Read on Twitter
Hello it’s five am and I’m awake which means it’s time for
Sam’s very specific complaint
Featuring: you can’t be a good therapist because you haven’t ~recovered~ from your mental health issues
Sam’s very specific complaint Featuring: you can’t be a good therapist because you haven’t ~recovered~ from your mental health issues
I see this with all manner of mental health struggles, but especially with eating disorders. There’s this notion that if you haven’t fully recovered, you won’t have the capability to help others who are struggling.
That’s bull
That’s bull
Firstly. The research isn’t on your side! We already know that peer support is powerful AF. We already know that meaningful support can happen even from the POV of someone who’s right in the thick of it with you.
But that’s not why this bothers me so much.
But that’s not why this bothers me so much.
It bothers me because it’s unchecked privilege. If you’re setting up a standard that says “you have to be fully recovered,” what you’re actually saying is that someone needs to have successfully navigated the mental health system and received the exact care they needed...
But the folks who successfully navigate the mental health system, by and large, are those with the material means AND identifiers that allow them to access what they need without discrimination, retraumatization, or disrupted/stop and start care.
Which means! If “recovered” is the standard by which you judge a practitioner’s competence, in practice, you’re likely gatekeeping marginalized folks in the field, who may have had a huge delay in receiving proper care, if they were able to access it at all. 
Anecdotally, the providers doing harm are often the ones who aren’t checking themselves. Who aren’t thinking about fat clients, clients of color, queer clients, trans clients beyond tokenizing them — the same providers who are judging others in the field who hold these identities
However unintentional, if you’re setting the bar at “you need to have navigated this system that’s already set up for you to fail” rather than “you need to have the empathy, insight, and training to support your clients,” it’s a discriminatory standard, not a protective one
And all of this assumes that a disability is what we should be scrutinizing, not someone’s actual capabilities nor the systems that are stacked against marginalized folks — the same systems that you are perpetuating whenever you fail to be critical of them.
This is how we duplicate the current system that disadvantages marginalized folks. We place those with privilege on a pedestal of assumed competence, and ostracize providers with lived experience who are largely from those same communities that desperately need competent care.
So the next time you find yourself assigning greater trust and respect to “recovered” mental health professionals over those struggling... ask yourself why.
Being favored and catered to by an oppressive system is not in itself credentializing... it’s literally just privilege.
Being favored and catered to by an oppressive system is not in itself credentializing... it’s literally just privilege.
