jleslieelliott  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/radicalcenter  https://www.patreon.com/theradicalcenter

Dr. Aaron Kindsvatter is a former professor of counselor education. Not long ago he left his tenured position to start a private practice in Burlington Vermont. He contacted me because he was interested in my experiences of being encouraged to politicize therapy in my training program.  His experiences, insights, and analysis are fascinating and enormously helpful. I you wish to contact him, Dr. Kindsvatter can be reached at [email protected]

Links to some of the things discussed today: Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/competencies/multicultural-and-social-justice-counseling-competencies.pdf?sfvrsn=20 

Talking with white clients about race https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8088825/

If you would like to contact me, my website is: https://theradicalcenterconsulting.com/ and I have a substack account at: https://theradicalcenter.substack.com/ And I am on twitter @JLeslieElliott If you wish to contribute to my legal fund, thank you! The fund is at: https://www.givesendgo.com/theradical... And if you appreciate this ongoing project and would like to support my continued work in this area you can chip in at any of the following (thank you very much!): https://www.paypal.me/jleslieelliott https://www.buymeacoffee.com/radicalc... https://www.patreon.com/theradicalcenter

Jennifer Friend is a licensed clinical social worker with 30 years of experience in the field of mental health.  She became a vocal opponent of Critical Social Justice after a personal experience with a toxic DEI initiative in her former workplace.  Jennifer is one of the founders of Solid Ground, and she facilitates group peer support and individual strategic consultations for people impacted by authoritarian ideologies.  You can find more info at solidgroundsupport.com  

If you would like to contact me, my website is: https://theradicalcenterconsulting.com/ and I have a substack account at: https://theradicalcenter.substack.com/  I am on twitter @JLeslieElliott  If you wish to contribute to my legal fund, thank you! The fund is at: https://www.givesendgo.com/theradicalcenter  

And if you appreciate this ongoing project and would like to support my continued work in this area you can chip in at any of the following  (thank you very much!):  https://www.paypal.me/jleslieelliott  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/radicalcenter  https://www.patreon.com/theradicalcenter