PMP is committed to providing care from a place of integrity, mutuality, and respect. To help guide our vision, we have created this document, “PMP’s Guiding Principles” in collaboration with our participants, clinic practitioners, and community partners. These guidelines help us frame our work, maintain safety for clients, and communicate our intentions with transparency.
This document coalesces trauma-informed principles, lessons we have learned, mistakes we have made, and diverse perspectives. We consider ourselves to be in an evolving learning process, and welcome community feedback regarding our work.
1. HONOR THE LAND AND CARE FOR THE EARTH
We honor the tribes whose land we stand on, including the Pocomtuck, Nipmuck, Abenacki; and acknowledge that we live and work on stolen land.
We promote reciprocity, responsible wild- harvesting, organic gardening practices; emphasize local, abundant plants; and refrain from using threatened plants in our apothecary. We respect the land and honor the plants as living beings.
2. HOLD CLIENTS IN THE HIGHEST PERSONAL REGARD
We meet clients where they are at, and consciously refrain from trying to “fix” or “save.” We do not define people by their trauma, but see participants as whole regardless of individual challenges.
3. CHECK OUR EGOS & EXPECTATIONS
… around having an agenda for our clients’ experience. If we are working with people over time who do not appear to us to be making progress according to our expectations, it is not for us to decide the value of their experience.
4. CHECK OUR BIASES
Our intention is to treat clients with non-judgement. That said, we all do have biases and judgements based on our past experiences and upbringing, societal stereotypes, or moral values. We are willing to look at our own biases, and consider how those may be affecting our work. Our intention is that clients feel met, supported, and respected exactly where they are.
5. DEMONSTRATE PRESENCE AND COMPASSION THROUGH DEEP LISTENING
Listening can be a more powerful tool than advice-giving.
6. UNDERSTAND POWER DYNAMICS IMPLICIT IN OFFERING CARE
As practitioners we commit to being in service to participants by utilizing our training and expertise. Implicit in this relationship is an increased role of power and influence for the practitioner, and increased vulnerability for the client. Because of this dynamic, it is imperative to create a container of safety, accountability and respect.
7. FOSTER SAFETY, ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESPECT
Working within our scope of practice. We do what we are trained to do, and provide the kind of work that the client expects. We are honest about the limits of our skills, experience, and knowledge with ourselves, participants, and other practitioners. While we all use our intuition, we are transparent about how we are working with participants, and speak simply.
8. PRACTICE TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE
We follow the principles of SAMHSA’s Trauma-Informed Approach (see appendix). We emphasize consent-based care. We communicate with clients before and during the session and give them the opportunity to choose the course of the session and dictate their own care. We pay attention to both the verbal and nonverbal ‘yes’ and ‘no’. We aim to reinforce a client’s sense of control of their body as they practice setting limits and learn to receive what they ask for.
Further, we understand the collective nature of trauma, and its interconnection with systems of oppression. We recognize the limits of viewing trauma as an isolated event or experience.
We maintain clear boundaries (socially, physically, energetically) for client and practitioner safety. The professional role of the practitioner provides boundaries and context that is necessary for effective work.
Clear boundaries include: being caring and respectful; refraining from dual relationships (relationships outside of clinic); maintaining confidentiality; maintaining clear physical boundaries; refraining from over-sharing about our own personal life; refraining from using inappropriate language (cursing, sexual innuendo).
We work to be mindful of transference and counter-transference. Transference is when a participant redirects feelings meant for others onto the practitioner; counter-transference is a reaction in which the practitioner projects his or her feelings unconsciously onto the participant. Maintaining awareness of how our feelings and energies can be projected onto each other is important in maintaining clear boundaries.
We aim to support mutuality. We address a participant directly when a session isn’t working for us, and name it, if the participant is demonstrating behaviors that feel uncomfortable or inappropriate. We ask clients to do the same for us.
We seek to be mindful of privilege and intersectionality. We try to be mindful of biases and the privileges of our own identities, and how those intersect with the experiences/identities of our clients. We intend to be mindful of the power dynamics implicit in our identities.
9. ACKNOWLEDGE THE SOCIETAL STRUCTURES OF PRIVILEGE AND OPPRESSION, PARTICULARLY AS RELATED TO HEALTH ACCESS, AND ALTERNATIVE HEALTH CARE
We acknowledge that systemic oppression is deeply embedded into every aspect of our society; and that the stress, trauma, violence, injustice, and discrimination of oppressive systems adversely impacts health.
We acknowledge that the world of “alternative” health care in the U.S. is problematic, and culpable of perpetuating cultural appropriation, culture theft and commodification, and racism by exclusion. We seek to understand those connections, and not to replicate those mistakes.
We understand that it is important to see trauma through a systemic lens. Talking about personal trauma as an individual occurrence fails to recognize the root causes of systemic trauma. We acknowledge that BiPOC (Black, indigenous, and people of color) have experienced disproportional systemic and cultural trauma. We seek to work toward collective healing by addressing the structures that perpetuate trauma within our work.
We inform and educate ourselves about systemic barriers to health, and the communities that are disproportionately affected by them.
We will not knowingly exploit, abuse, or misrepresent sacred traditions and spiritual practices of indigenous people.
10. CREATE A WELCOMING SPACE
People of all genders, sexualities, races, cultures, abilities, and sizes are welcome, and our written materials, space, and attitude reflects inclusivity.
We acknowledge all genders including trans and non-binary individuals. We do not assume anyone’s gender. We work to educate ourselves about how to provide care that is gender-affirming
We understand that health is not based on body type. Body shaming is unacceptable. Related, we understand the connection between body shame and food shame. Although we recognize the connection between nutrition and health, we recognize that food choices are complex. We do not shame people for their food choices.
Although many of us do connect to spiritual practices, we do not promote or proselytize any religion, or spiritual belief.
