BIPOC Therapy: Culturally Integrative Non-Oppressive Counseling
Bi-Cultural Parenting & Families | Intergenerational Trauma | Internalized Racism & Identity | Discrimination & Racial Trauma | Immigration & Acculturation | Cross-Cultural Counselling
Bi-Cultural Parenting & Families
- Are you struggling as a family or within your key relationships due to bi-cultural differences?
- Does it feel like you and your family don’t understand each other or that some values and beliefs from your different backgrounds are not aligning, perhaps even irreconcilable?
- Maybe you are struggling with bi-cultural parenting and finding it difficult to parent using your values and belief systems while trying to connect with your child on their terms?
Intergenerational Trauma
- Perhaps you have been impacted by intergenerational trauma and want to understand more how this shaped your family? Maybe you want to heal and grow from the impact it had on you directly?
Internalized Racism & Identity
- Are you struggling with racial or cultural identity and where you belong?
- Perhaps you’re struggling with not feeling like you fit into the cultural or religious communities around you?
- Maybe you don’t feel comfortable with who you are and have internalized or adopted racialized beliefs about your race and what this means about you as a person?
- Perhaps you are wanting to develop a positive self identity that fits your personal beliefs and values and incorporates aspects of the different racial/cultural groups that have influenced you?
Discrimination & Racial Trauma
- Perhaps you're wondering if what you experienced was racism? A Microaggression? Or if you just imagined it?
- Are you wondering why this is happening to you and can’t think of what you did to deserve it?
- Struggling with “power-over” within the workplace from a supervisor, manager, or other people in positions of power?
- Have you experienced people in positions of power abusing their authority?
Immigration & Acculturation
- Have you moved to Canada and are finding that you are left with difficult memories of the immigration process?
- Perhaps you are having a hard time moving forward and are left remembering everything you have lost as a result of leaving your home country?
- Maybe you are having a difficult time connecting to Canadian culture? Finding it difficult to learn and incorporate the values, beliefs, customs and mannerisms of your new home?
Unsure about Getting Help?
- Do you want help but have also been taught that counselling is not something that “we” do?
- Have you tried counselling before but didn’t feel like your perspective or cultural beliefs were acknowledged or respected?
- Maybe you really want to receive help and to work on things, but you don’t trust the health care system or health professionals?
Culturally Integrative Non-Oppressive Counseling
At PsychSolutions, we have BIPOC therapists and non BIPOC therapists who are vested in providing culturally sensitive, non-oppressive, anti-racist therapy.
Using an anti-racism lens and cultural responsiveness, therapy can help people of color or from marginalized communities to understand what is occurring and that it is not “all in their heads” or being imagined. The fact is that people of color are impacted by racial issues on a daily basis. This impacts different aspects of their lives and influences overall mental health. Therefore, effective therapy needs to take racial dynamics and influences into account and be able to weave these factors into the treatment plan in a holistic manner.
Culturally integrative treatment takes into account the variations in cultural and religious beliefs, value systems, and norms and expectations of different communities, while also recognizing the individual differences that exist between members of marginalized or racialized groups. An anti-racist, anti-oppressive therapist will take the time to understand the influences you have had individually and culturally and to understand the causes and effects of your identified problems…from your perspective! Through collaborative discussion, treatment will identify and integrate personal and cultural resources and strengths (e.g., spirituality, religious beliefs, resilience, self-efficacy, community support) you believe would be helpful to incorporate into your treatment.
The importance of race and ethnicity varies from person to person. Racial issues are not always key concerns for people of color when they are seeking mental wellness support. Therefore, racial issues are not always specifically addressed in therapy. Holding an anti-oppressive and anti-racist lens as a therapist, however, helps build a collaborative and respectful therapeutic relationship where differences and similarities can be explored with openness and comfort. This approach helps ensure that therapy is healing - bridging the impact of past experiences (racialized or not) to your vision of who you want to be and how you want to move through and forward given the current reality you are living in.
