Sex positivity comes from values of accessibility, non-judgment, and empowerment. It's a way of seeing sex and sexuality as coming from a place of pleasure and agency, instead of assuming it to be moral responsibility. Sex positivity is focused towards looking at individuals (here, adult individuals) as agents of their own bodies, sexual/emotional relationships, and their pleasure. It works towards removing the inherent shame and taboo associated with sex and sexuality.

Being an ally (or in my case, being a part) of the LGBTQIA+ community means that we allow queer individuals to take up space, without expecting people to shrink to fit to the heteronormative ideas of "normal" and "functionality." As a therapist, being an ally or being a queer affirmative practitioner moves beyond the simplistic idea of acknowledgment and acceptance, and involves radical inclusion - being able to help people take up space, sharing resources, sharing privilege, understanding the intersectional context that an individual is coming from. We don't have to mould queerness to fit heteronormative ideas of comfort or ease; we have to navigate systems to be able to do justice to our queerness.

Trauma therapy with survivors ideally should be aiming towards building safety, autonomy, emotional regulation, understanding and processing the trauma, and unlearning self blame. Blame and shame play a huge role in understanding the emotional plane of survivors. Having worked with survivors for so long, as a practitioner, I understand that we move towards an idea of safety and compassion when we work simultaneously with the body and the mind. Hence, the idea of bodily and emotional safety needs to be a big outcome for survivors. Additionally, building safe and secure relationships, understanding older patterns and developing newer more compassionate patterns, and reducing the weight of self criticism are other significant outcomes.

In the therapy room, I see myself as a facilitator and not an expert. We explore the client's life stories with a lot of compassion, nuance, and curiosity (which means lot of reflective, non directive questions so that the clients don't have to face the pressure of saying the right thing). Additionally, we pay a lot of emphasis on how our bodies are feeling throughout the session too. In the session, we start with checking in with what's coming up for the client, move towards a sense of continuation from the previous session (if nothing new has come up, or decide based on what client wants), and then wrap up by checking out and setting hopes for the next sessions!