Liberation practices : towards emotional wellbeing through dialogue

Introducing ourselves / Gillian Hughes and Taiwo Afuape -- Historical development of liberation practices / Taiwo Afuape and Gillian Hughes -- Looking further at "liberation" ; a critical perspective / Taiwo Afuape and Gillian Hughes, with commentary by Nimisha Patel -- Working with young people -- Holdin' on: using music technology as a tool of cultural liberation with respect to performing masculinities at a young offenders' institution / Ornette Clennon -- What's our story : centralising young people's experiences of gangs, crews, and collectives, to develop services that promote wellbeing / Gillian Hughes and Taiwo Afuape -- A clinical service for gender non-conforming young people : what can a liberation psychology perspective contribute? / Bernadette Wren -- The use of film and creative media to liberate young refugee and asylum seeking people from disempowering identities -- a dialogical approach / Sue Clayton and Gillian Hughes -- Working with adults -- "Keeping it real" : oppression, liberation, creativity and resistance / Ornette Clennon, Elisha Bradley, Taiwo Afuape and Amelia Horgan -- 'Women can build a nation. our disease, hiv, cannot stop us to be mothers because we are the mothers of the nations' : a liberation approach / Angela Byrne, Jane Tungana, Upenyu, Monika, Devota, Janet, Fay, Rose, Rukia,Wonderful, Patience, Becky, Mary, Hope, Lizzy, Linda, Barbie and Uwamaria of Re:Assure Women's Project at Positive East -- Liberatory praxis alongside elders / Maria Castro Romero -- Breaking out of the gender binary : liberating transgender prisoners / David Nylund and Heather Waddle -- Teaching and practice within wider systems -- Hard to reach services? : liberating ourselves from the constraints of our practice / Gillian Hughes and Nsimire Aimee Bisimwa -- Teaching liberation psychology / Maria Castro Romero and Taiwo Afuape -- A story of political consciousness and struggle across time and place / Cristian Peña and Leopoldo Garcia -- Issues and dilemmas -- Is it possible to take a liberation approach as a clinical psychology trainee? / Dzifa Afonu, Katarina Kovacova, Abbie Unwin -- Is psychoanalysis a liberation approach? African sisters in dialogue / Taiwo Afuape and Tayo Afuape -- Towards and beyond liberation psychology / Carolyn Kagan and Mark H. Burton -- Reflections on practice -- A passion for change : liberation practices and psychology / Geraldine Moane, with final reflections by Gillian Hughes and Taiwo Afuape.

Liberation psychology is an approach that aims to understand wellbeing within the context of relationships of power and oppression, and the sociopolitical structure in which these relationships exist. Liberation Practices: Towards Emotional Wellbeing Through Dialogue explores how wellbeing can be enhanced through dialogue which challenges oppressive social, relational and cultural conditions and which can lead to individual and collective liberation. Taiwo Afuape and Gillian Hughes have brought together a variety of contributors, from a range of mental health professions and related disciplines, working in different settings, with diverse client groups. Liberation Practices is a product of multiple dialogues about liberation practices, and how this connects to personal and professional life experience. Contributors offer an overview of liberation theories and approaches, and through dialogue they examine liberatory practices to enhance emotional wellbeing, drawing on examples from a range of creative and innovative projects in the UK and USA. This book clearly outlines what liberation practices might look like, in the context of the historical development of liberation theory, and the current political and cultural context of working in the mental health and psychology field. Liberation Practices will have a broad readership, spanning clinical psychology, psychotherapy and social work.