Reader,

A month ago I shared with you some interesting numbers. I polled the people participating in Community Liberation Sessions, and the responses suggested something important:

Many clinicians are no longer only looking for help with burnout. You are craving liberatory practice, collective reflection, and spaces where you can be in community without having to fragment yourself in order to belong.

So I asked participants before the next round of meetings: What are you most hoping to bring into — or receive from — liberatory spaces?

Here’s what emerged:

🤝 Be in community with clinicians who share liberatory values: 42.9%
​🌱 Deepen my liberatory practice in concrete, practical ways: 28.6%
​🧠 Think through real dilemmas inside oppressive systems: 14.3%
​🫶 Listen, reflect, and hold space for others: 10.7%
​🗣 Ask my own clinical or ethical questions: 3.6%
​🔥 Process burnout, moral tension, or frustration with restrictive systems: 0%

And what stands out to me is the following:

You are hungry for community

Across recent Community Liberation Sessions, the strongest theme has not been “getting answers” or “solving cases.” It has been the desire to be in community with other clinicians who share liberatory values.
That feels important.

In a profession that often rewards neutrality, overwork, individualism, and emotional isolation, many of you are longing for spaces where you do not have to disconnect from yourselves in order to belong.

You want praxis, not just theory

Another strong theme that emerged was the desire to deepen liberatory practice in concrete, practical ways.
You are not only looking for language or analysis. You are asking:
​How do I actually live this work inside systems that often pull me away from my values?

That tension — between liberatory intention and restrictive systems — continues to shape so much of our collective clinical experience.

Collective reflection matters

One thing I continue to notice is that very few of you are coming primarily for “expert advice.”
Instead, you are seeking reflection, dialogue, collective thinking, and spaces where complexity is not immediately reduced into certainty, productivity, pathology, or performance.

I think that says something meaningful about the kind of support many of you are craving right now.

Normalize longing for liberatory spaces

These responses also remind me that many of you may be carrying a quiet longing: to practice in ways that feel more human, relational, ethical, and liberatory than what dominant systems often allow.

And honestly, I do not think that longing is irrational. I think many clinicians are recognizing that isolation has been normalized inside this profession. That hyper-independence has been mistaken for competence. That burnout has been individualized instead of politicized.

Sometimes the healing is not in finally finding “the right answer,” but in realizing we are not alone in the questions.

The May Community Liberation Sessions are open for registration. These spaces are for clinicians and healers who want somewhere to bring the tensions, questions, contradictions, grief, and possibilities that emerge when trying to practice liberatory care inside restrictive systems.

At a time when many clinicians are feeling isolated, constrained, morally overwhelmed, or ethically exhausted, these sessions continue to become spaces for collective reflection, liberatory practice, and community. You do not need to have everything figured out to belong here.

I’m curious:

What kind of professional space are you longing for right now that feels missing from traditional clinical culture?
Hit reply and let me know. I may not always be able to respond immediately, but I do read and appreciate the reflections you share with me.

With liberatory care,

Silvana

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

PS.
​The next Community Liberation Session will take place on:
➡️ BIPoC clinicians: May 28 — 2 pm PT / 5 pm ET
➡️ white clinicians: May 22 — 1 pm PT / 4 pm ET
This is a virtual gathering space for therapists, healers, and space-holders practicing decolonization and liberation as a lived, relational commitment — not just a framework. Sign up here​

PPS.​
I'll be presenting the workshop "Decolonizing Mental Health Therapy: Examining power, identity, and practice" on May 29th. It's a 3-hour workshop (with NBCC-approved CEUs) in collaboration with Therapist To Therapists.
You can find more information here. There's an early bird discount until May 15th!

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⬆️ Let's connect!