Richard House (RH): Paul, activism takes many forms — including “psy activism” (my term) in the realm of mental health and you’re one of the most committed psy activists I know. Can you say something, first, about what you see as the key commitments of a psy activist who also works professionally in the mental health field?

Paul Atkinson (PA): For me as a psychotherapist, the key commitment is an ongoing awareness of the inevitable and complex power relationship between psy professionals and clients/service users. This applies to activism and also to the consulting room itself.

Psy professionals often claim an apolitical neutrality and an enhanced empathic sensitivity in their relationships with other people. Unless we’re willing to continually pay attention to the limits of our assumptions and experience, and keep learning from the people we’re working with, we’re likely to be projecting subtle and not-so-subtle messages of knowing more than we know, of being a little (or a lot) more important than we are and protecting ourselves with a whiff of authority that’s overbearing or condescending.