Like many social workers, I eventually came to the realization that I’ve been “social working” long before obtaining a degree or license. As a first-generation immigrant, from a working-class family, born and raised in New York, my experience with empowering and supporting others to navigate oppressive and alienating systems goes as far back as I can remember. 

After being sanctioned by various educational institutions to “formally” do this work, I found myself in a few different roles. Whether it was case management within non-profit organizations, managing and developing programs for the NYC government, or providing psychotherapy...one thing became very clear to me.

…the professionals who drive the healing work in our communities are as oppressed as the clients we serve, and can often, unconsciously, perpetuate as much harm as the systems we are meant to support clients in navigating.

I understand that this is all by design. That the mainstream mental health profession was intended to act as a band-aid to the symptoms of an oppressive and marginalizing socio-political system.  

I also understand that there are frameworks and approaches that make it possible for mental health professionals to divest from the limiting and harmful constructs we operate from. That our healing and liberation are tied to the healing and liberation of the communities we support because we are all interconnected. 

That is why it is my mission to create spaces that allow mental health professionals to witness and be in relationship with the parts of them that have internalized colonial paradigms, and to create communal spaces where the healers can heal and grow their craft, in order to best contribute to the whole health and liberation of our communities.