Cultural and Systemic Oppression

It would be easy to tell you to just be yourself. The reality is that there are systemic constraints which require many of us to navigate our identities based on what is called for in our environments. I want you to be free and I also want you to be protected. I enjoy helping clients process the reality of oppression while carving out space in their lives to further express themselves.

Racism, patriarchy, able-ism, and other old tricks hurt, use, dis-empower, and silence human beings in the legacy of a "power-over." These tricks toxify language, religion, business, and other institutions. Even non-profits. Even families. Their subtle manifestations can hurt like the obvious ones, especially when they happen repeatedly. A "power-with" way of thinking supports equality, respect, and cooperation. I love to help people find support for power-with.

Humans are brilliant learners, absorbing messages from our environments — families, society, culture. These external influences shape our identities based on creed, gender, colour, etc., which then shape our realities. To know who we are requires understanding these influences, and how it has shaped who we are. By doing so, we can tease out who we are at our “core,” from what we’ve been taught. Let’s sift through these layers to find your true self.

As intersectional beings, intersecting systems of oppressions influence our experience incessantly. With the ever expanding technological and historic globalization, the oppression we face daily may even feel overwhelmingly debilitating. It's no wonder that many of us are experiencing burnout, insecurities, and overall disconnection in relationships. My approach to therapy values your insectional experience and how these systems influence your life, so that you can heal and engage differently.

Have you experienced rejection because of your race, gender, or sexuality and are exploring what living as your authentic self looks like? Or are you wrestling with your faith as a result of experiencing the effects of racism, sexism, or other forms of injustice within your faith community? In our sessions, you will receive support in releasing the painful messages in your life. Together, we will sit in the tension and reconcile all parts of you so that you can embody authentic self with joy.

As a therapist committed to dismantling cultural and systemic oppression, I provide a safe space for you to explore the impact of social injustices on mental health. Let's navigate these complexities together and generate empowerment, healing, and social change.

The Shame Resilience Theory developed by Dr. Brené Brown in 2006. I believe many of us live with internalized shame and the core beliefs about ourselves are clouded by this specific emotion. Over time, internalized shame can develop into symptoms anxiety and depression.

All of us are brilliant students of our society, — our families, communities, societies, culture. These factors shape our identities based on creed, gender, colour, etc. — which then shape our realities. To know who we are requires understanding these influences, which reflect this imperfect world as well as how it has shaped who we are. By doing so, we can tease out who we are at our “core,” from what we’ve been taught. I look forward to shifting through these layers with you to find your true

I utilize a Treating Internalized Oppression (IO) framework as a foundation for all of my work with clients. This framework helps me to collaborate with my clients to hone in on how their interior world has been shaped by the identities they inhabit and the oppressions/traumas lived through in their lives, past and present. The goal of using the IO framework is to increase self-awareness toward liberation by identifying and metabolizing internalized messages that limit thriving.

The need for social justice comes from the heavy emotional and physical toll that cultural and systemic oppression takes on us. Many of us carry the symptoms of oppression. It is in our bodies and spirits and shows up in work and in our relationships. I work with clients by teaching somatic techniques that help create inner support as well as strategize for ways to develop nourishing practices and cultivate interpersonal and community supports.

I utilize a blend of boundary-setting modalities to address historical and intergenerational trauma. Survival instincts and ways of coping are often passed down in a family system, even if they don't always serve the present moment. Understanding why we react to certain situations, and why others may react, can increase compassion. Once we have cultivated that compassion we can articulate and implement boundaries from a place of acceptance and respect.

Our identities shape our sense of self and well-being, inform how we move through the world, and are essential threads to be explored in the therapeutic journey. I see my work as holding the threads that make you who you are as you weave. I support clients to develop loving-kindness for themselves, connect with rest, let go of internalized oppression, and define advocacy for themselves

Humans are brilliant learners, absorbing messages from our environments — families, society, culture — these external influences shape our identities based on creed, gender, colour, etc., which then shape our realities. Knowing who we are requires understanding these influences, and how it has influenced our lenses and behaviours. Only then, can we be empowered to feel in control of our lives.

As an adolescent and adult, I observed the violence that is inflicted upon marginalized bodies when spiritual leaders attempt to act outside of the scope of their training and provide counsel to people with needs beyond their grasp. I saw how their limited understanding as well as their internalized white supremacy hurt multiple generations of families. As an active participant in my own healing, I have devoted my life to helping others reclaim their own power, and fight for their healing.

Cultural and systemic oppression are a pervasive element across our country and our world. These erode our spirit and sense of self. We my lived experience and training regarding strategies to attend to the sense of self and healing interventions, I strive to tend building the sense of self that they have chipped away.

Research shows that the impacts of discrimination and marginalization can manifest in both mental and physical health. I strive to take into account factors related to culture, context, privilege and marginalization, as we explore therapeutic concerns.

Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare. — Audre Lorde My training and career has always focused on serving marginalized and minoritized communities. I think of engaging in culturally-conscious therapy--to do the work of uncovering and understanding your roots in order to build a resilient and values-aligned life--as a form of radical resistance to oppressive systems.

I chose to complete my studies in Social Work, specifically to study systems of oppression in our society, with a strong focus on religious systems of oppression. I am well-versed in religious systems of oppression, but this understanding translates to any hierarchical system: racism, workplace discrimination, family systems of oppression, interpersonal oppression (abuse and neglect), and financial oppression (capitalism). Where you have humans in societies together, there is always risk.

I utilize a Treating Internalized Oppression (IO) framework as a foundation for all of my work with clients. This framework helps me to collaborate with my clients to hone in on how their interior world has been shaped by the identities they inhabit and the oppressions/traumas lived through in their lives, past and present. The goal of using the IO framework is to increase self-awareness toward liberation by identifying and metabolizing internalized messages that limit thriving.

Cultural and Systemic Oppression related to Race, Sexuality, and alternative lifestyles