Race-Related Issues

You are invited to the Summer 2022 Virtual Community Meeting of the Northern California Group Psychotherapy Society (NCGPS).

This coming Sunday, July 17th from 1pm – 2:30pm Pacific, NCGPS will host Vincent Malik Dehili, PhD, CGP who will lead us in a discussion about doing away with the one-size-fits-all approach in favor of living and connecting from the fullness of ourselves in group psychotherapy.

Register today for Untying The Strings of Racism.

~ The Board of Directors

Group theories, like most nascent constructs within our modern context, have the threads of Eurocentric values woven throughout their fabric. This is most easily seen in how many seminal books and articles for group theories did not include any identity factors during the time in which they were published. This erasure of identity in our discourse reinforced the concept that race, among other intersections, is not important to consider or to be mindful of when approaching group therapy interventions (MacNair – Semands, 2007). This leads to a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching group theories and ignores the metaphorical third parent that influences our view of self and others, the socio-cultural context in which we are raised (Neville et al., 2021). When identity is erased, group theories tighten the threads of White supremacy, which keep all of us bounded and pulled apart from being with each other’s experiences, pushing us to reinforce the constructs of objectivity, perfectionism, individualism, qualifications, binary emotions, productivity over humanity, worshiping the written word, defensiveness, fear of open conflict, power hoarding, and urgency. This discussion will propose methods to raise consciousness on individualism and emotional binaries by shifting towards practices of interbeing and emotional equanimity.

Link to article with references

Schedule:

• Welcome (10 min)
• Presentation (50 min)
• Community Discussion (30 min)

Presenter Bio:

Vincent Malik Dehili, PhD, CGP, is Group Coordinator and Licensed Psychologist at North Carolina State University. Vinny has a passion for bringing diversity consciousness and anti-racism practices to group therapy, serving in various roles within American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA) as the Consultation Coordinator with the College Counseling Special Interest Group, Co-Chair of the Racial and Ethnic Diversity Special Interest Group, and Co-Chair for the Diversity and Equity Task Force. Vinny leads several training groups for therapists in his private practice to allow others to grow personally and professionally through experiential training while providing a plethora of free psycho-educational content through his Non-Yalom Group theory seminar series which is used to increase the diversity of thought and methods groups can be viewed while honoring clients socio-cultural context. He serves as current Vice President of the Florida Group Psychotherapy Society, is the current Program Chair for Division 49 – Group Psychology is a co-chair for the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the American College Counseling Association and was recently elected as Vice President of the Group Speciality Council of APA in an effort to standardize quality group training across internship sites within psychology. Vinny’s research and writing endeavors currently include raising diversity consciousness in group theories and validating tabletop role-playing as an efficacious therapeutic modality for interpersonal growth.