I help therapists, healers, and space-holders bring decolonial and liberatory values into their work—so you’re not just saying you’re aligned… you’re actually practicing it. ⬆️ More integrity, more connection, more liberation. ⬇️ Less burnout, less performative wokeness, less colonial residue. If you want a practice where marginalized clients feel safe, seen, and honored—and you want to feel more grounded and intentional in your work—subscribe and join a growing community of practitioners doing this work differently. You practice can be liberatory-- let's get you there!
Is That Ethical?
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Reader,
I get these questions in supervision. I get these questions in consultation. I get these questions in non-formal clinical settings when talking shop with therapist friends.
I will confess: I think about this all the time… damn my overthinking mind! No, not really. I love my overthinking mind. She’s brilliant. She refuses to settle for compliance when there’s nuance.
But whenever I’m asked these questions… and I’ve been doing this long enough that they come back again and again (so you are not alone in your doubts)… Whenever I’m asked these questions, I like to zoom out. I like to step back and answer with another question… how therapist of me. Ethical according to whom? Ethical according to ACA, APA, or whichever governing body you’re required to follow? Ethical according to your board? Ethical according to current law (and I have many thoughts about what is currently considered legal and illegal)? Ethical according to the rules and expectations your degree, title, and/or profession demand? And who created those laws, rules, and expectations? What knowledge and lived experience were they based on? Who did not get a seat at the table of rules and regulations where ethics codes were written? Because here is what I know (from academia and from lived experience): ethics are not neutral. They are shaped by power. They are shaped by history. They are shaped by who had institutional authority and who did not. So when you ask, “Is this ethical?” I wonder… Are you asking if it is aligned with your values? Sometimes those two overlap. Sometimes they don’t. And that tension is real. I am not advocating recklessness. I am not dismissing risk. Licensure is real. Boards are real. Consequences are real. But so is harm done in the name of neutrality. If you have burning questions like the ones above, or you simply want more community in navigating them, I am reopening my AMA: Community Liberation Sessions (formerly Decolonized Consultation Sessions). These sessions are not therapy or supervision. They are facilitated, collective gatherings for therapists, healers and space-holders interrupting colonial patterns in their work — practicing in real time and bringing their questions, tensions, and lived realities into shared reflection. We will examine power. We will examine fear. We will examine where we’ve internalized rules that may not have been designed with us in mind. Submit your questions ahead of time here Formal announcement coming next week! Reflection Questions - is this ethical?
Hit reply and let me know what came up for you. I read every response. With liberatory care, Silvana Liberatory Letters | The Practice of Liberation | Decolonize Your Practice PS. Hang in there. I know you're doing your best... even if it doesn;#x27;t feel that way at times. PPS. Sign up for the waitlist for Community Liberation Sessions here ⬆️ Let's connect! |
Liberatory Letters
I help therapists, healers, and space-holders bring decolonial and liberatory values into their work—so you’re not just saying you’re aligned… you’re actually practicing it. ⬆️ More integrity, more connection, more liberation. ⬇️ Less burnout, less performative wokeness, less colonial residue. If you want a practice where marginalized clients feel safe, seen, and honored—and you want to feel more grounded and intentional in your work—subscribe and join a growing community of practitioners doing this work differently. You practice can be liberatory-- let's get you there!
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