Cultural Humility and Honouring Your Lived Experience

 There is no single way that culture, identity, family, community, or lived experience shapes a person. I aim to approach each person with humility and accountability, without assuming what matters to you based on the identities you hold.

This can include your relationships, culture, faith, history, strengths, challenges, community, and your own understanding of healing. For First Nations and Inuit clients, it may also include land, language, ceremony, kinship, community, and the ongoing impacts of colonial systems.

You decide which parts of your experience feel important to bring into therapy.

 Cultural humility also means being aware of what I bring into the therapy room. As a white, cisgender woman and third-generation Dutch Canadian settler, my identity and experiences shape the way I understand the world.

I am part of a bicultural and interfaith marriage, so conversations about culture, faith, family traditions, identity, and belonging are part of my everyday life. I also have Indigenous relatives and relationships that have influenced my learning, while recognizing that closeness to someone else’s culture does not make that experience my own.

My role is not to be the expert on your identity, but to stay curious about what it means to you.

My education and clinical training have largely taken place within Western approaches to mental health care. For me, accountability means continuing to question my assumptions, remain open to learning, and avoid treating either my training or personal relationships as expertise in someone else’s lived experience.

 Emotion-Focused Therapy is the primary approach that guides my work, alongside relational, attachment-based, and trauma-informed practices. I also recognize that no Western therapy model is culturally neutral or right for everyone.

Therapy can be one part of healing, but it does not have to be the whole of it.

Healing may also involve family, community, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, traditional healers, ceremony, spirituality, land, cultural practices, faith, or other meaningful sources of support.

My role is not to replace those relationships, traditions, or practices. With your consent, I am open to working alongside the supports that matter to you while maintaining confidentiality, clear roles, and respect for your choices.

 Therapy can make space for the parts of your life that are important to understanding what you are going through. This might include culture, family, community, faith, spirituality, land, language, grief, trauma, discrimination, gender, sexuality, Two-Spirit identity, or experiences with systems such as health care, education, child welfare, or social services.

You decide what belongs in the therapy room.

There is no expectation that any of these parts of your life need to become a focus. You choose what feels relevant, what you want to explore, and what you would rather leave outside of therapy.

 I do not see cultural competency as something that can be completed through a course or certificate. My learning comes from formal education, clinical work, anti-racist and 2SLGBTQIA+-affirming learning, bicultural and interfaith family life, and intentionally seeking out perspectives beyond my own.

I have also spent time learning about Indigenous histories and experiences through coursework, Indigenous voices, writing, podcasts, journalism, and local history. Growing up in Lambton Shores has made it especially important to learn more about Stoney Point First Nation, the Ipperwash Crisis, and the history of the land around me.

For me, cultural humility means continuing to learn while being honest about what I do not know.

It also means listening, reflecting, seeking consultation, questioning my assumptions, and recognizing when someone else may be better placed to offer the support a person needs.

 Cultural safety is not something I can demonstrate through a statement on a website. It is reflected in how I listen, how I respond when I do not understand, and whether the person I am working with feels they have a voice and choice in therapy.

For me, this means staying open, accountable, and willing to keep learning.

I engage in weekly clinical supervision, group supervision, peer consultation, and Indigenous-specific consultation when appropriate, alongside ongoing reflection and learning.

My role is not to be an expert in someone else’s culture or lived experience. My responsibility is to keep learning, stay accountable, and support each person in defining what safety, respect, connection, and meaningful support look like for them.