PhD Research Universal Difference: Understanding the Archetype of the Other
As part of my ongoing PhD research into understanding the nature of difference and exploring the archetype of the Other, on this page I will be publishing links to papers and conference presentations related to my research.
Articles
From time to time I will also be posting articles about issues within Counselling and Psychotherapy that I feel are of importance to my work, and have either had published or have written for my own enjoyment. Please feel free to read through these at your leisure, and if there are any comments please send me an email:
Race and the core conditions
Revisiting a classic text exploring race and Rogerian counselling that I believe should be on every course list. (Originally published in Therapy Today and reproduced here with permission of the BACP).
Why we still need Black History Month
Discussing why, as a society and as a profession, there is still much work to do. (Originally published in Therapy Today and reproduced here with permission of the BACP).
Therapy Today: The Big Interview
With the new book #Mockingbird published in February 2021 by Routledge, I was interviewed by BACP. The interview explored some of the themes of the book together with the reasons behind its publication. (Originally published in Therapy Today and reproduced here with permission of the BACP).
Spotlight Article
This brief paper discusses changing psychotherapy trainings and explores the techniques I use to challenge students’ prejudices to assist them in exploring their own privileges and sense of otherness. (Originally published in The Psychotherapist – Summer 2019).
Lost In The Echo
Viewed through the lens of a psychotherapy client, this paper considers how the adoption of the position of echo sits central to the post-colonial experience (Windrush) of the other in attempts to build and maintain a life in the UK. The paper then aids us in recognizing the adaptive nature of the other as it attempts to survive the colonizer’s conscious and unconscious subjugation, with all its psychological costs, together with a possible route towards post-colonial psychological reintegration (published in the JCPCP Vol 18 No 4).
Crossing the Styx: A Transpersonal Exploration of the Death of the Other
Influenced by post-colonial thinking around difference and diversity, I here present a uniquely transpersonal exploration of difference, and an important definition of spiritual othering. This research sees spiritual othering as the self-destruction of that which makes us unique, and of that which would aid us in achieving our ultimate spiritual potential (published in the Journal of Transpersonal Research).
Privilege Supremacy and Shame
This article explores a recent encounter with privilege in the therapy room (originally published in Therapy Today, July 18, and reproduced here with permission of the BACP).
‘You Shall Not Replace Us!’ White supremacy, psychotherapy and decolonisation
Through the lens of an experiential seminar, this article considers the role unconscious white supremacy plays within counselling and psychotherapy. Offering a plea for counselling organisations to consider whiteness studies as an integral aspect of their trainings, this article sees decolonization as a route towards this, and towards a greater engagement with the other both as trainees and as potential clients (published in the JCPCP Volume 18 Issue 1).
Being The Other: A Creative Exploration of the Identity of the Other
Influenced by Fanon’s idea that the slave needs the master as much as the master needs the slave, this article uses sand play work to explore the unconscious draw for the other in relation to the majority. Offering an important insight into this difficult and contradictory relationship, this research argues that for difference to be fully understood we must make conscious and recognise this relationship for the other in order to free the other from their fear of their potential.
Duality To Unity: A Heuristic Exploration Of The Experience Of Being The Other
This research combines the heuristic research method with creative techniques common to Transpersonal psychotherapy in the belief that by working with one’s unconscious experience as the outsider metaphorically and symbolically it is possible to access spiritual wholeness (originally published in the Integral Transpersonal Journal – August 2016).
We Are All Us Other
This article challenges us to recognise that we are all of us ‘other’, or potentially so, and it is this realisation we fear when we encounter difference (Originally published in Therapy Today, June 16 and reproduced here with permission of the BACP).
Examining Buber’s I: narcissism and the othering of the other
This article asks what psychotherapists in a majority culture dominated profession learn about themselves from interactions involving dual stereotyping (Published in the JCPCP 2016, Vol 12, No 2).
Breaking free from the Shadow(s)
Based upon my PhD thesis, this article traced a creative exploration of the conscious and unconscious experience of being the Other.
(The original article was published in the UKCP journal ‘The Psychotherapist’ issue 61 and is reproduced here with permission).
Everything and Nothing: Spiritual intersubjectivity as a counterpoint to transpersonal narcissism
This article examines the quest for a more participatory exploration of the transpersonal, while acknowledging the dangers of ‘ethnocentric imperialism’. Published in the Journal of Critical Psychology Counselling and Psychotherapy, June 2015.
Searching for Afrocentric spirituality within the transpersonal
Published August 2015 in the BPS Transpersonal Review, 2015, Volume 17, Number One. The aim of this paper is to show, via the lens of a culturally specific dream, how the transpersonal could benefit from broadening its approach to spirituality to include the wisdom of African spiritual beliefs.
This is a pre-publication version of the following article: Searching for afrocentric spirituality within the transpersonal.
Strange Relationship
Investigating the link between Narcissism, Prejudice and Individuation – First published in Therapy Today, December 2009 issue.
Forever in my Life
An Afro-Caribbean perspective on intimacy – Published in The Journal of Critical Psychology Counselling and Psychotherapy in March 2009.
The Smoke that Thunders
A Personal perspective on how the absent father hinders the growth of black men in the new millennium – Published in The Journal of Critical Psychology Counselling and Psychotherapy in June 2007.
Universal Vibration
Exploring the link between Music and ones life process – Published in The Journal of Critical Psychology Counselling and Psychotherapy in June 2006
Conference presentations
Conference Paper: BPS Research Conference Presentation – September 2013 at Huddersfield University
Title: Universal difference? Understanding relationality and difference in transpersonal psychotherapy – This paper was presented as part of a symposium considering creativity in research in conjunction with colleagues from the University of Northampton.
Clips and podcasts
BAATN podcast
Abstract: This month’s podcast features a conversation with by Dwight Turner, psychotherapist, staff member of the Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy Education in London and writer on the topics such as ‘An Afro-Caribbean perspective on intimacy’, ‘a personal perspective on the on how the absent father hinders the growth of black men in the new millennium’ and ‘exploring the link between music and one’s life process’.
PCSR Podcast May 2020
Abstract: Dr Dwight Turner is a psychotherapist, senior lecturer and researcher at School of Applied Social Science at Brighton University. His most recent blog – “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos” for BME Voices Talk Mental Health – addressed the anguish and the action that has risen from the latest public murder of a Black man, George Floyd in Minneapolis, and has been very widely read by UK and US therapists.
Here he speaks about being a Black man and a Black therapist; of racism being a problem of Whiteness rather than a Black problem; and the legacy of centuries of racism that remains largely unaddressed within our professions.
Psychologies Podcast Sept 2020
Abstract: Recent events have shone a light on the discrimination people still experience daily. In this podcast episode, UKCP’s CEO Sarah Niblock talks to UKCP psychotherapist Dwight Turner to discuss discrimination and the effects it can have on someone’s mental wellbeing.
The Rendering Unconscious Podcast July 2020
Abstract: Rendering Unconscious welcomes Dr. Dwight Turner to the podcast! Dr. Turner is a Psychotherapist & Supervisor working in London and Paddington, as well as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Brighton. Dr. Turner casts an intersectional lens on privilege, supremacy, otherness and social justice.
SideWalk Talk Podcast Apr 2021
Abstract: Dr. Dwight Turner has been studying and teaching on the concepts of otherness, race, and justice in psychotherapy long before they were trending topics in culture. He recently put out his first book on just that topic, in the hopes that readers will walk away with a better understanding of their own privilege and tendencies to otherize in culture today.
On this episode of The Sidewalk Talk podcast, Traci gets to sit down with Dr. Turner to discuss his book, the idea of creating equality and justice out of disgust, and the balance between being an individual and adapting to society, especially when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a thought-provoking and engaging conversation between therapists, but also one that is accessible to anyone, regardless of their background in psychotherapy or counselling. Traci and Dr. Turner’s conversation ends with his wish for you, the listener, to think about what one or two things you can do within your own community to benefit the life of someone else. Don’t miss out on this important and timely conversation!
The #TherapistsConnect Podcast
Abstract: In this episode of the #TherapistsConnect Podcast, Dr Peter Blundell (Twitter: @drpeterblundell) interviews Dr Dwight Turner (Twitter : @Dturner300) about his life and work.
Dwight is a psychotherapist and supervisor in London. He is a senior lecturer at the University of Brighton and he “casts an intersectional lens on privilege, supremacy, otherness and social justice”. He has a book coming out in 2021 called ‘Intersections of Privilege and Otherness in Counselling and Psychotherapy: Mockingbird’.
Interview released August 2015
Noel Bell talks to Dwight Turner about Counselling and Psychotherapy.
Podcast released in October 2012
Podcast for the BAATN discussing counselling and psychotherapy for the BME community.
Fiction books and ebooks
Listed here are my fiction publications which can be purchased via Amazon in both paperback and electronic formats.
Motherland
On the day the years of physical and emotional abuse became public, Karl Taylor knew that his life had changed forever more. Finally realising how scarred his life has been at the hands of both his parents, he suddenly leaves, feeling his need for a break, a separation that will become just the beginning of his voyage of self-discovery. Embarking on a journey that will take him across Central and Eastern Africa, Karl’s quest into the Motherland starts to ask challenging questions of who he is, raises the spectres of his history as he understands why he is, and gifts him the first embers of who he is truly meant to be.
The White Heart of Calistia
It is a challenging time for the Church of Ran.
Established over half a millennia past, its current leader is terminally ill, his absence threatening to leave the Church with a void at its pinnacle, and unsettle the fragile alliance of the Nations of the North.
Yet already shadowy elements are making their move, attempting to grasp the advantage presented by this momentary weakness within the alliance. Cardinal Nathan, respected servant of the Church, uncovers a far reaching plot originating from a nation in exile, designed to maintain this dangerous period of instability and guide it to its destructive conclusion.
But even he cannot fathom just how far those charged with breaking the alliance will go. Uncovering a scheme stretching from the Great Cathedral on the island nation of Ran Pasa in the south, to the mountains of Queseda on the mainland and beyond, it will encapsulate the fates of both an orphan girl from the north and a slave boy from a land far away, and involve bravery both ancient and new.