Exploring Identity

Rainbow paintbrushes

Therapy is an opportunity to discover and uncover who we really are. Sometimes we move through transitions, only to find that we feel like strangers in a strange land.

Cultural forces may shape our experience of the world at any point in our lives. Social power dynamics deeply influence our identities, our perceptions of ourselves, and others. Therapy can begin unpack this influence.

These forces impact all of us in different ways:

  • internalized and externalized systems of oppression/hatred

  • white supremacy

    systemic racism

  • homophobia

  • heteronormativity

  • transphobia

  • fat phobia

  • ableism

  • sexism

  • classism

  • anti-semitism

    Those whose identities intersect in non-dominant groups are often most harmed. Others of us benefit from these systems, ultimately at a deep cost.

“There is no hierarchy of oppressions.”

—Audre Lorde