Vanessa Breeding (she/her)

I grew up in monolingual, white, English-speaking households with progressive and liberal feminist values which seemed great, but basically amounted to gender-blindness, various shades of White Saviorism, and subtle compulsory heterosexuality. As I got older, I hungered not only to learn from other worldviews and break out of the bubble of whiteness, but also for a more robust form of inclusive and intersectional feminism—I longed to be free. I knew from early adulthood that white liberal feminism wasn’t it, and that freedom as a woman cannot mean competing for individual status and gains while exploiting other women of the global south. My studies helped me along this path and my world steadily grew as I studied the Spanish and Arabic languages and completed a bachelor’s degree in Gender and Women’s Studies from Pomona College in Claremont, California. I later lived in Lebanon for five years, where I was profoundly impacted by the range of experiences I had there, including living in a more collectivist society; devoting myself to learning the language; completing a master’s degree in Literature from the American University of Beirut; working as a researcher, lecturer and translator; teaching Palestinian children at Shatila refugee camp; protesting in the 2018 Lebanese uprising; navigating economic collapse; surviving the Beirut Port explosion, and more. 

These experiences inform my liberation psychology orientation, which insists on paying attention to power-relations and historical context and accounting for the material and political conditions surrounding any instance of psychological suffering. When we refuse to pathologize and individualize our problems, we often begin to see our pain, anger, depression, etc., not as dysfunction but as appropriate reactions to our environments and valuable leverage in the struggle for personal and collective change. We also find a path forward for healing our relationships with ourselves, others, and the world around us.

Some other important parts of my life include advocacy for survivors of sexual assault, yoga, creative expression, and chosen family. As a college student I volunteered with a resource center and hotline combatting rape culture on campus, and I later volunteered and then worked with a domestic violence shelter and rape crisis center in Austin. I am also a yoga enthusiast and completed a 200-hr yoga teacher training in 2015. My experience using movement and breath to promote overall well-being informs my holistic approach to mental health. In my free time, I love to swim, dance, and roller skate; express myself creatively through cooking, interior design, fashion, collaging, and writing; and hang out with my friends, partner, two cats, and dog.