Stephanie Winn

By W. F. Twyman, Jr.

Last summer, I was strolling through the world of podcasts. I was on my summer break and should have been reading but I was lazy. And besides, I am always on the prowl for a kindred spirit, someone who gets it as I get it. Race and gender do not matter as my readers know. I care about the inner soul and spirit of a person.

A caption captured my attention — Some Kind of Therapist. I clicked and heard an opening voice of a guy engaging with Stephanie Winn. The guy says “you must be some kind of therapist.” Well, that quote was a splendid hook, caught my attention. I pulled up the podcast and heard two sympatico souls, guest Leslie Elliott and podcast host Stephanie Winn. The podcast was titled Therapists or Activists: The Ideological Capture of Counseling Education. Some Kind of Therapist

Winn and Elliott zeroed in on the fundamental issue from the opening bell. Instructors are training therapists to see the world from a strong standpoint. Privilege, Marginalization, Social Justice. There is no room for the individual in therapy. Reason and curiosity are abandoned in service of dogma and slogan words. I knew nothing about Winn and Elliott beforehand. But these two were speaking my language. They bemoaned how therapy instructors were changing core values of students. And not just students!

Therapy students are being trained to go out into the world and increase the racial consciousness of patients. Like how does that work? There is no one baseline racial consciousness. If there are over 40 million black Americans, there are over 40 million life stories, experiences and perspectives. Suppose one doesn’t value a sense of Blackness at all or very little? When was it decided that over 10 million black Americans who don’t value a sense of Blackness very much must be subject to therapists hellbent on funneling hyper race consciousness into a black client or patient? This all strikes me as unethical at best and malpractice at worst. Suppose a black client viewed themselves as human first? Suppose the black client has retired from Blackness? Or, suppose the client takes offense because the client self-identifies as transracial?

I reject that therapists must view black people as caricatures and stereotypes. It is offensive and denies the humanity of the individual. The first responsibility of a therapist should never be to broach race in a therapy session! Ugh!

Please go away prejudiced therapists!

Continue along these lines and the 10 million black Americans who are put off by dogma and slogan words will simply not see a therapist at all. Better to solve one’s own problems than pay a therapist for a struggle session. I am being honest.

When the podcast was over, I had two new soul mates in life. I immediately mailed a copy of my book Letters in Black and White to Winn. I applauded Winn as a truth teller. She ranks up there with Harvard Professor Roland Fryer. Winn agreed to read my book and she invited me to appear on her podcast. Such a marvelous opportunity to chat with someone else who values the individual over caricatures and stereotypes.

Dear Stephanie Winn, 

I have enjoyed your series of podcasts about therapy and ideology. In my view, therapy is about understanding the individual. Embracing caricatures and stereotypes seems to be the opposite of understanding. If there are over 40 million black Americans, there are over 40 million life stories, experiences and perspectives. No one is an avatar for one's race. 

Frustrated with the growing creep of racial dogma in my own family, I co-authored with Jennifer Richmond a recent book, Letters in Black and White: A New Correspondence on Race in America. Letters in Black and White is a four-year-long correspondence about racial life across the color line. We push beyond slogan words of manipulation like "White Privilege," "White Fragility," "Systemic Racism," "Marginalized," and (my favorite) "Oppression" to write life plainly. Blackness is not Oppression in the year 2023 in San Diego. 

I would love to send you a copy of our book. Can you provide me with a mailing address for receipt of Letters in Black and White? You are doing great work. The forces of manipulation and slogan words are strong but humanity will prove more enduring.

Best regards,

Sadly, Winn caught long-haul Covid which slowed Winn in her tracks. After a recovery, she caught Covid again. The double setback meant Winn was not up for our scheduled podcast. I completely understood since health should be Winn’s first priority.

This morning, I watched a solo podcast by Winn. Due to her health issues and concerns about professional responsibility, she made the decision to step away from therapy and focus on her consulting. I was both saddened to hear the news and heartened that Winn was acting with intention to remain in the arena of solving mental health issues. Kudos to Stephanie!

Later today, I came across an e-mail. Stephanie wanted to reschedule my podcast and include Jen Richmond, my co-author, as well. This is great news! I have so many points and issues to explore with Winn. How do we get away from caricatures and stereotypes in therapy? Why are instructors blind to the diversity and non-conformers within Black America? Is the conversation with Jen in my book a model for therapist training or not? Why am I immune to conforming ideology? Is it ethical and moral to shoehorn trans energy from gender to race?

Conclusion: We can disagree without being disagreeable. What I love about Winn is her instinct for truth telling. As fate would have it, I appeared as a guest on Elliott’s podcast back in December. It was a great conversation. Now I eagerly await the main attraction, a chance to explore ideas and shared values with Winn. Are my fears about therapy well-founded today? Is there a place in therapist training for the client who has retired from Blackness? Do the benefits of shoehorning trans energy into race discourse outweigh the costs of gender ideology?

You know what I really love about meeting Stephanie in the upcoming weeks and months? She will see me before she sees race and skin color. Anyone with that perceptive vision has my heart.