Intergenerational strength


Reader,

This has been the topic this week in my clinical practice with other clinicians...

...Maybe this week (especially if you are in the US) you:

  • though of not being a therapist anymore
  • wanted to stay in bed
  • we’re scared yourself about your future due to your identities
  • thought you were not being efficient enough with your clients
  • needed therapy yourself
  • angry, done, ready to leave, enraged
  • helpless, hopeless

I hear you and I see you. I have felt all of the above as well…

Then I recalled the other side of that coin (of how you felt this week) is intergenerational strength.

Meaning: you (or your clients) may not have been in this exact situation before, but you and generations prior have been met with challenges, oppression, attempts at erasing you and your identities. And yet, generations prior (I mean our blood and non-blood-related ancestors of minoritized identities) resisted.

Side comment:

My former corner of the world and adjacent areas went through this in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. We got terrorism, dictatorships, coups, totalitarian governments that took advantage of existing problems and imposed change at the speed of light so that we could not keep up the pace and panic instead. It was “la doctrina del shock”—the shock doctrine.
And we survived.
And what is happening in my current corner of the world has a very similar (same?) flavour to la doctrina del shock.
And we (marginalized communities and allies) will survive.

So please remind your clients —and yourself— of the inherited and acquired resilience and power from those who came before you, even when the world tried to take it away.

What intergenerational strengths have sustained you? What practices help you remember them? Hit reply and let me know!

In community & in strength,

Silvana @ Decolonize Your Practice

PS. You can read previous Liberatory Letters here.

Let's connect!

Hi! I'm Silvana.

I help clinicians, healers, and coaches incorporate decolonized and liberatory values in their practices so that you can have a practice and/or service-based business that is truly affirming and welcoming to clients who hold marginalized identities.

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