Co-Envisioning Sessions

A space for fellow mental health practitioners to unlearn harmful practices and envision & practice alternative ones

Despite the number one “rule” of therapy practitioners being “do no harm”,

the mental health industry in the so-called West is both riddled with harmful ideologies and practices and complicit in the many interlocking systems of oppression.

In training, most mental health practitioners are constantly exposed to implied/explicit “shoulds” and “should nots” about what the profession of therapy entails. These rigid boundaries and “shoulds” are often further solidified through frameworks such as neutrality, professionalism, and pathologization, which are upheld through policing and surveillance. Practitioners are policed/surveilled by the industry/the state, and practitioners are taught to police/surveil our so-called clients.

Under the guise of “care”, carceral practices within the mental health industry target the most marginalized. Confronting this hypocrisy invites us to radicalize our therapeutic practices and expand the possibilities of care within and beyond our “professional” roles.

We must remember that standardized, institutionalized forms of care are neither the only nor the most valuable forms of care. So why limit ourselves to these (often harmful/unhelpful) practices upheld by the industry? How might we unlearn the harmful/unhelpful industry-standard ideologies and practices, and envision and practice differently? How could we learn from the brilliance of the most targeted peoples (eg. harm reduction by sex-working and drug-using folks, care pods and peer support by Sick & Disabled QTBIPOC and psych survivors, transformative and restorative justice practices by Indigenous folks) who are not able to rely on institutions, and thus, have already been practicing more creative ways of doing care?

While we learn from and center the wisdoms of those who are the most targeted by harmful systems, I believe that everyone needs to do the work of brainstorming and practicing alternatives. Academic and training institutions certainly won’t give us the revolutionary answers on how to do anti-carceral care, nor should we expect to be spoon-fed answers from marginalized folks with lived experiences.

So then, we are called to come together to co-envision and practice what care can look like, both within and beyond “professional” therapeutic practice.

 

An Invitation

I invite you to gather with community members of shared values (fellow practitioners, non-professionalized care providers and healers, care receivers, etc.) with whom you can imagine, (un)learn, and practice together!

Of course, be mindful of how power dynamics within varying social locations and lived experiences shape the sharing of ideas and practices to prevent harmful knowledge extraction.

Here are some questions to get you started:

  • What have we been taught that we are not allowed to do, or shouldn’t do as practitioners? What fears and beliefs are induced in each and how do they limit the care we offer? How might we navigate each fear and do things differently?

  • What would it look like to apply abolitionist and transformative justice principles to mental health care? What about peer support, mutual aid, and harm reduction? What about ancestral healing and care practices? What are some creative ways that we can offer and receive care, using our roles of power as practitioners?

  • What might it look like to go beyond empathy and show up in solidarity with our so-called clients? What could we do within and beyond our “professional” roles?

  • What does the industry say about how we should relate to my so-called clients? How do we want to relate to our so-called clients? What do we want to call them? How do we want to perceive ourselves in this role?

For current students: Throughout your training, keep a list of things that are assumed about what you should/should not do as a practitioner.

 

Co-Envisioning with Ji-Youn

For folks who would appreciate engaging in this conversation with me, I welcome you to Co-Envisioning Sessions (CES), a guided dialogue with questions like the ones above and more. We can explore more general ideas/practices or narrow in on particular situations/topics as well.

The main themes I enjoy working with are:

  • Confronting, unlearning, and distancing ourselves from current carceral, harmful practices

  • Co-envisioning alternative ways of doing care, both within and beyond the industry’s boundaries of what counts as “therapy” or is considered “professional”

  • Practicing integrity & embodiment: how am I practicing my values and politics without using the words?

  • Incorporating our own ancestral healing practices and knowledges into therapeutic practice

  • Going beyond the “professional role” and participating in mutual aid, community care, and collective liberation

  • For folks with lived experiences: reflecting on what you have already been practicing to resist the industry’s harmful ways

Logistical Details

Sessions are 50 or 75 minutes over Jane telehealth and can be booked through Jane. Sessions can be one-time or ongoing. I do recommend routine sessions for white practitioners and/or practitioners with no/little lived experience with the carceral mental health system.

Group sessions are available for a longer duration. Please email me with your request, referencing the number of people and their respective social locations and lived experiences with the carceral healthcare system.

These sessions are not supervision.

Rates & Payment

Given that much of my practices and praxis are informed by my lived experiences as a psych survivor and immigrant Corean femme, I offer different rates based on social locations. All rates include GST.

BIPOC practitioners

  • 50-min: $150-200

  • 75-min: $220-280

White practitioners

  • 50-min: $200-250

  • 75-min: $280-350

BIPOC with white-passing and/or class privileges are encouraged to pay the higher end of the scale if possible. Group rates are dependent on the number of people and social locations but at a reduced rate for each person in comparison to 1:1 sessions.

I accept payment via Interac e-transfer from folks based in Canada and Paypal for international folks.

These rates help me sustain my unpaid labour in mutual aid efforts, organizing work, and teaching, as well as my reduced rate counselling offerings for QTBIPOC. 20% of these proceeds will be redistributed to disabled queer/trans Black & Indigenous individuals.

I tend to redistribute to individuals based on calls for mutual aid that I come across through social media rather than to an organization. Feel free to email me at jiyoun@itsjiyounkim.com with feedback on this process.