You did all the reflection assignments + waded through all the roleplays. You went to all the recommended trainings and added book after book (…after book!) to your To-Read list.
As you sit with clients, and even throughout your program, you start to realize how unprepared our training has been when it comes to addressing systemic oppression.
You were committed to this, you trusted in the process, and you did learn lots - you were just waiting for a fundamental critique of the oppressive systems underlying our work…a fundamental critique that never came.
Foundations 1 (Next cohort begins Jan 2024)
From $175-$334 CDN/month
for the duration of the program or total program cost for this 12mth foundational curriculum: $4000 CDN+GST.
Indigenous + Black participants and POC participants can access $1000 and $500 in tuition subsidies, respectively. Please use code IBCOMSTUDY or POCCOMSTUDY.
This works out to ~$250/month = $3000+GST total program cost or ~$292/month = $3500+GST total program cost, respectively.
Foundations 1 (Instant Access)
From $82-184 CDN/month
for the duration of the program. Total program cost for this 12mth foundational curriculum: $2200 CDN+GST.
Indigenous + Black participants and POC participants can access $800 and $400 in tuition subsidies, respectively. Please use code IBSELFSTUDY or POCSELFSTUDY.
This works out to ~$117/month = $1400+GST total program cost or ~$150/month = $1800+GST total program cost, respectively.
We are uninvited settlers occupying the stolen, unceded, ancestral territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō) peoples.
Our relationship with these lands dictates our commitment to understanding the ongoing impacts of colonization and decolonizing our practices in and out of the counselling room.
Imagine the systemic oppression course you’ve always wanted. A program that:
Step into the world of Justice Fundamentals! It’s the first of its kind, and one of a kind.
How do we know? We’ve taught the alternatives and struggled to find better options…so, we made it
Your trainers are justice-oriented therapists and/or activists/organizers working towards collective liberation. Your trainers are not only actively practicing in the field but are also practitioners with lived experience guiding their work.
Justice Fundamentals is a two level program. Currently we are only offering enrollment for Foundations 1. The Foundations 1 program includes all that is listed above, while Foundations 2 involves community trainers who go in depth to discuss further self-reflexive practices. The full program cost (Foundations 1+2) is $8997+GST per seat. If you are interested in accessing our 201 program. Please email us and we can put you on the waitlist.
Justice-oriented therapy is not just knowledge or learning, it's about an embodiment of practice, creativity, and building community in the work. We've structured the course specifically with that in mind.
Turn theory into practice with our comprehensive, one-of-a-kind, 18-module program, complete with community-based learning materials, transcripts, resource lists, and learning guides ($31,800 value).
The breakdown:
As therapists we are uniquely positioned to straddle the lines between healing and systemic change. By understanding systems of oppression and uncovering biases and assumptions that have been indoctrinated in us, we can collaboratively open up pathways of revolutionary care and resistance with our clients. We can support clients in recontextualizing their experiences of harm, reconstruct the normalization of othering, and resist the perpetuation of systemic oppression inherent in our profession.
This program is the culmination of our trial and error, commitment to liberation, and embodiment of the generous teachings that have been shared with us, all rolled up into one. We hope that this program is as transformative for you as it has been for us to make. Come learn and unlearn with us; come co-create and resist with us. We can’t wait to share space and connect with you!
And to support you in translating theory into practice, your training program should be built specifically for therapeutic work.
Unfortunately, most programs out there are focused on a single-issue and/or are non-therapy focused programs that cost up to $7,000. Or you can work with clinical supervisors like us individually, but it would take years and be well over $14,000 considering the amount of content we go through in this program.
So built what we wish we had - Our program highlights how systemic oppressions reinforce each other; a multi-politic, structured approach grounded in direct applications to therapeutic work and communities of resistance.
PLUS! In our decade+ of teaching, what we learned is that this work needs to be done in community. Relational unlearning holds a generativity that you just can’t get anywhere else. That's why our program is not only built with comprehensive material in mind, it’s built with an intentional process of learning in mind.
All our self-study materials have transcripts, study guides, audio and video included in lessons. Our PDF materials are legible with a screen reader.
For the live portions of the event, there will be live captioning enabled via zoom and a note taker present for the event. If ASL interpretation will be useful to you, we can arrange for ASL interpreters to be present as well. Prior to the start of each cohort, we will also be sending out a form for proactive assessment of how we can adjust accessibility considerations for each unique cohort.
To resist colonial + academic methods of evaluating understanding, we will be offering our community-study members an individualized consultation + integration call to have conversations around analysis and integration of the material.
This ranges depending on the module. Generally we try to make this as accessible as possible, making sure that it is a manageable workload for folx who have an active caseload. You should expect to spend 1-4 hours per module, including recommended learning materials.
Yes! We are approved for 89 CE Credit Hours from the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association for the Community-Study option. CE Credits for the Self-Study option must be applied for by each student to be approved by your association. If your CE credits requires further documentation from us, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
To qualify for CE credits, you cannot miss more than 3 live sessions. That being said, we understand this program is a big commitment and things happen regardless of intentions! If you do have to miss a session, and it is within the 3 session limit, you can send us a reflection (written, video, or audio) around the material for that month and still qualify for the CE credits. During your final debrief call we will also focus on these missed live sessions so that we can ensure that you have the space to process the material in community.
Both self-study and community-study participants get 18-month access to the digital course materials. Community-study participants will also have access to Live Community Debrief Sessions once a month for each of the 18 months after the start of the cohort.
The Live scheduling will vary depending on cohort. We generally try to accommodate the most participants possible. Depending on registration, we may also open more debrief time slots.
Currently, we have live debriefs set for the last Monday from 2-4pm PST. If you are interested in the program but need a different debrief time, please email us to let us know.
To maintain the cohesiveness of community and the co-creation of safety within each group, each community-study cohort will be capped at 15 participants.
Absolutely. Please email us and we can add you to the waitlist for the next live cohort.
Prospect Counselling will first pay the community trainers for their labour in developing the training program; further funds will support lower cost counselling services and free community programming for SDQTBIPOC+ folx in so called British Columbia.
Got other questions? Email us at connect@prospectcounselling.ca
Liberation begins with an untangling of what is human from what oppresses us. The most insidious way systemic oppression survives is through well-meaning people, well-meaning professions, and well-meaning practices.
Though our profession was born out of colonial ideologies and methodologies, a more anti-oppressive way to practice is possible. And you don’t have to figure this out on your own. To paraphrase Mariame Kaba, collective liberation is built upon a tapestry of a million little experiments. A million little experiments that fundamentally change who we are and how we move through the world.
This program was not built to tell you the one answer to liberatory practice, but to invite you in transforming with us. Want to join us?
This module explores the importance of self-identification as a negotiation and rapport building skill crucial to autonomy and dignity-filled practice. After this module, participants will have an opportunity to craft their own introduction practice and build familiarity with naming ourselves in the work.
This module explores assessing various risks associated with counselling work and building respective plans for safety through a systemic lens. We also explore what it means to build collaborative safety, what collaboration actually looks like and practical plans for safety. After this module, participants will have a thorough and practical guide to ensuring adequate support can be provided through an inclusive, systems aware perspective.
Through this module we explore the importance of unlearning colonial teachings common in graduate clinical programs that impede our ability to be with clients in the work. Upon completion of this module, participants will have the opportunity to orient their practice towards their relationship with collective ethics and redefine what it means to be useful in therapeutic practice through an anti-oppressive lens.
While intersectionality denotes the exponential effects of oppression and struggle experienced by folx who hold multiple identities of marginalization, we also explore confluence, a newer framework that allows for the analysis of complexity associated with global implications, systematic erasure, and the nuanced emotional landscape of when identities of struggle intersect with supposed identities of privilege. In this module, we explore the applications of intersectionality and confluence as theories that guide our conceptualization of working across difference.
Both intersectional feminism and liberation psychology offer foundational conceptualizations of the roots of psychological harm and promote models of care that aim to facilitate the healing of both the affected individual and the communities and systems they belong to. After this module, participants will be familiar with both these empirically validated theories and have a framework to integrate these theories into their working models of conceptualization.
To quote Ruth Wilson Gilmore, “abolition is about presence, not absence. It’s about building life-affirming institutions.” The goal of incorporating an abolitionist framework into counselling practice is to develop a critique of psychology’s complicity in the institutions that prioritize punishment over accountability, a complicity that is empirically validated to be in opposition to wellness. After this module and through developing this critique, participants will be able to incorporate community-focused, dignity-centered ways of addressing power within counselling as well as co-create collaborative ways to support clients in accessing care in resistance to the use of carceral logic.
Anti-colonial practice requires practitioners to be able to explore the process, impact of, and continual colonization on turtle island, particularly to understand the structures and systems that impact indigenous and black communities. Through this analysis we prioritize recognising indigenous resistance and wisdom and deconstruct what has been normalized by the colonial roots of our profession. After this module, participants will be able to deconstruct counselling/therapy/healing from an anti-colonial lens and apply practices to begin the process of decolonizing counselling/psychology starting with the self and within relationships.
Through this module we will discuss race as a social construct while being able to identify the reality of racism; examine the ways that anti-indigenous and anti-black racism shows up; the racism and divisiveness that exists within BIPOC communities; and identify resistance, activism, and community healing within BIPOC communities. After completing this module, participants will be able to describe the connections of racism on mental health; use anti-racist practices in relation to the self and within counselling practice; and support clients through a strength-based, collaborative framework to recognize their resistance as wisdom.
An in-depth consideration of spirituality and religion is commonly a topic that is often ignored in counselling programs even though they are fundamental aspects of client experience. Therefore, an unfamiliarity in exploring these concepts further compounds the specific oppression experienced by folx holding non-colonial faiths. After completing this module, participants will be able to explore ways to invite spiritual/religious practices within counselling practices; become aware of their own biases around religion/spirituality; and recognise the impact of spiritual/religious practices on mental health and healing.
Through this module we will explore the intergenerational impacts of classism and class mobility, examine classism through an intersectional lens - with special attention to capitalism, race, health, criminal legal system, access - and how this impacts mental health. Upon completing this module, participants will be able to identify the ways that counselling can be classist; implement practices that are more inclusive to those with financial barriers; and understand the ways that mental health struggles are related to class through an intersectional lens.
Ageism is another commonly neglected form of oppression that is generally inescapable for all folx. Through this module, we will examine research-based impacts of ageism of biological health in relation to the medical system model. Upon completing this module, participants will be able to practice counselling from an intersectional perspective, weaving age in relation to topics us as race, capitalism, disability justice, queerness, poverty, etc; identify the impacts of perceived age and having access to resources such as counselling; recognise the ways that competency and capabilities are erased by ageism; and demonstrate knowledge of ethical considerations such as consent and autonomy.
This module was designed to support practitioners in beginning to examine cisgenderism, patriarchy, and queer theory with a particular focus on the importance of language, social constructs, and how they impact the ways we understand gender and sex. It will also describe the ways that queer theory impacts counselling outside of gender and sex through an intersectional lens. Upon completing this module, participants will be able to apply queer theory in their understanding of gender and sex and recognize the ways that social constructs and language can limit counselling work.
Exploring the impact of sexuality and relationship structures are often neglected clinical programs, largely due to the stigma associated with exploring sexuality and the normalization of purity culture. Furthermore, when covered, they are often grounded in a cis-het-mononormative lens. In this module, we will explore different relationship structures and the spectrum of sexual identities/expressions. Upon completing this module, participants will be able to use appropriate language when talking about sexuality and relationships in their counselling practices and unpack biases and/or assumptions of relationships and/or sexual identities/expressions that are non-cis-het-mononormative.
Health and wellbeing are central to healing within counselling; however, healthism can erase contextual factors (including race, poverty, capitalism, and food deserts) and choice/autonomy. Through this module, we will explore the ways in which healthism and anti-fat bias intersect and its impacts on mental health, while naming the history around anti-fatness in relation to anti-black racism and colonialism. Participants will be able to integrate a trauma-informed approach to health and anti-fat bias focusing on choice, dignity, and autonomy; implement a harm reduction approach to counselling goals, treatment and interventions; and recognise the impact of weight bias in particular anti-fatness in counselling and health setting.
Ableism is commonly the least explored -ism when speaking of anti-oppressive practice. In this module we will examine the deconstruction of language and common practices used in counselling, as well as describe the intersections of disability justice in relation to class and the criminal legal system. After this module, participants will be able to implement aspects of disability justice into their counselling practice; begin to distinguish counselling interventions through a disability justice lens; and co-create counselling practices with clients that are actually meeting the needs of the client while also resisting problematic, individualizing, deficit-based narratives.
In this module, we explore ways to integrate previous modules into work with clients through risk assessments, and response planning. Upon completing this module, participants will be able to apply concepts and specifically integrate techniques to their work and engage in practice that begins the exploratory process into possible alternatives to structure with clients that upholds dignity, autonomy, choice, and the wisdom of folx who have leaned on interdependence amidst marginalization.
In this module, we explore important considerations for true collaboration in therapy with a particular focus on treatment goals and plans. We also critique the colonial underpinnings associated with conceptualizing clients and explore ways to disrupt the power dynamics inherent in the process. Upon completion of this module, participants will have the opportunity to integrate previous materials in to a practical framework for liberatory practice.
To tie together the fundamentals of this training program, we will deconstruct the colonial underpinnings of counselling practice through exploring the implications of basic empathy skills; what is called therapeutic relationship building, the concepts and critiques of ‘allyship’; the implications and practices of professionalism within a therapeutic relationship; as well as what a truly collaborative process entails; and an exploration of wellness, goal setting, and success.
I had a lot of preconceived notions about what this type of work may expect of me, how much I could give, and it felt daunting stepping into this space. What I found with the training is that Abby and Bhupie have created a wonderful, deep, and enriching program that is delivered with a lot of compassion and kindness balanced against topics that can be heavy and require, at times, difficult self-examination of how I show up in the world and in my practice.” - Nav K.
"I am incredibly inspired by the programs Bhupie & Abby have built at Prospect. This is the kind of wide ranging justice-oriented learning that I wish I had access to in graduate school, during my time as a student or a professor. I am excited for all those who take part in the programs, for all the clients who will benefit from encountering more competent and just practitioners, and for our field to benefit collectively from the Prospect's unique offerings and contributions to the practice of justice seeking therapy." - Sacha M.
“Not only is the JF Level 1 training helpful in my work with clients, they have also been healing for me as well. The discussions and learning materials help give me and my clients so much language to describe our experiences, and help point us onto a path towards holistic healing.” - Sophie H.
“The videos are so helpful, especially when you talk through examples - it feels fresher in my mind and inspires me to start thinking about different ways to have my practice grounded in justice.” - Esther J.
“I’m so excited that I’m part of this community and see what comes of it. Everything you’ve put out has been so compassionately thought provoking and ACTIONABLE. I’ve already started talking to clients about it and have printed them some of your newsletters.” - Will L.
“Thank you for your encouragement and support. Your passion for social justice is a source of inspiration and contribution to my growth in this profession.” - Eri N.
“To see it all put together like this is a different experience. There’s so much more to know than I thought. It’s complicated but you make it clear and thought-provoking.” - Melanie K.
“I love that it always comes back to action. People just talk about understanding too much. It’s time we do something about it and this tells us what we can do about it.” - Cassandra C.
“I always have the framework and the checklist on my phone. I use it to make sure justice is part of my day. I think it makes a big difference to have it set up like that.” - Janelle S.
“This was hands down my favourite course. It was the safest, most honest, brutal-yet-compassionate social justice environment I’ve ever experienced, and was a place for challenging discomfort as growth as well as the emotional support needed for that discomfort.” - Ricky T.
*Some names were changed to pseudonyms by request
