I am a licensed mental health counselor and certified early intervention specialist in the state of Massachusetts and a
board-certified music therapist in the United States. I am based in Boston, on land stolen from the Massachusett people.
My résumé is available on my LinkedIn profile.
My curriculum vitae is available upon request.
contact: erika @ erikashira . com
General philosophies that guide my practice:
I practice from a social justice and liberation health standpoint. I recognize that most situations in which people lack support or material resources are a matter of a society failing to support its people, not a personal failure. I recognize that systems, including (especially?) the system of medical and mental health providers, are inherently oppressive. I constantly contemplate the power I am given as a licensed professional in these systems, experience frequent discomfort with it, and always aim to take it seriously. I support work toward the eventual abolition of oppressive and carceral systems, while also choosing to work cooperatively-but-cautiously with what we currently have. I do not share any information with law enforcement or government agencies unless absolutely legally required to do, and in such instances, I share the minimum information needed to legally satisfy their requirements. When speaking to any third parties, I never share any impressions I have not already clearly communicated to my clients. I firmly believe in voluntary community supports as a first/second/third/etc. resort and I leave law enforcement and involuntary services as an absolute last resort.
In my work with children and families, I am a firm believer in "good-enough" parenting. My view in general is that I raise my family my way, you raise yours your way, and we always keep in mind that kids turn out basically fine coming from all sorts of situations. I of course have plenty of suggestions and ideas for any family to optimize outcomes and well-being (that's what I do after all...) and there definitely are times I see something dysfunctional and we will talk about how it needs to shift, but I always strive to do this within the framework of respecting existing family culture.
I follow a Health At Every Size framework*. I believe all bodies are good bodies. I do not engage in food moralizing and I challenge others to eliminate this as well. I am happy to provide families and professionals with ample resources demonstrating that diet culture, body stigma, and food moralizing cause more harm in the long run than an imperfect diet. (*I choose to include the HAES terminology at this time as it is the most well known; I recognize that this formal institution has a lot of problems, and I am committed to learning size liberation and diet liberation from the more diverse and up-to-date folks in these fields.)
I learn from the neurodiversity and disability pride movements. I believe in learning my clinical skills from disabled and/or neurodivergent folks, not from abled medical providers. I listen to disabled voices who tell me their brains and bodies are not something to be pitied, changed, or cured and that they sometimes have specific functional deficits they would like clearly diagnosed and documented and sometimes improved upon with their enthusiastic consent. I believe that disability is not a bad word. I am passionate in advocating that someone absolutely cannot do a certain thing no matter how hard they try and that they are an autonomous fully capable human being who gets to make their own decisions. I am client-led in terms of which of various applicable diagnostic frameworks is most helpful for an individual in being understood and appropriately accommodated by imperfect systems.
I understand that "we welcome everyone" isn't the same as seeing minoritized and racialized folks for who they are. I absolutely do see color. I am engaged in ongoing anti-racist learning. I stay open to being educated and corrected, though I strive never to put my clients in the place of needing to educate me. I listen to Black and brown voices as the authorities on their own experiences. I am aware of racial health disparities in my community and at large. I am sensitive to how people of the global majority view healthcare and government systems, and I strive to reflect this in my practice.
I support queer liberation including for those who have not yet identified as queer. I believe that we do harm when we view LGBTQ-inclusive practices as something that only applies to people after they have specifically identified themselves as members of our community. I ask all people age-appropriate open-ended questions about their gender and sexual orientation. I ask about the terms used by all clients, family members, and collaterals rather than assuming. I use inclusive language and examples with all people, not just in queer spaces, and I normalize the many ways of being in this world.
I am a firm believer that one size does not fit all. In many cases, "whatever medical-model clinician/program has the first opening" is likely to do more harm than good. I generally advocate against recommendations of "being in treatment ASAP to check off a box" until a resource can be located that is appropriately racially competent, trauma-informed, disability competent, as needed. I have a knack for writing evaluations explaining why there is not currently anything available/accessible that will help more than harm, and helping families cobble together community-based and culturally-affirming supports that can come closest to meeting someone's needs. Likewise, I frequently advocate against boilerplate recommendations such as hospitalization for people who can be kept safe in a less-restrictive more familiar setting, or "diagnostic" school or residential placements that are primarily for clinician convenience and are not truly needed for safety.
Privilege and marginalization acknowledgements:
I am white
I am religiously Jewish
I am genderqueer/agender, though I typically experience cisgender privilege
I am in a long-term same-sex marriage
I am a transracial foster and adoptive parent
I have parented children with invisible disabilities and obvious disabilities
I have a history of medicalization, but currently experience health privilege and abled privilege
I have neurotypical privilege
I have educational privilege
I have lived in poverty and in the upper-middle class as an adult
I generally experience class privilege regardless of income
I have a fair degree of size privilege
I am an American citizen by birth
I am middle-aged
My family and I have experienced victimization by systems, though were able to leverage financial and educational privilege to work with attorneys to largely manage this
I am happy to discuss any of these and how they may play into my interactions.
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