ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses power, privilege, and oppression as they influence and shape the dynamics of the therapeutic relationship between the adolescent and their counselor/therapist. Development and trauma are both explicitly contextualized socioculturally, not only in relation to the literature that increasingly recognizes the trauma caused by systemic oppression such as racism and genderism, but also with regard to how oppression may impact the counseling/DMT container and the therapist's perceptions and work with the client. Throughout the chapter the authors share their internal processes as clinicians to highlight the idea that a socially- just approach to treating trauma through dance/movement therapy begins with a deep internal awareness that creates conditions for establishing a therapeutic relationship in solidarity with youth marginalized because of race, gender, and other forms of oppression.
