Olatunde Spence

Olatunde Spence is an art psychotherapist and counsellor from Portwood in Stockport. Prior to qualifying in therapeutic work, she was a Youth and Community Development Worker.

Olatunde is one of six children, born to an English mother and a Jamaican father. The children were the only Black family to attend the local Catholic school. They played together and looked out for one another, spending free time running wild in the local park and woods. Whilst studying at college on a youth apprenticeship programme, Olatunde began volunteering at a play scheme, which eventually led to employment in the voluntary sector. She left home at 17 and was soon living independently. After decades in the sector, developing projects to support Black children and their parents, creating positive learning resources and establishing the borough’s Black History Month programme, Olatunde returned to education to retrain in psychotherapy.

In this interview Olatunde discusses her identity as a Black woman and some of the people and events that have shaped her understanding of the concept. She also discusses the changing nature of racism and some of the methods she has employed to challenge both face-to-face discrimination and wider structural inequality.