OptimalLife Wellness Center supports Black Lives Matter, the Protestors, and Stop Asian Hate.
Recent events have served to remind us of how far we still have to go as a country. The senseless homicide of George Floyd and the long-standing violence and injustices inflicted on Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color are intolerable. It is not okay for us to accept this as a regular course of life in the United States. It is not okay for those in a position of privilege to continue to comfortably distance from the daily pain and fear that other humans contend with. All of us can and must do more.
We stand together in the fight against racism and injustice.
We believe our community is strengthened and enriched by the diverse cultures and people who call it home. According to statistics from the Bellevue School District, 97 languages are spoken here and 39% of students speak a first language other than English. We are fortunate and grateful to be in such a culturally diverse community.
We strive to create an atmosphere where people of all backgrounds feel welcome.
In our roles as psychotherapists, our instinct is to soothe and soften. Although leaning in to unpleasant feelings of fear, pain, guilt, and anger might feel counter-intuitive, emotions provide us with important information and should not be easily dismissed. Much of the therapeutic journey is learning to tolerate, process, and understand these emotions—not suppress them.
We have an opportunity to empathize with those whose daily lives are impacted by racism and discrimination. For those who normally live in relative peace and comfort, fear might have been an unwelcome emotion as of late. We recognize that Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color live with this fear every day. For this reason, communities of color and their allies demand justice and reform across the globe.
Our Mission—Before and Now
OptimalLife Wellness Center was founded as a diverse collective of therapists dedicated to providing accessible and supportive services to individuals from all backgrounds. It is our mission to facilitate our clients’ actualization of personal empowerment and strength. We strive to be inclusive and non-discriminatory therapists, honoring the individual experiences of our clients as well as their cultures, races, religions, and gender and sexual orientations. We also understand that this is an ongoing and always-changing responsibility. In service of the broader goal of inclusion, we have cultivated a diverse staff to better represent the communities that we serve.
At OptimalLife Wellness, our focus is on holistic health and wellness. Sickness in one part of the body or mind inevitably leads to imbalance and sickness elsewhere. As each of us is a part of the whole; so long as one of us is sick, hurt, or unwell, all are weakened. We must focus on the health and healing of those who have been impacted by the sickness of racism and prejudice, with the knowledge and confidence that in doing so, we strengthen the whole.
We commit to work against discrimination and racism.
Our diverse staff is an intentional reflection of this pledge, and we are committed to ongoing training in cultural competency in order to combat social injustice and better serve our multicultural community. Looking beyond our zip code, we are pledging financial contributions to organizations that promote and fund mental health services for underserved and marginalized communities.