Culturally Sensitive Therapy

Sharing some of the most vulnerable parts of ourselves can feel high-risk, especially if you've experienced dismissal and shame for those experiences. Cultural sensitivity, therefore, is a must so that therapy feels safe and conducive to healing. Recognizing and respecting your unique histories, values, and cultural and familial norms validates and affirms your lived experience. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, therapy is highly tailored and modified to be inclusive.

I have special expertise in bilingual assessment and multicultural competence in both graduate school and internship training. I have extensive clinical experience working with culturally diverse clients and continue to stay current in culturally sensitive therapy through workshops. I have published, conducted workshops, and served as an expert consultant in several states in the area of bilingual assessment.

My approach recognizes and respects the diverse backgrounds and experiences of each of my clients. By integrating cultural awareness into our work, we create a safe and inclusive environment where you will feel understood and validated. I will honor unique cultural differences, address your unique needs, and promote healing that is both effective and culturally relevant.

As a Black gay male therapist, I feel I understand people's needs who come from diverse cultural backgrounds. As a person who endeavors to be culturally humble, I encourage exploration in the areas of Age, Developmental disabilities, Indigenous heritage, National origin, Racial identity, Ethnic identity, Gender, Socioeconomic Status, and sexual orientation.

Based upon your unique pieces of diversity (e.g., age, gender, race, class, etc.) I work to uncover how to view these from a place of agency and strength; in your home, work and social spheres. Each of us have aspects of our identity which we aren't nurturing to the fullest of our ability.

I work with clients in a collaborative relationship to identify goals for therapy and treatment or growth plan. Together, we will identify what will be helpful, to explore how you relate to yourself (your thoughts, feelings, body, identity), the context within which you live, and how the heck to manage the societal structures we have to navigate. As a therapist I aim to practice with cultural humility, and will educate myself on topics important to you.

To paraphrase Ignacio Martin-Boro, for psychology to be truly emancipatory it must first sever itself from its own idealogical chains, from psychology itself. Dominant psychologies implicitly serve the status quo by defining health as adjustment to white, middle class, heteronormative, colonialist social norms, without interrogating the structural and systemic forms of oppression embedded in those norms. I aim to support you in a deep integration of heart, body, spirit, story, & culture.

I believe that we all see the world through our own cultural lens. Being allowed to learn about a client's world and belief systems is a truly humbling experience. With my experience as a former diversity coordinator coupled with being aware of the various cultural stipulations that exist in society allows me to provide you with the necessary and relevant interventions that would not only be respectful to your beliefs but also catered towards the system we are a part of.

My life is immersed in alternative and marginalized communities, and I seek regular trainings in cultural sensitivity.

Human beings are cultural beings, even when we don't quite think so. As we live at the intersection of our ethnicity, age, gender, race, ability status and so on, I give special emphasis to how your culture shaped your ideas of mental health. Using a strengths-based approach, I use culturally sensitive techniques to offer healing that feels reflective of your worldview.

I keep a close eye on what role the environments you have inhabited may have played on your current views about yourself, others, and the world at large, and I constantly invite you to do the same. It can be very empowering to realize how you came to embrace your beliefs, and with that information, be able to decide which of them you want to keep or reject.

Culture informs how we view and understand our values and others around us. It's important to integrate that into therapy, as well as for me to respect and understand your perspective.

I respect your beliefs, experiences and values in regards to our treatment and the life you want to live.

My training as a counseling psychologist is steeped in a holistic view of humanity: strengths-based, developmental, contextual, multiculturally-sensitive with a focus on social justice. I have taught many courses on on CST, but more importantly, I continue to engage in a personal ongoing practice of cultural self-exploration, including awareness of the privilege I hold. CST means that we can explore all aspects of your identity and the ways they influence and contextualize your experiences.

I use a culturally sensitive lens to allow clients to be the experts in their own lives, as coming from a place of non-judgement and understanding.