Reader,

One of the pieces of advice I received early in my career has stayed with me ever since.
​Your goal is to become obsolete.

In other words, the work isn’t to make clients need us forever (i know you know this…). The goal is to support them until they no longer need this particular relationship in the same way.

I still believe that.
But over the years, that idea has expanded into another question that feels even more important:

Who else should be part of someone’s healing besides me?

Because therapy should never become a privatized substitute for justice. And healing should never depend entirely on access to one professional in one office with a couple of billing codes.

There is a fine line here.

I believe in being a thoughtful therapist. A responsible therapist. Someone who keeps learning, seeks consultation, reflects on their practice, and continues growing over time.

I don’t think taking another training is the problem.

The problem is when trainings become the primary way we construct our professional identity, or when they convince us that one more training will make us capable of meeting every need a client could possibly have.

That’s a burden no therapist was ever meant to carry.

If I’m honest, one of the things I pay the closest attention to in my own work is the possibility of drifting into saviorism.

It’s one of the dynamics I critique most often in social justice spaces (and all the spaces really…), and I don’t think therapy is somehow immune from it.

Liberatory practice asks us to let go of the idea that healing depends primarily on us… as our professional responsibility.

Sometimes what someone needs isn’t another intervention.
Sometimes they need housing.
A grief circle.
A disability advocate.
A cultural elder.
Mutual aid.
Political organizing.
Spiritual care.
Rest.
Friendship.
A community that reminds them they belong somewhere outside our office.

That doesn’t make therapy less valuable.

It simply reminds us that therapy has always been one part of a much larger ecosystem of healing.

Maybe one of the most liberatory things we can do is become better at building referral networks that extend beyond our own (and similar) profession(s).

Not just psychiatrists, doctors, other therapists, body workers, energy workers, etc.
But community organizers.
Peer support specialists.
Traditional and Indigenous healers.
Artists.
Movement practitioners.
Faith leaders.
Legal advocates.
Disability justice organizations.

People and places helping rebuild the conditions that make healing possible in the first place and that return agency to the person, not the system.

Perhaps the question isn’t, “How can I become a better therapist?”
​Perhaps it’s also, “How can I become one thoughtful member of a much larger healing community?”

So I’ll leave you with this:

Hit reply and let me know. I read every response, even if I can’t always respond right away, and I’m always grateful for the reflections you share with me.

With liberatory care,

Silvana

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

PS.
​If these are the kinds of questions you wish you had more space to wrestle with alongside other clinicians, I'd love to have you join me. Community Liberation Sessions are where we think collectively about practicing inside oppressive systems.
​Community Liberation Sessions of August (last one of the year):
​BIPoC clinicians: Aug. 5 — 1pm PT / 4pm ET
​White clinicians: Aug. 6 — 1pm PT / 4pm ET

PPS.
​If you want to go deeper into this questions in a small group container, then Off Script is where we'll go even deeper into the conversations conventional supervision rarely makes room for. Because liberatory practice was never meant to be figured out alone.

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⬆️ Let's connect!