Anti-Oppression Statement

Side Quest Psychotherapy LLC (“Side Quest Psychotherapy”) is committed to providing care that acknowledges how systems of power and oppression shape people’s lives, access to support, and experiences within mental health care. We offer this statement so you can understand our values and practices, consider whether our work feels aligned for you, and make choices from a place of clarity and resonance. This statement reflects who we are, how we think about care and power, and the commitments that guide our clinical, coaching, and business decisions.

We consider this a living document. Our understanding of oppression, disability, justice, and ethical care continues to evolve through ongoing learning, listening, accountability, and relationship. We approach this work as fallible humans rather than finished experts.

Side Quest Psychotherapy was founded and is led by Jenna Stone, LCSW-C. Our work is offered with awareness that licensure, education, professional authority, whiteness, and economic access confer unearned power within healthcare systems. We are committed to examining how these dynamics shape our relationships, policies, and clinical norms. We actively resist compliance-driven and coercive models of care and remain attentive to how ableism, white supremacy culture, and capitalism influence mental health practice.

Equity and inclusion are core values at Side Quest Psychotherapy. We recognize the many ways identity and difference shape lived experience, including disability, neurodivergence, body size, race, gender, sexuality, class, age, religion, citizenship status, and access to resources. We understand that diversity deepens our work and challenges us to remain responsive rather than prescriptive. We aim to honor the insight, creativity, and resilience that come from varied ways of moving through the world.

Our work is informed by social justice movements, neurodiversity and disability justice frameworks, harm reduction, relational and somatic approaches, and critiques of weight-centric and behavior-based models of healthcare. We draw from both clinical research and lived experience–led knowledge, understanding that no single framework is sufficient. We are committed to ongoing learning and consultation as an essential part of ethical practice.

Side Quest Psychotherapy includes both licensed clinicians and non-clinical team members, including Recovery Coaches. We name this distinction clearly because different roles carry different kinds of authority, responsibility, and potential for harm. Clinical services such as psychotherapy and evaluations are provided by licensed clinicians and operate within professional and legal standards. Recovery Coaching is non-clinical support and does not involve diagnosis, treatment, or psychotherapy. It is designed to support people in real-time living, particularly in environments that are overwhelming, invalidating, or structurally inaccessible.

Across all roles, our work is relational. We strive to practice in ways that are neuroaffirming, trauma-aware, and autonomy-supportive. We do not believe healing can be separated from social conditions, and we prioritize helping people understand how distress is shaped by systems rather than personal failure. We aim to support people in developing agency and self-trust while remaining connected to resources and communities beyond our practice.

We recognize that power is always present in helping relationships. Licensure, professional authority, education, race, class, and ability influence how care is experienced. Our learning is not always sufficient, and our dominant identities can create blind spots. We have caused harm and cannot guarantee we will never do so again. When harm occurs, we commit to listening, taking responsibility, and engaging in repair when possible, including consultation and accountability beyond ourselves.

We are attentive to how non-clinical support roles have historically been undervalued and overextended. We are intentional about role clarity, ethical compensation, supervision, and boundaries to support both our team and the people we serve. Recovery Coaches are not expected to perform clinical labor or work outside their scope.

Side Quest Psychotherapy operates within systems that create inequity by design. While we cannot dismantle these systems alone, we aim to reduce harm through transparent pricing, clear communication about services, fair labor practices, and ongoing education in neuroaffirming and anti-oppressive care. We continue to reflect on how our structures affect access and participation.

We do not believe we are the right fit for everyone. Our goal is not universality, but clarity and integrity, so people can decide whether our services align with their needs, values, and capacity.

If you have feedback about how our practice can better align with these commitments, you are welcome to contact us at hello@sidequestpsychotherapy.com.