SABI PSYCHOLOGY

Welcome!​

Our group provides therapeutic care rooted in valuing the uniqueness and shared humanity of providers and clients alike. Being human can be hard and complex. No one has it all figured out! All of us are trying to navigate the challenges and sorrows, alongside the joys and fulfillments of life. While each provider brings their own set of personal and professional experiences, beliefs, and interests, each of us strives to provide a safe, warm, and supportive therapeutic relationship and environment. We possess the shared goal of working towards decolonizing mental health through  challenging white patriarchal approaches to treatment, adapting evidence-based practices using multiculturally responsive and identity affirming approaches, tailoring our care to each person, working with the whole person rather than focusing solely on symptoms, and working to resist and empower rather than adapt to oppression. We strive to affirm all identities and the natural range of human diversity including: neurodiversity, disabilities, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religiosity, socioeconomic status, personal values and beliefs. We also share the following core values and approaches:

​

• Believing and valuing YOU as the expert on yourself

• Guiding you to listen to and trust yourself, supporting you to make decisions rooted in your values and goals 

• Continually reflecting upon our own identities, biases, beliefs, experiences, and backgrounds and how these can influence our perceptions, behaviors, and approaches when working with clients

• Knowing that you are not broken. No one is "broken." We are all human and therefore imperfect. We all experience overwhelming suffering at times in our lives. But this does not detract from our wholeness, or our worthiness of compassion, belonging, and love

• Inviting open dialogue and feedback about therapy and our therapeutic relationship 

• Prioritizing collaborative work - therapist and client work actively work together to help you develop/access the resources to navigate life's difficulties

• Accessing the wisdom of the body; for true change and growth, therapy must address all parts of the self and the whole self, not just the "mind"

​

What does Sabi mean?

​

Sabi is a Japanese word that ties to a long history, philosophy, and set of practices related to valuing, embracing, and finding the joy and beauty in imperfection and impermanence as natural parts of life. Some Sabi practices have historically worked to undermine hierarchical and oppressive elements of Japanese society by challenging symbols of power and prestige.​

​

Kintsugi is a practice that is a part of Sabi. It reflects the inevitable and beautiful human experiences of change and loss enveloped within healing and transformation. In Kintsugi, broken pottery, rather than being devalued and discarded, is mended and repaired with gold. There are many metaphors related to imperfection, acceptance, and transformation, including:

​

• being "broken" and whole all at once

• the beauty and natural state of imperfection and impermanence in life and in humans

• Through repair/healing, becoming stronger in the places where you hurt

• The act of breaking and becoming whole again - and becoming even more beautiful for having "fallen apart"

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​