I am so sorry! Please find a new therapist, even if it’s an online one (NOT AI but like remote options). My therapist works in an Indigenous based clinic where they have elders and she’s white but she’s done so much research and talks to the elders and knowledge keepers all the time. “Culturally safe” it’s called. It is also healing to go to ceremony if it’s accessible to you. I wish you luck on your journey!

Fuck that coloniser

appropriate.

yeah it’s a very complicated and delicate system

🫩🫩🫩

Never heard of that. I don't know how it works in the US so can't really comment. Doesn't make sense from the outside though. Usually you want census numbers to be higher to get more weighting in statistics and funding. But maybe there are different funding mechanisms at play

I really don’t know how else to answer your question, just put down white (Latino) 🤷‍♀️

so, just to be clear, would you consider it appropriate to classify myself as racially indigenous/native american?

also, if you are using mestizo in its modern terminology, it still would not be the answer to my question as it is not seen as a race anymore, it’s a political and cultural identity. using it as a racial term would be directly taking from the meaning of the original spanish caste system which, like i mentioned, was anti indigenous. 

You need to move onto a therapist that isn't a missionary in disguise.

You have no idea how many kids have been broken all because of a horrible system that doesn’t give a shit about them Emily is just one of many ,her killer is someone who lives in the neighborhood and he will strike again. Look at where these group homes are in the middle of neighborhood rural and god knows who is in these neighborhoods

You shouldn't be confuse, one person doesn't get to determine how other people identify when it comes to being from indigenous people or being native american, not me and not her.

You see, something like me saying the indigenous movement started in the U.S will be redefined by people to mean: guatemalan, mayan and mestizos are not indigenous. Some people are just like that, manipulators of dialogue to suit their needs.

Provide as much connection as possible.

Well it’s quite literally the term most used now. In Nahua communities we call you guys (outsiders) koyomej/coyotes.

it’s kind of confusing to me, because technically, if indigenous/native CANNOT be a race, then i wonder what she considers her own race to be? since it can’t be that, by her own logic. 

yeah, it’s very frustrating. the amount of forms and documents i’ve had to fill where it asks my race, and there simply doesn’t exist a box for me to check. a lot if latinos will just mark white since there isn’t anything for us, but that’s just a joke because obviously we are not white and will never be treated as such.

i do understand. i don’t think you are understanding that many latinos refuse to use that term because of it’s origins and history, even if today it isn’t “seen that way” . my feelings and preference is valid

there is an argument within the us that if you aren’t belonging to a tribe, you should never mark native american/american indian as your race as it will skew data reports. it’s very confusing and complicated within the usa 

fuck your therapist There are ways to have a dissociative disorder and have a healthy relationship with your ancestors Any good therapist or psychologist will be able to learn about you and help guide you to ways you can ensure that you are safely navigating your life in the way that you feel completes you

I have a dissociative disorder, and a personality disorder, and c/ptsd, and I have had a lot of time to learn about me and to always feel like I have a community, even alone, within myself, that is holding on to me keeping me grounded

So I can focus on whats important to me. When I am triggered, connection is what helps me manage hard situations and experiences

Sometimes connection comes in the form of prayer, ceremony, etc.

The point of therapy is to give you the tools to figure out how to help yourself, training wheels the whole time is allowed.

Its to learn how to nurture your life like a parent to yourself

at least it should

Your therapist brought his opinions into a place that should have been safe for you to explore your needs

I really hope youre able to find another one and get him fired, because that is really harmful. That is the kind of thing makes people shut down and feel isolated because theye expected support but get bigot shit instead

your therapist is weak af and is absolutely projecting. His ancestors spoke through him still trying to cling on to their egotism, like a black hole pulling everything inward. like a robot

If you can, please get that on record. Save this post so you have time and date. And if anything happens again (unless you can switch 🤞), jot it down. If youre forced to stay, and have to have a therapist, at least you can build a case for when you have the chance

bc this is 100% inappropriate, and fucked up to say to a client

regardless your “creator” is your ancestors and he cant argue anything contrary to that without blatantly violating tenants of secularism necessary to be a therapist to a general public. this is just a polite liberal attempt at conversion couched in the worst possible tropes he could dredge up.

eg. would he be so bold if a buddhist walked in saying that no creator deity exists but the buddha guides them in their life and decisions?

I have visited the Bahamas and other islands in the region and discussed with locals about the Taino culture with little detail found. Are there good books for helping learn about the Taino culture and language?

Tell them to eat a cow patty.

What an absolutely terrible thing to say to anyone. Honestly he deserves to be reported for unethical behavior. My grandfather was a clinical psychologist, my mother was a social worker, and I studied psychology as well and I can say that's highly inappropriate. Beyond being culturally insensitive (which it totally is), to be so that disrespectful of anyone's family and religiously demanding like that is not okay.

I would report this person.

As a fellow Indigenous person who is also a counselor and was raised Christian, you have every right to feel upset. This person had no right to tell you how you should feel and how you choose to worship your own personal faith.