Reader,

The next email in this series comes from an email exchange from two years ago. This time, it’s not about seeking referrals for clients, but about the classes for therapists I offered at the time.

I used to have an eight-week program to support therapists who wanted to decolonize their practices. A lot of time and effort went into creating it, and I put a lot of labor into each meeting. That was my choice, of course. I kept the group very small, and the conversations were very person-specific. So, the price was between $1K and $2K. I mention the price because it’s relevant to what I’m about to share.

Another thing you should know for context: if you’ve worked with me in any capacity, you’ll know that my prices are tiered. I offer a lower price for BIPOC clinicians and a regular price for white clinicians. This is very intentional. Being a person of color is one of my most salient identities, and it’s the one that has been harmed the most. That is the population I have chosen to primarily support because I believe I can more easily attune to their experiences and concerns, and that matters.

If I were to offer lower prices to any other marginalized group, I would make sure, first and foremost, that I had enough capacity to attune to that group. My concern is that lower prices can attract someone with less financial capacity through no fault of their own, and that person, given their identities and experiences, could be inadvertently harmed if I don’t have the capacity or understanding to support them appropriately. Accessibility is important, but affordability alone doesn’t guarantee that someone will receive the support they need.

I’ve also made it clear that my pricing system isn’t a way to punish people with privileged identities by making them spend more money. It’s an informed-consent approach in which people with more privilege understand that their payment helps support someone who cannot pay as much. I want people to know what they’re participating in and have the opportunity to make an informed decision about it.

Apparently, someone was still shocked by this system and, especially, by the fact that there was a lower price for BIPOC clinicians. This is the email they sent me:

I was glad that this email didn’t deter me from doing what I do. My first reaction was that this email could become another opportunity to educate others. Not because I believe that the clinicians, therapists, healers, and other professionals in my circles, classes, and newsletter think the way this person does, but because I know there are people out there who genuinely believe what this person believes.

There are people who experience equity efforts as discrimination against them, even when the intention is to create thoughtful affinity spaces or make services more accessible through tiered pricing. And I want to highlight this, because the way we understand fairness is shaped by what we’ve been taught to see as normal, neutral, and deserved. So if we’re used to a system that already accommodates us, an effort to make room for someone else can feel like something is being taken away from us.

That email reminded me that we need to keep teaching the people in our circles about affinity and accessibility, about being curious before jumping to conclusions. We need to heal our own wounds without projecting them onto others to make room for perspectives that challenge the stories we’ve been taught about fairness.

After all, true equity doesn’t always mean giving everyone the same thing. It means recognizing that some people (not just people who have been racially marginalized, but all marginalized identities) have been navigating different conditions, different levels of access, support, and opportunity. And those people deserve the chance to choose a bigger, wider door with a louder welcome sign.

So here’s my question for you: when someone else receives support, access, or consideration that you don’t receive, what helps you discern whether you’re witnessing unfairness or being asked to reconsider what fairness means in the first place?

Hit reply and tell me what you think.

With liberatory care,

Silvana

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

PS. If you’ve been thinking about how much our healing is shaped by the conditions around us, that’s part of what I explore in Widen the Frame, my free email series introducing the 12 conditions of a healing ecosystem. We look beyond the individual and the therapy room to consider how material circumstances, community, culture and ancestry, identity, relationships, politics, and other conditions shape what healing can look like. It’s an invitation to question what we’ve been taught to focus on, notice what might be missing, and expand our understanding of what people need to thrive. You can sign up here: Widen the Frame.

PPS. Healing Is An Ecosystem takes the idea of widening the frame much further. The field guide is for clinicians who are ready to look beyond the therapy room and consider the conditions surrounding a person’s healing: material circumstances, community, culture and ancestry, spirituality, relationships, the body, identity, creativity, ecology, politics and systems, and more. It asks you to consider not only what you can provide as a clinician, but what else might belong in someone's healing ecosystem. You can think of Widen the Frame as the doorway, and HIAE as the place where we spend more time exploring what we find once we walk through it.

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⬆️ Let's connect!