Reader,

We meet next week for the second round of Community Liberation Sessions.
These are affinity spaces.

The group of BIPOC clinicians will meet on Monday, Apr 20 — 3pm PT / 6pm ET
​The group of white-identified clinicians will meet on Thursday, Apr 23 — 2pm PT / 5pm ET

So… why affinity?

Because shared identity can create shared context and accountability.
And shared context can create something we don’t often get elsewhere:

Less explaining, less code-switching, less managing how we’re perceived.
But also, more honesty, more depth, more truth.

Affinity spaces are not about exclusion for the sake of it. They are about reducing harm and redistributing emotional labor.

And when not to do affinity?

When the goal is cross-identity learning, dialogue, and accountability.

When we need to practice being in relationship across difference—not just within it. Cross-identity spaces are where we stretch.

Where we notice what comes up in real time—defensiveness, discomfort, urgency, silence—and learn how to stay present without defaulting to old patterns.

They’re spaces to practice repair, build capacity for hard conversations, and deepen our understanding of power and relational impact—not just intellectually, but relationally, in the moment.

They’re not always comfortable. But they can be transformative.
That work matters too. After all, we're intersectional...

And I do offer cross-identity spaces—one class is coming soon, so stay tuned. Be the first to know by signing up for the waitlist.

Also… a small milestone I want to share with you:

​The Practice of Liberation (The POL) now has six issues.

The POL is a slower, more intimate space where I explore what it actually looks like to practice liberation—in real life, not just in theory. In our work, yes, but also in how we live, choose, relate, and unlearn.
​Each monthly letter includes prompts for reflection, a 10-minute practice to integrate knowledge, a book recommendation.

In the last issues, I’ve written about:

• unlearning inherited, colonial definitions of success rooted in overwork and survival, and reclaiming rest, slowness, and self-defined alignment as essential practices of liberation
• how the licensure process conditions clinicians into fear, hypervigilance, and disconnection from their embodied knowing—and what it means to return to presence, relational wisdom, and trust
• the pressure to specialize and “niche down,” and the importance of reclaiming interdisciplinary curiosity and expansive ways of knowing
• how productivity culture shapes our fear of not “achieving enough,” and what it means to measure our lives through alignment instead of output
• reclaiming voice through ancestral healing—and what that reveals about the limits of Western therapy when it becomes the only path we’re offered

You can subscribe anytime and read all six issues so you don’t miss a thing.

And I’ll leave you with this, as you move through your week:

Remember that not every space needs to hold everything and not every space needs to hold everyone.

Part of liberatory practice is learning to discern:

Where am I meant to process?
Where am I meant to be challenged? Where am I meant to simply be?

If you’re craving a space to practice, to process, and to be in community— you’re welcome to join us next week.

With care,

Silvana

​​Liberatory Letters | The Practice of Liberation | Decolonize Your Practice​

PS.
​Sign up for the next Community Liberation Session​
➡️ BIPoC clinicians: Apr 20 — 3 pm PT / 6 pm ET
➡️ white clinicians: Apr 23 — 2 pm PT / 5 pm ET

PPS.​
Subscribe to The Practice Of Liberation​

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⬆️ Let's connect!