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This contemporary and fascinating book, edited by Frank Lowe, brings together a collection of diverse papers based mostly on presentations at ‘Thinking Space’, a monthly learning forum for trainees and staff, held at the Tavistock Clinic. In the introductory chapter, Lowe describes the origins of the Thinking Space forum, which he set up in 2002 to promote thinking about issues of race, culture, racism and diversity in psychotherapy. Drawing on his own experiences as a facilitator and participant in ‘diversity events’ in a number of different contexts, Lowe was mindful of the difficulties and barriers in engaging in an honest and open discussion about race and culture.
In the second chapter where he delineates the theoretical principles of the Thinking Space model, Lowe posits that psychotherapists have learned to turn a ‘blind eye’ to the whiteness and lack of diversity within the field. The metaphor of ‘turning a blind eye’ (Steiner 1985) is one that is taken up by different authors in subsequent chapters of the book. Influenced by the works of Klein, Bion and Bollas, the aim of Thinking Space was to provide a container for the anxiety and strong emotions aroused by the subjects of race, culture and diversity. Lowe believed that providing a container for the anxiety could lead to the beginnings of a reflective function and a capacity to stay with and engage with these difficult subjects.
Each of the nine chapters that follow, are brave and honest explorations of different aspects of diversity that weave together clinical, supervisory and personal experiences of the authors with their theoretical positions. In Chapter 2, Onel Brooks draws on his own experiences within institutional settings to alert us to the dangers of being unable to think about race and racism. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 are written by white practitioners (Helen Morgan, David Morgan and Jonathan Bradley). Veering away from colour-blindness and able to address their own privilege, they question their Euro