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:

• Who was in the room when those standards were written?
• Whose experiences shaped them?
• Whose realities were assumed to be universal?

And perhaps just as importantly…

• Who wasn’t there?

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?”

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.
​These are exactly the kinds of conversations we have inside Community Liberation Sessions. Not because we have all the answers, but because liberatory practice grows through collective reflection, thoughtful disagreement, and asking better questions together. I'd love to see you there.
​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.
​This month in The Practice of Liberation, I’m asking a question that has been following me for years: What if the diagnosis isn’t the whole story? I write about my own experiences of being diagnosed with depression, why I no longer believe suffering can be understood outside of the conditions we live in, and how therapists can begin looking beyond symptoms without abandoning clinical care.
If you’ve ever wondered where the line between mental health and social conditions actually lives, I think this letter will stay with you.
Subscribers also receive reflection prompts, a 10-minute embodied practice, and this month’s book recommendation. And you get access to all previous POL issues.

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