Inclusivity
Therapist Uncensored has a team that makes it work but as the producers and hosts of the show, we thought it helpful to introduce ourselves to provide context. Sue Marriott (she/her) and Ann Kelley (she/her) are both from working class families in Houston, Texas, and Sue is a first-generation college student. While we are queer, married, and have been activists much of lives for LGBTQ+ causes, especially advocating for the rights of same-sex headed families, we pass for straight, don’t stand out, are cisgendered, white and privileged. We are relatively young in this process but earnest in our desire to expand our conventional understandings of mental health and mental health delivery, and dismantle the parts that maintain status quo over marginalized populations. As a female-led top ranking indie Science podcast (highly unusual), we have always positioned our platform to uplift marginalized voices, and will continue to share the mic with all experts in the field but especially women, BIPOC, and LGBTQI+ individuals. Besides amplifying their perspectives, this also helps ensure that we can be open to new stories, learn historical lessons, and make therapy and mental health more accessible to communities who have been underserved for far too long. In addition, through our work and study and relationship building, the entire premise of our book, Secure Relating Holding Your Own in an Insecure World, is to update and clarify the terms around “attachment” and make the science more accessible by bridging it to clear clinical application as well as to include systems that create insecurity. In addition, the point of the podcast is to make life-changing concepts in mental health accessible at no cost to anyone around the world. We explore depth therapy and will continue to, but we also highlight non-traditional care and amplify services that are more accessible than full cost individual psychotherapy.
MATERIAL SUPPORT
Talk is not enough, so we commit half of corporate ad profits and merch sales annually to organizations that support mental health access to marginalized communities.
2023 recipients:
Inclusive Therapy’s Mental Health Liberation Fund
CARITAS
American Group Psychotherapy Association’s Group Foundation DEI Fund
shena young
National Queer and Trans Therapist Of Color Network
Land Acknowledgement:
Therapist Uncensored is heard and recorded all around the world but is based on the ancestral homelands of the Plains Tribes, now called Austin Texas. We honor and offer gratitude to all past and present generations of Indigenous Peoples who have inhabited, cared for, and traveled through the land on which we reside and where we work, study, and learn.
We recognize the Alabama-Coushatta, Caddo, Carrizo/Comecrudo, Coahuiltecan, Comanche, Kickapoo, Lipan Apache, Tonkawa, and Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo. We also thank our non-human and more-than-human relatives, as well as the names of those we have forgotten or who have been erased, who have all been a part of these lands.
We advocate for a deeper understanding of this painful history. This can only be done through collective learning, forming meaningful relationships with Native Peoples in your area, and an exploration of your own histories and story. In this way, we can begin to decolonize our mental health care, which will only contribute to a more just and equitable future for us all.
MATERIAL SUPPORT
Acknowledgement is only ever the first step. In the spirit of healing and repair, we are committed to monthly reparations to the Lipan Apache tribe in Texas. We encourage others to connect with the land they live on, to engage with local Indigenous communities, and to ask what role, if any, you can play in building healing and security with and on the land.
Learn more:
Tribal Land Map
10 Ways to be a Genuine Ally to Indigenous Communities, Amnesty International
Statement against genocide:
As therapists, we believe our commitment to security and healing cannot stop at self-improvement. We remain steadfast in our call to stand against genocide in all its forms. The ongoing conflicts in Gaza, Yemen, Myanmar, and South Sudan have resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, with millions more forced from their homes and displaced.
Acts of genocide such as these, as well as fighting in the Maghreb (Northwest Africa), the Ukraine, and Syria result in the destruction of essential civilian infrastructure, including homes, hospitals, and schools. We believe that promoting security and well-being involves acknowledging and addressing these collective traumas both past and present, advocating for peace, and working to prevent further atrocities. The pursuit of individual and collective healing is forever linked with our shared responsibility to create a more just and compassionate world.
Confronting the stark realities of war and the traumas faced by survivors and their descendants is undeniably painful. We don’t pretend to have easy solutions, but there are a few things we know for certain. We know that ceasefires can save lives and get essential care to those in need. We also know that we cannot let ourselves fall into detachment, disengagement, and despair as this just sidelines us from the fundamental pursuit of human flourishing. While we can often feel powerless in the face of overwhelming crisis, we urge you to take a stand and make your position known so that collectively we can impact those who fund and perpetuate violence. While complexity always exists, there is no room for ambivalence when it comes to hierarchies of power that perpetuate mass violence against entire populations of people.
Join us in denouncing genocide and upholding every human beings right to safety, security, and freedom. Join us in seeking connection over distancing, cooperation over competition, and love over hate.