Preemptive Radical Inclusion: A Framework for Justice, Equity, and Liberation

by Megan MacKenzie, LSW (She/Her and They/Them)

At Umbrella Collective, as we describe in our mission statement, we strive to embody liberation, welcome and honor all parts of our humanity, deeply appreciate intersectionality, and empower all people to tell their story. (UC Mission Statement). Sounds pretty ideal, but how do we get there? How do we as therapists welcome in and actively create space for all identities and experiences of the people we work with, including and especially those identities that we ourselves might not also hold? Preemptive Radical Inclusion (PRI), a set of perspectives and practices created by consultant and educator CB Beal, is a powerful framework for justice and liberation that we can turn to, both in the therapy room and in all our daily lives.

In its essence, “Preemptive Radical Inclusion means that we intentionally position ourselves, before we know anything at all about anyone in the room, to presuppose that everyone is already, and always, in the room.”

Beal gives the example of an Ice Cream Sundae party. At this hypothetical party, the host (we’ll call them “Sal”) distributes invitations throughout the neighborhood: All are welcome! All are invited! Come one, come all to the Ice Cream Sunday Party! And yet, as guests arrive, they find that the only two flavors available are vanilla and chocolate. Guests ask, “What about cookie dough? What about rainbow sherbet? Do you have any vegan options? Or sugar free? I can’t eat gluten, why are there only waffle cones but no cups?” And Sal responds, “What’s wrong with vanilla and chocolate? We have French vanilla and vanilla bean; we have German chocolate and chocolate chocolate chip, aren’t those options variety enough?” Sal is considering their own preferences and perspectives, without considering what it might actually mean to throw an Ice Cream Sundae party where all people and preferences (and dietary restrictions or health considerations!) truly are welcome.

For those of us at Umbrella Collective, we are continually processing, learning, and unlearning. We work to avoid assumptions as best as possible, and remain humbly open to feedback and being called in when we do miss the mark based on our own privileges, identities, internalized biases, and blindspots. Someone shouldn’t need to “come out” to be sure that their identities will be respected, because we assume that “everyone is already, and always, in the room.”

This framework goes well beyond the therapy room. It encourages us to consider what language do we use, and what assumptions and decisions we make at a family gathering, in a leadership position at work, or even at the grocery store. We can hold curiosity toward the assumptions we might be making about peoples’ race, gender identities, sexualities, religious backgrounds, and histories of trauma, and how those assumptions might be cutting off or excluding others. Of course, mistakes will happen based on our internalized biases. But that’s why PRI is an ongoing process toward justice and liberation, a door rather than a destination.

P.S. If you’re interested in learning more about centering the margins, I recommend checking out bell hooks’ seminal essay “Marginality as a Site of Resistance,” in which Hooks argues that the margins of society, the spaces held by black women and queer trans people of color, are the space of radical possibility and change, and only when we enter those margins can we truly find liberation. Preemptive Radical Inclusion strongly echoes the teachings of Hooks in this piece.

If you are interested in exploring your own relationship with power, privilege, and liberation, submit an Eligibility Questionnaire to start therapy with an Umbrella Collective therapist.