Culturally Sensitive Therapy

We are a diverse group of therapists, social workers, and counselors from various walks of life. Our collective experiences enable us to offer telemental health online therapy services and individualized treatment in a kind and compassionate manner.

I have experience working with individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds and their families, and I am always eager to learn more about others.

I believe that context matters, and recognize that each individual exists in a larger system (family system, cultural context, etc). I am curious about how issues that present themselves in therapy may be informed by these larger contexts and systems, which also includes an awareness of issues related to power, privilege, and marginalization. I bring this curiosity with me, while honoring you as the expert in your own experience.

I believe strongly that our culture(s) play a huge role in our happiness as well as our dysfunction. I take social, cultural, family, and systems level factors into account when working with clients and believe that healing our relationships to our cultures is a major part of overall mental health.

Each person on staff receives training in this area multiple times a year. Culture sensitivity is also part of our mission.

I think it will be most meaningful to include a real patient review: “Dr. Ambardar has tremendous insight into personal & collective trauma & the impact of ancestral trauma on a person's life. It is not often you come across a professional who has an in-depth understanding of collective trauma & its impact on an individual's life. Her work & her insights have been supportive in my own healing journey. I highly recommend anyone wanting to connect with their ancestral histories to work with Dr. A"

Social justice and advocacy are core pieces to a therapist's identity. They have to be able to navigate complex cultural issues that transcend race and cultural identity. These issues are often the source of a lot of the issues our clients are struggling, and a therapist must be able to identify the impact of culture and identity on the presenting issue.

We have a diverse staff with different backgrounds that help understand your unique experiences based on the intersectionality of your identities.

I do not know everything about your culture, and I will not act as if I do. I will take time to get to know you and how your culture impacts your desire to make changes.

I have not only education and training but lived life experiences.

One size does NOT fit all in therapy and culture plays a HUGE role in that. With each therapy intervention that we collaboratively work on, your culture and values are at the forefront and will be honored in our therapeutic relationship.

John has extensive education and clinical experience working with diverse populations.

Many of the clients who see me experience identity issues or trauma symptoms related to racially based or intergenerational traumas. My professional training and experience as an activist and advocate spanning decades underlies much of my focus on racial and social justice. I'm particularly attuned to issues of "difference" among those whose experiences do not reflect dominant thinking regardless of whether that experience reflects marginalization: Mixed-race, interracial and multicultural.

This is the lens that I view therapy through.

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.