12/08/2025
"Maybe therapy isn't for people like me."
I've heard this countless times from people who'd tried multiple times to find help. Each time, they had to spend their first sessions educating their therapist about their culture, their identity, their lived experience—leaving no room to actually address why they were there.
This isn't just uncomfortable. It's unacceptable.
Mental healthcare shouldn't require you to minimize your identity to receive support. You shouldn't have to choose between being understood and being helped. You shouldn't have to translate your existence before someone can treat your anxiety.
The mental health industry has a diversity problem, but that doesn't mean you should suffer in silence. There are therapists who get it, who've done the work, who see you fully. They might be harder to find, but they exist.
I've learned that advocating for inclusive mental healthcare is very much political. Every time we demand better, we're not just helping ourselves. We're creating pathways for others who look like us, love like us, or live like us.
Quality mental healthcare isn't a luxury you hope to deserve someday. It's a right you claim today.
Your wellbeing matters—all of you, exactly as you are, right now.