Being White in the Helping Professions, Judy Ryde, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2009, 224pp, pbk, £19.99
There is a passion in this book that is rooted in a commitment to social justice. Judy Ryde wants both practice and scholarship to be intent ally reflective about some of the problems and possibilities that surround cultural identity and its impact when working within the multi-cultural environment. She shows how we white people live within a world of advantage and privilege and rarely see how these positions of power shape the way we both think and respond. This book confronts some of my own sense of privilege, often unrecognised, but more importantly how this can shape my practice of pastoral care.
The author’s twenty-five years of experience in working in supervision and training is put to good use in this carefully organised and well-written book.
It also is a model of excellence in so far as it not only discusses the subject matter with intelligence and wisdom, but it also provides some solutions for good practice in developing inter-cultural awareness.
James Woodward