I help therapists, healers, and space-holders bring decolonial and liberatory values into their work—so you’re not just saying you’re aligned… you’re actually practicing it. ⬆️ More integrity, more connection, more liberation. ⬇️ Less burnout, less performative wokeness, less colonial residue. If you want a practice where marginalized clients feel safe, seen, and honored—and you want to feel more grounded and intentional in your work—subscribe and join a growing community of practitioners doing this work differently. You practice can be liberatory-- let's get you there!
Whose Ethics Are We Practicing? Part 1.
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Reader, In one of the very first Community Liberation Sessions I offered back in 2023, a clinician asked whether it would be considered ethical to offer a lower sliding scale specifically to BIPOC clients in order to reduce barriers to care. It’s an important question. Not because I think there’s one simple answer, but because of the conversation it opens. Whenever questions about ethics come up in our profession, we often rush to ask: “What do the code of ethics say?” And yes, our codes matter. They help establish shared expectations and protect clients from harm. But I also wonder what happens when that becomes the end of the conversation instead of the beginning. Because ethics do not appear out of nowhere. They are written by people. People shaped by particular cultures, histories, political moments, institutions, and assumptions about what care should look like. Every ethical framework reflects the values of the people and systems that created it. That doesn’t automatically make it wrong. But it does make it worthy of examination:
And perhaps just as importantly…
Our profession often talks about ethics as though they exist outside power. As though they are a universal standard. Objective. Doing no harm. But if we’ve learned anything from liberation movements, feminist scholarship, disability justice, Indigenous knowledge, queer organizing, and anti-racist work (just to name a few spaces), it’s that no system is created outside of history or power. And mental health is no exception. When we ask whether something is ethical, I think we’re also asking something much deeper. What kind of profession are we trying to build? One that primarily protects institutions? Or one that remains accountable to the people those institutions were created to serve? That doesn’t mean every personal value should replace professional ethics. Far from it. It means we remain curious enough to recognize that ethics are living conversations, not untouchable truths we pedestalize without questioning. Because history is full of practices that were once considered professionally ethical and are now recognized as profoundly harmful… Which reminds me that “ethical” and “just” have never been perfect synonyms. Maybe liberatory practice asks us to hold both realities at once. To honor the ethical responsibilities we carry while also remaining vigilant to question whether those responsibilities are evolving alongside the communities we serve. Because if our understanding of ethics never changes, we should probably ask ourselves why. Especially when the world around us does. So maybe the question isn’t only, “Is this ethical?” Maybe it’s also: “Whose ethics am I protecting, and who benefits when those ethics go unquestioned?” What’s one ethical “rule” in our profession you’ve stopped taking for granted—and what made you question it? 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 much liberatory care, Silvana Liberatory Letters | The Practice of Liberation | Decolonize Your Practice PS. PPS. ⬆️ Let's connect! |
Liberatory Letters
I help therapists, healers, and space-holders bring decolonial and liberatory values into their work—so you’re not just saying you’re aligned… you’re actually practicing it. ⬆️ More integrity, more connection, more liberation. ⬇️ Less burnout, less performative wokeness, less colonial residue. If you want a practice where marginalized clients feel safe, seen, and honored—and you want to feel more grounded and intentional in your work—subscribe and join a growing community of practitioners doing this work differently. You practice can be liberatory-- let's get you there!
Reader, A quick update on what's here: 🌻 Community Liberation Sessions. The last meeting of the year. Sign up here. 📖 Off Script - Clinical Consultation for Clinicians Rewriting the Rules. This is clinical consultation that holds the conversations conventional supervision doesn’t make room for. Starting in the (northern) fall.If you're interested sign up here. One sentence has been lingering for a while now: Burnout has been individualized instead of politicized. The more I think about it,...
Reader, A quick update on what's here: 🌻 Community Liberation Sessions. The last meeting of the year. Sign up here. 📖 Off Script - Clinical Consultation for Clinicians Rewriting the Rules. This is clinical consultation that holds the conversations conventional supervision doesn’t make room for. Starting in the (northern) fall.If you're interested sign up here. 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...
Reader, A quick update on what's here: 🌻 Community Liberation Sessions. Happening this week! Sign up here. 📖 Off Script - Clinical Consultation for Practitioners Rewriting the Rules. This is clinical consultation that holds the conversations conventional supervision doesn’t make room for. Starting in the (northern) fall.If you're interested sign up here. What does togetherness look like to you these days? In the summer sometimes togetherness looks like spending time with my cats or tending to...