Let's talk about class: A peer-to-peer social class workshop for psychotherapy trainees.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Counseling
• Social Justice Education

Background:

• Effective psychotherapists require antioppressive, culturally responsive training.
• The field needs to address social justice and social class topics more effectively.
• Peer-to-peer initiatives can support this training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine student facilitators' perspectives on an antioppressive social class workshop (SCW).
• To understand factors influencing facilitators' experiences in the SCW.
• To inform culturally and structurally responsive psychotherapy training.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study using collaborative autoethnographic reflections from five student facilitators.
• Workshop grounded in the Social Class Worldview Model-Revised and multicultural orientation (MCO) framework.
• Reflexive thematic analysis was employed.

Main Results:

• Two core themes emerged: 'nurturing growth: ingredients and orientations' and 'navigating barriers: oppressive structures manifest at multiple levels'.
• Student facilitators acknowledged limitations but remained optimistic about achieved and hoped-for growth.
• The SCW demonstrated potential for fostering growth in antioppressive education.

Conclusions:

• Peer-to-peer social class workshops can contribute to antioppressive training in counseling psychology.
• Addressing oppressive structures is crucial for effective implementation.
• Further development of such initiatives is recommended for psychotherapy training.