Our Stance on Diversity and Inclusion
Emotionally Focused Therapy and Training Australia (EFTTA) stands with ICEEFT’s commitment to respect and celebrate diversity and strive for inclusion. We seek to honour all people, regardless of gender, race, religion, sexuality, ability or age. In an Australian context, we especially acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging. We walk in solidarity in the shared pain of the past, and shared hope for the future, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.
EFTTA strives to inclusively support all individuals and relationships. We acknowledge the impacts of systemic racism and sexism and strive to counter these forces with anti-racist and anti-sexist practices and support for all women and people of colour. We openly affirm the LGBTQIA + (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, and other identities diverse in gender, sexuality or body) community and their relationships, as well as relationships as varying structures (consensually non-monogamous and polyamorous relationships), and stand against all forms of discrimination affecting these communities. We acknowledge and respect the role of diverse cultures and faiths in individual lives and relationships, both in practice and in sacredly held beliefs. We advocate for and support the neurodiverse community and people living with disability, and assert the universal human need for love and connection. We acknowledge this universal need across the lifespan, and endeavour to support clients and their relationships through all stages of life. Finally, we recognise the impact of the intersections between these identities, both in personal significance and depth of these experiences, as well the cumulative effects of discrimination, displacement and marginalisation for people belonging to multiple diverse groups.
In all contexts, EFTTA commits to work together with our clients to understand their experiences and support their mental health and relationships. At EFTTA, we practice in accordance with the values and hopes and ideals of ICEEFT, our international headquarters.
ICEEFT on Diversity and Racism
At the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT) we are dedicated to developing secure, resilient individuals and successful, trusting relationships between partners and within families across the globe. As such, we stand against all forms of racism and discrimination and stand in support of all people of colour. We condemn the abhorrent impact of systemic racism in our world and society.
We are committed to listening, learning and growing, so that we can better embody our values of inclusion, equality and diversity. As a community, we commit to becoming an anti-racist organisation, working in close collabration with our Diversity and Inclusion Group, as well as with members in our community who have experienced marginalisation. Together we will fight racism, both as a principle and as a tangible reality in our training programs, our clinical work and our interactions with communities across different countries and cultures.
Our renewed aim is to share our expertise and knowledge in the service of healing discrimination and racial trauma, helping people value differences and enabling them to also embrace our common humanity. We will take a more focused and deliberate action to welcome and promote greater openness and compassion in all our endeavours.
With inclusion, equity, and diversity as foundational values, our work will continue to remain grounded in attachment science which asserts that we are all wired for connection and share common needs to be seen, valued and supported by others.
EFT and the LGBTQIA+ Community
EFTTA and the Emotionally Focused Therapy framework are inclusive in their practice, and fully affirm and advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community and our relationships.
We strive to celebrate all people of diverse genders, sexualities and bodies, and support their mental health and relationships. We recognise the diversity in the experiences and structures of LGBTQIA+ lives, relationships and families, including exploration and disclosure of diverse identities, finding community, chosen family and diverse journeys to parenthood, and navigating relationships that fall outside of heteronormative, patriarchal, or monogamous expectations.
We recognise the negative effects of societal discrimination and prejudice, familial rejection, historic criminalisation and ongoing lack of legal recognition of our bodies, identities and relationships. We acknowledge the ongoing discrepancies in legal rights and recognition of our communities, especially transgender, gender diverse and intersex communities. We seek to validate and heal these traumas in our work with clients while empowering and supporting them to live with freedom and authenticity.
As a gender nonconforming queer man, it is a privilege to practise in a supportive and affirming environment with colleagues committed to continued learning about and support of our queer community. Working within our community to support the lives and relationships of other LGBTQIA+ people, their partners and families, is an ongoing honour, a dream realised, and the heart and soul of my practice as a queer psychologist.
Nick Baker (he/they)
Psychologist and Clinical Psychology Registrar
