Bloomers on the washing line: The use of metaphor in EDI developments at Hertfordshire DClinPsy

Collective consideration of our EDI endeavours included actions taken, spaces that have sprung up, and reflection on challenges in doing this work. The idiom of “airing our dirty laundry” was conjured when considering how to share recent developments whilst not shying away from things that were challenging or difficult in our ongoing EDI work. We draw on metaphor to tell our story, referencing how this provides an oblique approach to topics that might otherwise feel too threatening, how symbolising experiences and discomfort that EDI discussions invariably provoke allows us to better tolerate them, and how engaging in creative dialogue builds on and alters a symbolic representation, mobilising active participation and collective creativity in group processes for creative resistance against oppressive systems.