BLACK PSYCHOLOGY & AFRICAN SPIRITUALITY
THE ORIGINS OF THERAPEUTIC PRACTICE
SATURDAY 23 JANUARY 2021, VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
SPEAKERS
Willelmina Joseph
Peer Recovery Trainer,
Recovery & Wellbeing College of Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust
'Listening with both ears'
Willelmina Joseph-Loewenthal (Wil) is originally from the Commonwealth of Dominica in the Caribbean and is of the Windrush Generation. Wil has worked in a variety of fields – youth employment and training, further education administration, African and Caribbean arts education and mental health training. Underlying all these roles has been the theme of education.
Wil has been in her current role of Peer Recovery Trainer for the Recovery & Wellbeing College of Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust, since its inception in 2012. Wil co-produces and co-delivers training to students of the Trust, namely people who use the Trust’s mental health services, carers, Trust staff, staff from the voluntary sector and members of the public.
Wil has been using secondary mental health services for about 20 years and is a client of CNWL as well as an employee!
A consequence of the support and training Wil received from Kensington & Chelsea Mind has been her involvement in reviewing Trust-wide mental health services. This was to stand Wil in good stead when she applied for and was accepted, as the Service User Representative to the Mental Health Strategic Partnership Board. The Board met bi-monthly at Richmond House to discuss, plan and review mental health initiatives on a national level and to support and inform the Minister.
Wil also trained with Mind as a mental health trainer and co-delivered recovery focused training with them for several years. Wil was encouraged to apply to CNWL’s very first Peer Support Worker Cohort and then as a Peer Trainer.
For the last 5 years, Wil has also been a member of the Experts by Experience Committee at UCL Department of Clinical Psychology. Initially involved in the recruitment of new doctorate trainees, the EbE committee now has input in teaching, equality, diversity and inclusion issues, curriculum and research.
Wil has been a member of the Oremi Centre (RBKC/Hestia) for a number of years and has played a prominent role in the leadership of the Oremi Council. The Council’s role is to represent members’ interests within the Centre and to the wider arena. Together with staff, the Council inputs in programming activities, meeting visitors, hosting trainee doctors and other professionals, taking part in the co-design of RBKC’s Procurement Process, and more recently, Hestia staff recruitment. The Council meets bi-weekly and produces a regular newsletter which Wil edits.
Dr. Michele Perry-Springer
Educational Psychologist,
Director, REPS
'Healing the Village: Do we know how?'
Dr. Michele Perry-Springer has been an educational psychologist for the past 16 years and an educator for over 25 years. Michele is the Director of Rafiki Educational Psychology Service (REPS) and the current president of the Association of Black Psychologist UK Chapter (UKABPsi),
Michele has taught both in the UK and the Caribbean and is passionate about the needs of children with special educational needs and those that are considered vulnerable and at risk.
Currently, Michele specialises in the needs of children and young people with care-experienced histories and leads training in Attachment and Emotion Coaching in order to support teachers to apply trauma-informed practice in the classroom.
Michele has been trained in the Solihull Approach (AP) and in Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) both approaches are concerned in analysis and better understanding of relationships and how to support attuned communication. Michele is a facilitator of the Emotional Emancipation Circles (EEC) a community-based programmed aimed at supporting African-heritage peoples to recognise the impact of anti-black racism in their lives and to develop strategies to better protect against its impact on mental well-being and physical health outcomes.
Michele is a passionate educational psychologist who aims to help translate theory to evidence-based practice in order to promote positive educational experiences for children and young people.
Michele recognises the need for more culturally appropriate services in order to provide the healing and support needed specifically for the African-heritage community who are disadvantaged due to systemic and institutionalised racism.
Co-Founder, Ancestral Voices
'Mentalism in African Indigenous Spiritual Philosophy'
Verona Spence-Adofo is the co-founder of Ancestral Voices, an educational initiative that provides learning resources that covers the spectrum of African spiritual cosmologies, philosophies and practices. It consists of 2 feature-length documentaries, published books of researched findings (in English, French& Spanish) and online courses.
She has 20 years experience working in a variety of media roles including on-air promotions, corporate productions and TV distribution, video editing amongst others. She has also written, produced and directed personal shorts. Her passion is creating works that provide an opportunity to explore social issues, particularly those that are often neglected by the mainstream media.
In 2009 she wrote and produced the short film ‘Ultimate Sin’ which explores the delicate subject of suicide by documenting the last moments and thoughts of a woman before taking her own life.
In 2011 she filmed and directed the documentary ‘Portobello’ that sheds light on gentrification happening in the Notting Hill area, through interviews with residents, market traders and The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
2011 also saw the release of the first Ancestral Voices documentary ‘Esoteric African Knowledge’, at the time being ground-breaking for addressing the stigmatisation that surrounds African Spiritual traditions.
She remains committed to using her creative skillset to address societal issues and raise awareness.
Lorraine Gordon
Chartered Psychologist
Dr. Lorraine Gordon is a chartered psychologist and associate fellow of the British Psychological Society.
With over 20 years experience in the NHS, she has worked as a Consultant Counselling Psychologist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) since 2009. She is Psychology Lead and on secondment away from the role of Head of Service for a borough-wide integrated psychological therapies team in a secondary care mental health service based at the Maudsley Hospital.
Lorraine works with adults with complex and severe mental health needs. She also has a thriving private practice. Lorraine is a BABCP accredited CBT therapist and Advanced Accredited Schema Therapist Supervisor and Trainer.
A woman of African and Caribbean heritage, Lorraine has a keen interest in diversity, inclusion and intersectionality and has been involved in organising conferences at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust devoted to developing the narratives of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic group staff with a particular emphasis on the implementation of NHS England’s Workforce Race Equality Standards in the organisation.
Lorraine is a Listening into Action Trust Lead working with the Chief Executive Officer in the Trust on improving the experience of staff from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities. She has taught on various post-graduate clinical and counselling psychology programmes for a number of years on the topics of culture and diversity.
Malcolm Phillips
Board Member, Association of Black Psychologists
'Sakhu’ Illuminating the Human Spirit in Mental Health Services.
Malcolm Phillips is a board member of the UK Chapter of the Association of Black Psychologists. He has spent more than 30 years developing and managing mental health and counselling services for Black communities in the NHS, local authorities and in the voluntary sector.
He was the founder and chair of Safoa, the National African and Caribbean mental Health Network and with Pattigift African Centred Therapy Service delivers a Diploma in Black Psychology and African-Centred Therapy.