Professionals: please stop elevating and praising lived experience perspectives only to the extent that they agree with you and support your approach. If anything, listen to and engage more with the ones who say they’re being hurt because that’s where you need to do better.

(Directed to professionals on all sides of the issues including the ones who have approaches I agree with. Stop using people with lived experience as chess pieces in your professional debates which divides our communities and silences/polarizes what we have to share)

I strive to be accountable to this. Eg, the medical model is absolute garbage for me and has deeply harmed me but if anyone shames and stigmatizes those for whom it works to make their point then guess who I’m siding with? The person who is being harmed even if we disagree

We can respect all approaches while we sort sh** out. If medication or CBT works for you, great! As long as you don’t push it on me. If mindfulness/yoga works, yay! I’ll stand up against the people who derisively dismiss it as “woo woo” but also those who say it’s a cure for all

So professionals stop mocking the things that work for some of us for the sake of your power struggles. Me choosing a trauma-informed mindfulness focused therapist does NOTHING to detract from someone who chooses meds and CBT. Until you pit us against each other ....

So yeah anyone who says lifestyle interventions or meds or whatevs should work for everyone should be called out. But if those calling them out mock those for whom those interventions DO WORK, then they need to be called out too. We get to choose from the available options.

I’m lucky to have encountered people here for whom the approaches that would have harmed me have been lifesaving because that tempers my potential arrogance. But they need to also hear how what saved them nearly destroyed me. Or we will always leave people out. The end.

Approaches I don’t want: meds, CBT, anything manualized or disempowering, medical model

Approaches I want: someone to believe & support my own healing wisdom, compassion focused therapy, mindfulness/yoga. Psychedelic assisted therapy (when legal).

HOWEVER....

Approaches I will support and defend: **anything** that works for people as long as they don’t push it on others and are willing to hear from others why it doesn’t work for them. Even the approaches I personally wouldn’t touch with any length of a pole...

I’m not saying we can’t critique approaches we disagree with professionally and or personally but that we should not do so by dismissing or devaluing the perspectives of those sharing experiences that don’t fit well with our preferred narrative.