Our Mission

We support people’s self-determination to live well and align with their social, cultural, and spiritual beliefs. We strive for shared learning among communities, including patient-clinician relationships, to build hope, belonging, and mutual understanding.

Our Philosophy

Our inspiration for living well is a combination imbued with the wisdom of great minds and leaders who came before us: to try to leave this world a better place than we found it, make a positive difference, learn as if we will live forever, remember the people who sacrificed their lives, respect others, and the nature around us.

Everyone has a unique gift to offer. Even though we come from different backgrounds, we all share basic needs, such as respect and safety. It is our responsibility to support others who are oppressed or less fortunate by listening to them and fighting for their rights. While some people try to divide us, we must stay united to ensure everyone is treated fairly and has a voice in their community. True change starts within us and happens when we are curious, ask questions, and commit to helping without causing harm.

Many problems are caused by unfair systems in our society, not just by an individual's choices. To repair this, we need ‘systemic transformation of oppressive social structures,’ which means changing the unjust rules and politics that hurt people. We must be mindful of our own implicit biases and the power we hold in our relationships (positionality) to ensure we are truly learning from each other.

In the field of psychology and social work, professionals ought to work in partnership with the communities they serve. This means using both the traditional knowledge of native/indigenous peoples and scientific data to solve problems and develop preventive practices. In general, it would be beneficial to adopt a holistic, cultural perspective to allocate resources with awareness of how people relate to the natural environment (ontology) and to consider the origins and limits of human knowledge (epistemology).

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever” - Mahatma Gandhi