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!
Moving away from systems that pathologize people
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Reader, Q (from a therapist): I'm wondering how therapists who are decolonizing their practices are shifting from diagnosis and documenting things in an intake note or treatment plan where the diagnosis would typically go... the tools I have in my EHR are not set up for this and need to be reimagined but for the time being while using the system of an EHR with an intake note of a biopsychosocial assessment and history of symptoms with a diagnosis summing it up, and then the diagnosis leading the treatment plan, and those informing the case notes, I'm struggling since I really don't want to continue this format but don't have another way at this time. A: As fas as I know there are no EHRs (the platforms most health providers use) that are anti-oppressive. You may find a couple that are aware of people’s pronouns and gender; maybe some have space for you to thoroughly select your race and/or ethinicity. But we know this is far away from being decolonial. If you are doing therapy (or providing a service) within the existing mental health and wellness industrial complex, chances are you have felt the push back from an oppressive system telling you how to document, treat, and diagnose (in a way that blames your client). Reimagining is a key word here. Have you heard of Radical Imagination? Radical Imagination is the idea (and fact) that we exist within a reality that someone imagined, but it’s a reality that does not take into account my marginalized identities. Therefore, can’t I radically imagine a new liberatory reality that takes into account ALL, especially people who are currently minoritized? We may not get to this in our lifetime, but we can start building it. And in the meantime? In the meantime I propose that you resist from within. Next time you are diagnosing (because your agency asks you to, or because you work with a health insurance) remember that this may the only way for people to get access to healing. Remember that it is the oppressive system that wants you to feel guilty for using it, when in reality some therapists and healers have no other immediate option but to work (and resist) within the current system. Also, see my previous email for other ways of resisting from within. The free monthly Q&A sessions (a.k.a. Decolonized Consultation Sessions) are back If you participated last year, you are automatically signed (but can opt out here if this is not the right time). 🌈 These are 55-min Q&A sessions where you get to ask all the questions you have about decolonizing and liberating your therapy, healing, and/or wellness practice. You get to create community as the group will also offer feedback and suggestions that have worked for them. These groups are a wealth of communal knowledge! Some of the topics we’ve covered: ☀️ Building a decolonized mental health or wellness practice ☀️ Anti-oppressive paperwork ☀️ Inclusive treatment ☀️ Decolonizing yourself to decolonize your practice ☀️ Existing and resisting within the mental health industrial complex and wellness complex If you have not joined yet, you can sign up below:
In community, Silvana @ Decolonize Your Practice PS. If you are new to this newsletter, you can read previous newsletter posts 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!
February 2026 Reader, I belong to the subgroup of clinicians who became therapists because they went to therapy and… it worked! Therapy helped me so i wanted to help others though therapy… does that sound familiar? I joined an undergraduate program in psychology in 2004. I completed my clinical psychology internship at the local Air Force hospital in 2009. Of course I didn’t love the specialty classes. Of course I was lit up by philosophy and psychology, literature and psychology, sociology...
Reader, I’ve been reflecting on the fact that my prescheduled emails told you I was in deep rest mode, and now I’m questioning that. I think the news — and the pace and volume of it — really took a toll on me, and I’m still recovering from it. I don’t think I achieved deep rest.That is okay in the sense that this is useful information: more is happening ⇒ systems are escalating ⇒ it’s harder to return to any kind of baseline ⇒ this informs me about what may also be happening for the...
[from the archives] Reader, This is something that keeps coming up in conversations with other clinicians: and it's even more relevant now in 2026... even though i wrote this a while back How do we keep showing up for our clients when we’re moving through so much ourselves? When the world feels like it’s on fire, and we’re holding stories that mirror our own pain? Let’s be real: Being a therapist or healer in a chaotic world (to say the least) often means holding other people’s grief while...