Cultural Humility

What does it mean to have a culturally humble therapist?

Finding a therapist who truly understands your world—your values, your culture, your lived experiences—can feel incredibly challenging. Many people hesitate to start therapy because they fear spending their precious time explaining the basics of their background instead of focusing on healing. You might worry about having to justify your family traditions, cultural expectations, or spiritual practices. Or perhaps you’re concerned that a therapist might impose their own worldview, political beliefs, or cultural assumptions onto your life. Sadly, many people have had those experiences.

A culturally humble therapist approaches therapy differently.

Cultural humility is not about a therapist claiming to “know everything” about your identity or community. Instead, it is an active, ongoing commitment to curiosity, respect, and genuine attunement—an awareness that the client is the expert on their own life. A culturally humble therapist works to understand your context, honors your values, and avoids imposing their own cultural, political, or personal beliefs onto your healing process.

Why cultural humility matters

Traditional psychology has long been shaped by Eurocentric perspectives, which can unintentionally create therapy spaces that feel invalidating or disconnected from the realities many people face. This can show up when:
- A therapist interprets your reactions through their own cultural lens rather than yours
- Your spiritual or religious practices are misunderstood or dismissed
- Family dynamics are viewed only through Western norms
- Important cultural or historical contexts are overlooked

Experiences like this can leave clients feeling unseen, judged, or unsafe. Cultural humility helps prevent this. It involves the therapist actively recognizing the limits of their own perspective and being open to learning from you—your beliefs, your community, your history, and the meaning you make of the world.

What cultural humility looks like in the therapy room

A culturally humble therapist will:
- Listen first and seek to understand your worldview before offering interpretations or guidance
- Acknowledge their own identities, privileges, and limitations, without making the session about them
- Avoid assumptions about what healing “should” look like and instead follow what aligns with your values and needs
- Remain aware of power dynamics, including the therapist’s role and how it intersects with your lived experiences
- Invite collaboration, understanding that therapy is something you build together—not something done to you
- Respect your cultural, spiritual, and familial frameworks, and explore how these can support your healing rather than dismissing or pathologizing them

Cultural humility means your therapist will not impose their political views, cultural norms, or personal opinions onto your experience. Instead, they will work with you to explore what matters most to you and help you move toward the life you want to live.

How Catalyst approaches cultural humility

People carry a vast range of identities and experiences—some deeply unique, others profoundly universal. While we are shaped by our cultures and environments, we all share a fundamental need for safety, connection, and healing.

At Catalyst, we strive to ensure that our team reflects this diversity. Our therapists come from many different cultural, racial, linguistic, gender, spiritual, and lived backgrounds. More importantly, every clinician is committed to practicing with cultural humility—recognizing that you are the expert on your story, and that our role is to learn from you, honor your values, and support you in the ways that feel most aligned with who you are.