OVERCOMING STRUCTURAL OPPRESSION & STIGMA.
I walk the walk.
I offer nuanced culturally- and intersectionality-informed services, so your psychotherapy is not one more thing that contributes to your distress or suffering.
I am firmly committed to anti-oppressive, anti-racist and equity building practices that help liberate everybody’s mind, body, and life.
I firmly believe we need everybody’s gifts to make this world a better world.
HETEROSEXISM
I offer a safe and welcoming space to members of sexual, trans, non-binary, non-conforming, affective and gender minorities who seek therapy or counselling.
I provide 2SLGBTQIA+ positive, queer-positive, trans-positive, gender affirming, and sex-positive services.
We will work to deal with the impact of heterosexism and transphobia to liberate you to experience your identity with joy.
RACIALIZED SYSTEMS of PRIVILEGE
Structural oppression can impact one’s life deeply. The constant expenditure of energy and differential access to resources that individuals in marginalized groups experience can result in burn-out or exhaustion.
Racism can erode our career and relationships, and interfere with our life path and self-actualization.
It can also manifest in internalized negativity and images that eat away at our sense of identity.
The good news: recent research on the effects of oppression shows how to make you more resilient to its effects.
We will address the issues that affect you, and help you increase your resilience to journey with pride and self-advocacy into a fuller life.
XENOPHOBIA
While the appearance of Canada as a welcoming society brings many of us here, the reality we find is quite different.
Immigrants have to deal with many forms of discrimination and barriers that pile-up on the many losses and difficulties that immigrants have to face.
I work with immigrants by normalizing the conditions they suffer and then finding effective emotional and practical solutions that support every individual’s journey.
PATRIARCHY
Patriarchy is a system of privilege that creates a path of least resistance for heterosexual men to do less to get ahead and have more resources than a woman, someone queer, trans or a non-binary individual. This system of privilege affects all of us, and can be the source of many stresses.
It limits how we see ourselves, no matter our gender(s), and creates inequality and inequity.
I provide services informed by feminisms, queer theory, and awareness of how patriarchy intersects with your sense of agency.
I have worked with many individuals developing strategies to build equity at work and at home, relieve stress, and align their actions and goals to achieve more effective results.
We will work together to identify how these conditions affect your life and where we can work around them. We will help you deal with the negative impacts with grace and determination. You will learn to advocate for your needs and protect yourself when necessary.
CROSS-CULTURAL STRESS
From clinical experience, training, and observation, I have developed a keen awareness of how expectations from one’s cultural background and family can complicate one’s experience.
I use this awareness to offer nuanced and sensitive therapy without the assumption that I know enough about any culture. This knack for noticing can inform how relationships, career and friendships may be affected by these elements.
In relationships, expectations and family culture can have an impact on how two adults connect. It can become an obstacle, or a source of mutual understanding.
In immigrant families, stress between family members that are acculturated differently or who belong to different generations can be resolved or changed to be less of a source of distress.
At work, different ways of understanding communication patterns, different styles of leadership, and even different ways of responding to problems. This can contribute to stress and suffering, but can also be harnessed for inclusivity and creativity.
We will listen for opportunities for exploration and developing awareness of their impact with curiosity and respect.
STIGMA & MENTAL HEALTH
For many people, seeking help from a psychotherapist or counsellor feels like a failure or a morally feeble choice. We avoid the idea of a diagnosis of mental health problems because we avoid being labelled and discriminated against. This complicates our suffering.
When we or others feel distressed and impaired by psychological conditions, we expect rejection and judgments. Even educated people have an irrational fear and deep misunderstanding of what it means to suffer from depression, anxiety and other conditions.
There are even views from religious and cultural belief systems that get in the way of getting and giving help.
We might also find ourselves fighting the idea that we may need a doctor prescribed medication, while we liberally self medicate randomly with coffee, pot, alcohol, CBD oils or stimulants. If it had been a skin eruption, we would go to a dermatologist and get it treated. if it had been diabetes, we would consider medication. We suffer in silence, while suicidal thoughts or low self-worth plague our minds.
At work, we are driven to burnout, with its depression, anxiety and existential doubts, because supervisors feel free to impose on workers inordinate amounts of work, depriving them of free time and family life. We don’t even feel comfortable taking well-earned time off. We don’t even feel the right to be tired.
It does not have to be like that. I can help you learn how to ask for what you need without pouring out your intimate details. You can learn to use the law to protect you. You can learn to manage your symptoms and take care of yourself so you can have a fulfilling life, instead of living in fear. You can learn to get the help you need and use all the resources available and reduce your suffering. I can be your ally.
You can get help starting now..