|
Reader, Here’s the truth: there is no such thing as decolonial therapy. Therapy, as we know it, is inherently colonial. It was built inside systems designed to pathologize, regulate, and discipline. Systems that have been invested in “fixing” us rather than liberating us. But there is decolonial healing. And that’s what we’ve been doing for generations. Long before therapy. Long before licensure. Long before CEUs. Long before Western psychology even existed. Decolonial healing is ancestral. It is collective. It is relational. It is the knowledge that survived despite erasure. This is your wake-up call. I am not invalidating the good you do as a therapist. I am not dismissing the ways you care for your clients. But I am saying this: when we pretend therapy itself is decolonial, we risk causing inadvertent harm. Because we keep funneling people back into a structure that was never designed for our liberation. It’s not your fault you’ve been practicing this way. The real culprit is a system that convinced us that healing only counts when it is billable, credentialed, licensed, or certified. But we can do this differently. We can honor therapy as a tool, not a savior. We can name its limits. We can hold space for what our licenses allow while not confusing that with what liberation requires. And we can root our practice in something bigger than therapy—something older, wiser, more connected to our communities and ancestors. Because therapy will never be the revolution. But you can be part of the lineage of healing that moves us toward it. 🌱 Reflection Prompts
🔥 Hit reply and share your reflections with me, I want to know what's happening in your world! Here's to healing beyond therapy, In solidarity, Silvana @ Decolonize Your Practice PS. Last call for 1:1 Decolonial Consultations at the current rate ($220-- price goes up in the fall). PPS. If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, you can subscribe here. PPPS. And forward this email to a peer as well! PPPPS. You can read previous Liberatory Letters here. ⬆️ Let's connect! |
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.
Reader, Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to balance community care with self-preservation. Because here’s what keeps coming up: Someone emails asking if I know of a healer, or a training, or a resource, and I pause. I want to help. I do want to help. That’s who I am. That’s who many of us are. But also:I can feel that tiny pull of hesitation. Because to respond—to curate, to think, to connect the dots—is labor. Often unpaid (emotional) labor. And then the spiral begins:If I don’t...
Reader, A quick update on what I've been up to: 💻 A mini course on how to better understand your and your clients' intersectionality using this wheel of power and privilege.I've been developing it slowly, at the pace that feels right for my body and my identities. That is the essence of the mini course.If you read this newsletter, you'll find out first when it's released! 🛋️ A deeper space for those ready to do the daily work of unlearning, remembering, and living liberation, everywhere.Keep...
Reader, A quick update on what I've been up to: 💻 A mini course on how to better understand your and your clients' intersectionality using this wheel of power and privilege.I've been developing it slowly, at the pace that feels right for my body and my identities. That is the essence of the mini course.If you read this newsletter, you'll find out first when it's released! 🛋️ A more intimate space where I share how I decolonize my work, my relationships, and myself — in real time.Read on for a...