Purpose
Defiant Therapy, as it currently stands, serves the purpose of creating a sustainable container for one worker to practice as a counselor in the state of Maryland, providing services that are driven by the vision outlined below. The services provided at Defiant Therapy rest on the aspirational values of autonomy, interconnectedness, transformative justice, and collective liberation, grounded in the humanity of both service provider and client as we each move toward healing for ourselves and the communities we are a part of.
Learn more about the values of Defiant Therapy at this link.
The work done at Defiant Therapy by both therapist and client will lead to a world that is more connected, more inspired, and more diverse than the one that existed before that work was done.
Mission
As a worker-owned business, Defiant Therapy uses the autonomy provided by that ownership to create sustainable models for deep relational care of the clients who seek services at this practice. The service model of Defiant Therapy recognizes the dignity of both the client and the counselor, offering therapeutic services that are slower-paced, individualized, and systems-informed. At all levels, Defiant Therapy attempts to make space for alternative ideas of work and service provision, centering creativity and defiance to think and act differently than what might be expected.
Kitt Klassen, the worker-owner of Defiant Therapy, is a service provider focused on working with individuals, and sometimes families and relationships, to promote self-esteem and self-efficacy so that they can be more resilient, effective, and joyful in their lives and the roles they occupy in the world. Kitt co-creates space with clients to deeply explore personal narratives and situate those narratives within the collective patterns of the relational and cultural systems (both small and large) that we are a part of. The goal is not to be more functional, it is to be more connected – to ourselves, to others, and to the world around us.
Learn more about Kitt’s philosophy and approach to therapy at this link.
As each individual comes to recognize their unique impact on the world, they will see that the light they shine is inherently valuable, uplifting and illuminating themselves and everyone around them.
Vision
The vision of Defiant Therapy is defined by several core beliefs:
Our work in the world is to be more human – to create compassion-filled lives that are situated within a broader web of social and relational networks, and to work towards a web that can provide what is needed for all people and beings in the world.
Each person has a unique, creative, and inherently valuable perspective to offer the world, and this perspective deserves to be listened to with deep care and attention.
Individual human dignity can be upheld and sustained through relational care, and everyone deserves care.
We did not choose to be born, and we will all die – within these truths, we can see that our power lies in the choices we do have and make; our choices and the changes they bring about are inevitable opportunities to learn and make new choices.
A therapist is also a human being navigating the same human dilemmas and challenges as their clients (“we’re all turkeys in the same turkey soup,” as therapist Sue Johnson would say).