Judy Ryde PhD joins Francesca for a conversation around diversity, whiteness, mindfulness of racial thoughts, and overcoming blocks of guilt and shame with compassion and commitment.
Judy Ryde Phd, a psychotherapist for 40+ years and one of the Founders of the Bath Centre for Psychotherapy and Counseling, for much of her professional life has been very concerned about the lack of diversity in psychotherapy, leading to her doctoral research into whiteness within a racialized society, as well as her books: Being White in the Helping Professions and White Privilege Unmasked: How to Be Part of the Solution. Judy is founder and director of Trauma Foundation South West, which provides counseling and psychotherapy for refugees and asylum seekers, as well as training and supervision for those working with traumatized refugees and asylum seekers in other agencies. For more info, please visit JudyRyde.com
Motivation Towards Diversity
Welcoming diversity-expert and psychotherapist, Judy Ryde PhD, to the ReRooted podcast, Francesca invites her to share what events in her life sparked such a deep interest in diversity, race, and identity. Recounting an early experience with a school friend which opened her eyes to the realities of racism, Judy relates this to later in life when she realized her profession of psychotherapy immensely lacked diversity. These recognitions would lead to a lifetime of investigation into diversity, identity, and the helping professions.
“I can’t be outside this situation. The racial situation is something we all partake in, and my partaking of it is being white, and in that sense I’m privileged.” – Judy Ryde PhD
For more Francesca exploring the cross section of race, identity, and our unconscious legacy burdens, tune into Ep. 29 of ReRooted
Mindfulness of Racial Thoughts (14:48)
In investigating how we can uproot society’s internalized racism from the inside out, Judy and Francesca share on the necessary first step of being open enough to recognize the unconscious racial thinking within our own minds. Recognizing we all have some form of racial thinking, can we use mindfulness to catch these thoughts as they arise?
“It’s fairly universal that people deny they’re a racist. People who espouse ideas of equality and say that there should be racial equality, nevertheless have racial thoughts. It’s very difficult to encourage people to actual own that, because I think you need to know that in order to do something about it and catch it. These thoughts go through your head like that. Can you catch it?” – Judy Ryde PhD
For a conversation around the invention of whiteness, join Francesca, on Ep. 39 of ReRooted
Blocks to White Awareness (30:42)
Going over visual models of blocks to white awareness, Judy and Francesca explore the obstructions that get in the way of white people becoming more aware of themselves as racialized beings. Overcoming complacency, guilt, denial, and shame, with perspective, compassion, equanimity, and commitment, Judy and Francesca explore working with whiteness in society and ourselves.
“How I understand it is, every feeling that human beings have has a place, a reason to be there. A reason for guilt is, if we’ve done something that’s harmful, then guilt alerts us to that. If we feel ashamed, it might help us to move through that. I’m not saying it’s a good idea to be caught in guilt and shame, but that we have something that alerts us to something seriously amiss here.” – Judy Ryde PhD
Join Francesca in investigating the question ‘What is whiteness?’ in an exploration of race, identity, and privilege, on Ep. 32 of ReRooted
Source images via Judy Ryde and