Reader,

What does togetherness look like to you these days?

In the summer sometimes togetherness looks like spending time with my cats or tending to my succulents.

Sometimes it looks like a once-a-year phone call with colleagues I worked with years ago. Or the quarterly video chat (when we actually remember to schedule it) with friends I’ve met through private practice. Or the ordinary but irreplaceable moments with the two humans I live with—sometimes intentional, sometimes rushed, always meaningful in their own way.

None of those relationships look the same, or require the same amount of time, energy, or presence.

And I think that’s the point.

Dominant culture often gives us very narrow ideas about what community is supposed to look like. It tells us that if we’re not constantly gathering, showing up, organizing, hosting, networking, or staying endlessly available, then somehow we’re failing at togetherness. And then we end up feeling like we’ve failed Community 101.

I don’t buy it.

I think community has to fit our actual lives. Our bandwidth. Our responsibilities. Our nervous systems. Our season. Period.

So let me make you an invitation.
Or better yet, let me make a case for us sharing a space together this (northern) summer:

If we’ve never shared a space together before (you know who you are), maybe this is the summer (or winter if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere) that we change that.

This week I’m hosting what will likely be the second-to-last round of Community Liberation Sessions before I pause them for the rest of the year to honor my own bandwidth.

The BIPOC affinity space meets Thursday at 2pm PT / 5pm ET.

The white-identified affinity space meets Friday at 11am PT / 2pm ET.

There are a little over to 100 people registered in each community, and while not everyone attends live, every gathering reminds me how much clinicians are craving spaces where complexity is welcome and nobody has to pretend to have everything figured out.

If you can’t make it live, you’ll have access to the recording for a little over a week. And at the end of this round, I’ll also offer an encore period so you can catch any sessions you missed or meant to attend.

🍂 In the (northern) fall, I’m trying something new.

I’ll be opening Off Script, a small group clinical consultation space for clinicians who want to think together about the conversations conventional supervision rarely makes room for. Less “expert advice.” More collective reflection, ethical complexity, liberatory practice, and thoughtful dialogue.

And even though I try to stay away from CEUs as an educator, as a clinical supervisor I’m able to offer CEUs to Oregon LMFTs and LPCs who choose to participate (it’s part of our OARs fellow Oregonian colleague).

Regardless of the season, if you wanted to join Start Here but your bandwidth has been limited, I’m working on a workbook version of the workshop. It will include the same reflections, exercises, and framework so you can move through it at your own pace, returning to it whenever your capacity allows.

And if you’re in a season that calls for slowing down even more—and perhaps focusing a little less on professional growth and a little more on personal liberation—The Practice of Liberation (The POL) has quietly become one of my favorite things I create each month.

It’s where I write more personally about what liberation looks like beyond our clinical work: inside relationships, grief, identity, belonging, everyday decisions, and the ordinary moments that shape who we become.

Each issue follows a theme and includes a set of reflection questions, a 10-minute practice you can explore yourself or adapt with clients, and a book recommendation that invites us to think differently about the world. Not therapy books or modality manuals, but books that expand our radical imagination for what a more liberated life (and by extension, more liberated practice) can look like.

So maybe togetherness isn’t about everyone showing up in the same place.

Maybe it’s about finding the kind of connection your life actually has room for right now. And honoring that.

And finally a question for you:

Hit reply and let me know. I read every response, even if it takes me a little while to write back, and I genuinely appreciate the reflections you trust me with.

With liberatory care,

Silvana

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

PS.
​Every offering I create, every opportunity to be in community, serves a different purpose. Choose the one that meets you where you are—but don't wait for the mythical unicorn season when you finally have unlimited time, energy, and certainty. I'd love to share a space with you before then.

PPS.​
​Community Liberation Sessions of July:
​BIPoC clinicians: July 9 — 2pm PT / 5pm ET
​White clinicians: July 10 — 11am PT / 2pm ET

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⬆️ Let's connect!