Judith Faustima M.A., LMFT FOUNDER (she/her/li)

INTEGRATIVE & Liberation-Focused HEALER, EDUCATOR, Supervisor AND CONSULTANT

Beautiful Day, Evening and Night,

My name is Judith and I am so honored and blessed that you have found your way to my space. I can’t assume what brought you to here and why, but I want to say I hope that you feel called, lead, or guided to this space for the purpose of putting yourself and your healing as something worth investing in. In the traditional culture of western mental health etiquette and professionalism, self-disclosure by a mental health provider isn’t something that is predominately practiced for specific reasons, but my goal is to be intentional with how I share myself with those that find their way to my work. Choosing to work with a therapist is one of the most vulnerable things a person can do, especially if it is with a stranger. The idea of sharing your deepest joys and pains with a person that you barely know about can be confusing, scary or even traumatic. I believe in the reciprocity of all healthy relationships, even if reciprocity is defined differently based on the context of that relationship. Reciprocity, honors the natural balance of relationship attachments, trust, safety, and connection. My intention is that these very concepts are honored in my therapist/client relationships. This process starts here with YOU first hearing my personal story to how I came to be on this journey of liberation healing.

I am the daughter to Haitian parents, raised by a single mother that migrated to the US, pregnant with me the same year I was born in 1986. My ancestral linege can be traced back to West Africa, predominately in Nigeria. My people who are now known as Ayisyen (Haitians), came to be on the land of Hispaniola because they were enslaved by French and Spanish colonizers and brought to the island primarily to work in gold mines and on sugar plantations. Prior to the settlement of French and Spanish colonizers, the land was referred to as Ayiti (Haiti) by the Indigenous Taíno peoples, which is what it is now referred to as. In the fight for liberation and freedom to become a independent free nation, the Haitian Revolution began in 1971 and ended with the success of the Haitian and Indigenous Taíno peoples (those who remained after the impact of disease brought on the land by settlers). Ayiti became an independent nation again after 300 years, but as we know, Ayiti has struggled to live out their liberation and freedom, even until now due to the impact of corrupt systems, financial oppression, and the impact the war had on Ayiti’s agriculture. To learn more about the history of Ayiti, you can click here.

I am extremely proud of my historical linege despite the destruction, lost and impact on my people. This history speaks to my own journey of resilience and the critical consciousness I continued to develop throughout my life that explained the resilence I have flowing through my viens. As a Afro-Haitian American women who is the first generation to complete a master’s degree and to be a doctoral student, I can see clearly how my own path towards generational liberation has been held in the legacy of my ancestors. I want to make it clear that my educational pursuits, especially within the cultural context of what that means in our society and its oppressive policies and narratives, are not the isolating reasons to how healing has shown up in my life. As a teenager and young adult, I struggled with depression and anxiety, not understanding the impact racial identity development, racism, micro-aggression, hyerviligence, and assimilation had on my mental health and body. My experience with generational trauma systemically and within my family system contributed to my depression and vacant esteem. The privileges I hold in class, education and geography, came with many health sacrifices and impacts that I had to understand in my own jouney. My healing required an unlearning and learing process around gender, race, religion, sex, ethnicity, spirituality, class, and ability. This process created and is still creating opportunities for me to return back to self. To reconnect back to my ancestral knowing and to feel wholeness within that, which has empowered me to moved forward more authentically myself. The journey I have been so bless to be on is what I desire for those around me. The reconnection to self, presence and community.

More About My Work

My work values compassion, community, spirituality, creativity, and movement. My work is centered from the understanding that trauma exist and impacts who we are as individuals and communities. Taking a trauma-informed and systemic lens is the center of my work because it continues to be what liberates me in my own wellness and healing. Trauma is held in our body, minds and communities. I center these areas of focus to help move through the trauma we carry individually and collectively. As a systems therapist, I take a perspective and worldview that acknowledges that we are apart of communities that is centered around relational dynamics and apart of an ecosystem that centers Nature. Understanding our attachment styles in relationships and our sense of self is beneficial to how we heal in relationships. The systems we are apart of on a macro and micro level are important to healing in collective ways and acknowledging how trauma is maintained.

I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Oregon. I completed my master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy and am a doctoral candidate in a Marriage and Family Therapy program. I received further education at Portland State University to provide therapy for the foster care and adoption population. I have experience working with individuals, families, couples, and parent/child dynamics, and specialize in working with adoptive families, especially within transracial adoption. I offer consulting to organizations and programs seeking clinical training as it relates to Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. I am a AAMFT Approved Clinical Supervisor for those seeking clinical supervision. I also work as a faculty professor at Oregon State University, offering group supervision and professional development to clinical interns in the Professional Counseling graduate program. As part of my values in collective community engagement and engaging in spaces where accountability, growth, continued education, embodiment practices and relationships are cultivated, I am a member of the Therapy that Liberates community, founded by Shawna Murray-Browne and a council member for Liberation Pathways, a collective body of BILAPOC wellness practitioners in Central Oregon. To view my credentials and experiences click here.