Liberation Psychology

Many of us are walking around with internalized shit that’s harming us: heterosexism, trans hostility and transmisogyny, white supremacy, ableism, sexism, capitalism, ageism, sizeism… And we’re dealing with the same shit from the systems, communities, and individuals that shape our lives. Our society does not want us to embrace our full selves and thrive.

Liberation-oriented therapy holds space for the rage, grief, fear, and trauma of living in a marginalized body or mind. I reject colonial conceptions of individual pathology and place responsibility for trauma and suffering where it belongs: on the environment. Anti-oppression therapy is about healing, not treatment, based on your own ways of knowing rather than on studies and data.

It’s also important to attend to the resilience, joy, connection, and hope that sustain us. The revolution may be a long time coming, but right now we can liberate our minds and spirits from the conditioning that has harmed us.

Working from a liberation perspective means that I center your agency and consent. I offer suggestions for our work, but never tell you what’s right. I am transparent with you about modalities I might want to use. I’m happy to be more directive–if you want me to. We are a team. You know some things, I know some things, and we collaborate in support of the work you want to do.

“I define freedom as the space I am able to cultivate around the material that I have felt trapped by in the past.”

— Lama Rod Owens

I will be open about my own identities, and we will talk about how the privilege or power differentials in the room influence our work together. And I will own my mistakes, because I’m not perfect and I’ll make them at some point.

Liberation is about community. One of my goals is to help you move through the pain of your past and the fears keeping you isolated so that you can reach out and build the connections we all need. Healing happens in relationship to others, to cultural practices, and to connection with the natural world.

Anti-oppression therapy is also for privileged folks! It is about moving through paralysis, guilt, shame, and other emotions related to privilege and power. I strive to create a relationship that can hold you as you process your own wounds, sit with feelings about your own privilege, get free from shame and stuckness, and find ways to live your values. This is hard, scary work, but so rewarding. And while we’re at it, let’s talk about the ways you’ve also been harmed by social conditioning.