Being Silent is No Longer an Option
I’ve been struggling with the title of "Coach" over the last little while. Primarily because I find it fails to capture the scope of what I do with my clients, but more recently because of so many coaches, I mean white coaches in the spiritual, health and wellness industries, that have strangely come to support these Nazis and white supremacists and whatever it is that has evolved out of QAnon.
In light of last weeks events events over the past year and really the general society that we all live in right now, silence is not acceptable. I am writing this to be clear about my beliefs and position on what is going on in the world and who I am within the landscape in which I work. As a blonde, blue-eyed professional coach who, has worked in the “health and wellness” industry, in government and other white-dominated industries, I have been able to navigate within the world with extreme privilege.
The word “privilege” is being discussed more and more and is defined as the following: a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group. It’s my opinion that the term and existence of “White privilege” is being refuted by so many white people because of their need to cling to their struggles as proof that they are not privileged. Privilege does not presuppose a lack of struggle. I have been open about the struggles that I have faced, poverty, homelessness, domestic violence, business failures, layoffs, single parenthood, sexism, sexual-harassment, and assault. I can check off many of the boxes on the ACES checklist (adverse childhood experiences), however not one of these experiences were due to the perceived colour of my skin.
I have had the privilege of observing atrocities that happened in the world from the comfort of home without being impacted by them directly. I have the privilege of discussing how atrocious things are from a distance but have remained largely silent in a public space, within my work doing my best to remain neutral with potential clients who may not share my same views and perspectives. This changes today. Below is a non-exhaustive list of my personal beliefs that I believe you should know before working with me; NOT sharing this takes me out of congruency with the work I do in my 1-1 sessions.
I believe patriarchal and colonial systems have failed society and continue to fail as evidenced by what is happening currently. I believe in science AND I believe in magic, and that the gulf between the two is not as vast as we deem it to be and that there is simply more explicit explanation needed or exploration needed to understand both sides of that coin more in depth. I believe in natural medicines and Westernized medicines - I’ve used and have been helped tremendously by both; neither are infallible and the more they can come together to work in harmony, they can complement each other. I am pro-choice, I am an LGBTQ ally, I support BLM, I support land back, sovereignty and universal basic income and that renewable energies need to come before pipelines and further development of non-renewable energies. (Yes I hypocritically have a car and I depend on the oil and gas industry at this time just like most others who don’t support pipelines) I support harm reduction therapy, plant medicines in the world of in recovery.
This means I am committed to hearing about and learning when I make missteps, because I have and I will. Evolving as a human requires you to keep an open mind, and my opinions should never take priority at the expense of an entire race, culture, gender or identity.