Practice & Politics: An Essential Reader For Social Workers And Therapists

Is it appropriate for a therapist to be politicized? Can you be anti-oppressive as a psychodynamic therapist? What are the clinical implications of working with clients who request you as a queer or racialized therapist?

Practice & Politics: An Essential Reader for Social Workers and Therapists is a conversation-in-book form that explores these questions with depth and nuance. Edited by Rahim Thawer, MSW, RSW, this collection brings together the voices of queer and racialized clinicians who examine the intersections of identity, politics, and care within the fields of psychotherapy and social work. This first volume foregrounds the political nature of clinical and community practice. It emphasizes that therapeutic work never occurs in isolation but is continuously shaped by systems of power, privilege, and oppression, including colonial histories, racial hierarchies, capitalism, heteronormativity, and ableism. Readers are invited to reflect on how these forces influence both their clients and their own professional choices. Through essays, case examples, and critical conversations, Practice & Politics helps practitioners develop the vocabulary and conceptual tools to identify how systemic dynamics show up in therapeutic, organizational, and community settings. It encourages readers to move away from neutral or depoliticized approaches and toward more ethically engaged, reflexive, and socially attuned practices.