ABSTRACT
Therapy is not a bias-free endeavor. It is a political act whether one likes to think of it in that manner or not. Cultural competence requires one to self-reflect, to inquire into one's identities, and have critical thinking about the kinds of messages one receives from family, society, and organizational affiliations. For this author, this kind of inquiry led her to unpack her identities as it had important ramifications not only for her role as an art therapist but also as an educator. It was one thing to maintain her privacy around self-reflection and only self-disclose to the extent it was therapeutically valuable for her clients. It was quite another to become transparent with some of her ponderings as an educator, especially as she maintained a feminist theoretical stance in her roles as the art therapist and the educator. She uses many personal narratives from her experiences in India, the United States, the classroom, and the therapy room to illustrate her journey as she understood supremacist and disempowered identities as a South-Asian-American cis-woman.
