Tell us about yourself!
My name is Maret Banks, my parents found my name in a newspaper and decided to keep the spelling so that I had to correct people constantly to build character, i’d say it worked! I moved to Oregon in 2021 and fell in love with the mountains and the ocean. I just became a licensed professional counselor, and am now working towards certification to become a psychedelic-assisted therapy practitioner, and trauma-informed co-occurring counselor. This is a really fancy way of saying that I will provide therapy that addresses BOTH mental health and substance use, with or without the help of psychedelic-assisted therapy.
What excites you?
Seeing Renaissance in real-time. We live in an incredibly creative and artful time in history where people are exploring their skills and finding their purpose. Watching the signs of growth and resilience that came from the past two years. Despite everything, we are growing and it’s beautiful to see it.
How are you working to help decolonize efforts around addressing sexual violence?
In my therapy practice, I work with youth and teens to teach them about autonomy, boundaries, and healthy relationships through culture and art. Many youth grow up without cultural knowledge and traditional teachings, I bring in cultural education, elders, and community support to help make changes in the way that they treat themselves, and each other. My hope is that, as they grow up, they will have the emotional awareness to identify harmful behavior, and align themselves with our movements to stop violence in all forms. The healthier our babies’ hearts are, the more love they feel and reciprocate, the less violence we will have in our communities. Bringing them back to culture and community allows them to feel seen, supported, and loved in ways that non-cultural programs cannot offer.
Anything else you’d like to share or let folks know?
I truly feel that we are entering a time in our prophecies that allows us to notice the ways in which we have become lost, misdirected, or hidden from traditional ways. We are making hard decisions to push back and challenge harmful cycles that we see in communities, or even in our own families. These decisions include looking inward, which requires a tremendous amount of courage. I am hoping to use harm reduction, psychedelic therapy, and trauma work to give people the room and space that they need to look at themselves and the people they love, to find the teachings that they need to return to the medicine wheel