Land Acknowledgement:
We acknowledge that the land we occupy is the ancestral and contemporary homeland of Indigenous Nations. These include, but are not limited to, the Miami, Shawnee, Delaware, Wyandot, Seneca, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Peoria tribes. Due to historical erasure of Indigenous history, it is likely that more Indigenous Nations were displaced that are not listed in this acknowledgement. As such, the information in this acknowledgement may be updated in the future to include more information.
Following a period of continued violence from the United States, the 1795 Treaty of Greenville was signed that ceded much of the Indigenous land in Ohio to the United States. This peace treaty was short-lived, and American expansion continued to displace Indigenous peoples. This was solidified in the 1830 Indian Removal Act, which provided a legal foundation for Indigenous Peoples to be displaced by the American Government. This policy was a reflection of the genocidal intentions of president Andrew Jackson, and resulted in significant removal and death of Indigenous peoples.
Why is this important?
The United States has greatly benefitted from the exploitation, removal, and murder of Indigenous peoples. As a therapy practice located in Columbus, Ohio, we have also benefited from this unjust treatment. Land acknowledgements can act as the beginning of a conversation around taking accountability for these actions, and more importantly, supporting contemporary Indigenous Nations and their peoples.
The mental health field has been complicit in and reinforced colonialist ideas. Therapy has, historically, been an ineffective part of healing the effects of these atrocities. For many, therapy has been inaccessible due to economic and accessibility barriers. Even when therapy can be accessed, the profession has not centered education on working with these topics. Therapists may often be dismissive of the history, uncomfortable discussing the subject, or require the client to educate them on Indigenous history. Or, the therapist may employ only Eurocentric methods of treatment, focusing just on the symptoms and giving surface-level interventions.
What are we doing?
Practicing therapy from an anti-racist and intersectional framework
Continuing education around anti-racism issues
Working with insurance to make therapy affordable
Offering sliding scale and solidarity scale sessions
Value-system that assumes a collaborative relationship to reduce power dynamics in the therapeutic relationship
Acknowledging that mental health is heavily connected to political attitudes, social forces, and colonialism.
Acknowledging that the eurocentric therapeutic model is not the “gold-standard” for healing, and centering our education around including other models of healing.
What can I do?
It is important that acknowledgements act as the beginning of these conversations and not the end.