Jo Watson is a psychotherapist, trainer and activist with a professional history in the rape crisis movement of the 1990’s. She has worked therapeutically for the last 20 years with people who have experienced trauma. Jo actively challenges the biomedical model in mental health both inside and outside of her work and links distress and mental ill health to psycho-social causes. (Trauma, oppression, lack of positive attachment etc)
Jo believes that in many cases the identification with a ‘diagnosis’ is damaging and counterproductive to a satisfactory healing process and that alternative understandings should be offered.
Jo founded the Facebook group ‘Drop The Disorder‘ in September 2016 as a place where the issues surrounding the biomedical model can be discussed. Jo is organising and promoting “A Disorder For Everyone!” with Lucy which is presently making its way around the UK!
“For me at the very core of the therapeutic process is the telling of personal stories, the naming and acknowledgement of experience. It is, fundamentally a process of making sense of distress in a relationship that feels affirming, safe and containing. Why then are many counsellors and therapists seemingly accepting the movement towards labels and diagnosis that too often negate the experiences that clients have had. What impact is this having on therapeutic practice, on us as professionals and on the clients we work with? Surely this is a discussion that we need to have.” ( Jo )
