April 2024

Diviya and I had a dynamic chat about her work, what matters to her in the field of psychotherapy, and some of our core responsibilities as therapists. I am genuinely excited about the new generation of psychotherapists entering the field and feel lucky that so many of them are choosing the OSRP as their professional homebase. 

Diviya is warm, articulate, and passionate about the work we do as therapists, and especially interested in decolonizing psychotherapeutic spaces from the old, rigid models of being that are not equitable, inclusive, or diverse. She is a graduate of Yorkville University and utilizes Relational Somatic IFS (Internal Family Systems) in her practice. She shared that therapy was not part of her inherited culture, but after trying therapy and seeing the deeply positive impact on her sense of self and her relationship with the colonized aspect of her culture, she decided to pursue it as a career and a calling.

Decolonization of self, culture, and therapeutic practices is at the heart of her work with clients. She mentioned that part of the reason she joined the OSRP was the Society’s commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion practices. She calls on the board and the Society to do more to further the practice toward liberation from colonized systems of being.

She finds solace and inspiration in nature and shared with me some of her current reading material:

The Pain We Carry: Healing from Complex PTSD for People of Color by Natalie Gutierrez

For anyone interested, she’s also a co-founder of a listserv that has Equity and Justice as their core principal: Therapists of Equity & Justice

Diviya is accepting clients at the moment and can be found here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/therapists/diviya-lewis-toronto-on/408104

Thank you, Diviya, for sharing your contagious passion with us!