Land Acknowledgement
I honour and acknowledge the history and stewardship of the land I live and work upon. This land is the ancestral and treaty lands of the Attawandaron (Attiwonderonk), the Haudenosaunee, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. The land, now known as Guelph, is also situated near the Haldimand Tract and remains home to many First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples today.
As an Italian-Canadian settler and the descendant of immigrants who came to this land seeking safety, opportunity, and belonging, I recognize that my life and work are shaped by (violent) histories of migration, displacement, colonization, and ongoing Indigenous dispossession. I recognize, too, that the relative safety and opportunity many settlers, including my family, experience today cannot be separated from these ongoing colonial oppression.
I understand land acknowledgement as an invitation into deeper relationship, responsibility, reciprocity, and respect. It is an acknowledgement of how the land it is living, intelligent, and we are always in relationship together. The land sustains our lives, and it witnesses grief and love alongside us. I acknowledge the land as my greatest teacher, and the one whom informs all that I do in my therapy practice. I would not be a therapist without the ancient wisdom of the land, of the elements, of spirit - teachings of which have been shared with me through Indigenous peoples that I have met throughout my life as teachers, therapists, Elders, community members, writers, poets, artists, and friends.
I hold deep gratitude for the lands, waters, plants, animals, and living beings who make life possible and who continue to nourish, teach, and sustain us in countless visible and invisible ways. In a world that so often conditions us toward disconnection and extraction, I acknowledge that true personal and collective transformation must involve supporting Indigenous sovereignty, honouring Indigenous stewardship of land, and learning from the knowledge systems colonization has, and continues to, erase.
Lastly, I hold deep respect for the resilience, leadership, and ongoing presence of Indigenous peoples, communities, and ways of knowing. My intention is for my therapy practice to continue to be a tool in the ongoing work of decolonizing therapy and mental healthcare, to move away from overly individualistic, colonial models of care, and integrate approaches that honour Indigenous knowledge systems, land-based healing, and the inseparability of mind, body, spirit, community, and land.