Psychiatric Survivors*

If you have had negative experiences with the mental health system in the past, you may not know who you can trust anymore.

I know it takes a long time to build trust, especially after harm has been done. I can hold space for your skepticism and I actually invite it. Therapists and other mental health professionals hold a powerful role in people's lives, so I believe it is appropriate that we are held to a high standard of accountability. From my experiences working in the mental health system, I have seen that therapists do not always uphold this standard. 

My approach works well with those who have had these experiences because I am also skeptical of our mental health system. I believe that therapy helps people, but I also think that many of the ways this system responds to people who are suffering can worsen their suffering rather than alleviate it. That is why my approach is depathologizing, humanistic, and social justice-oriented.

*The term "psychiatric survivors" comes from the psychiatric survivors movement, which arose out of the Civil Rights Movement as a recognition of the psychiatric abuse being perpetuated at the time, particularly at mental institutions. Today, people may identify as psychiatric survivors if they received psychiatric intervention (medications, therapy, hospitalization, etc.) that was harmful to them or happened against their will. Not everyone who has a bad experience with therapy will identify as a psychiatric survivor.