Radical Love —
The Heartbeat of YAI Wellness
Promoting Cultural Humility and Co-Creating Spaces For Accountability
Coined by Dr. Ana IrazÁbal de SÁnchez in her groundbreaking doctoral research and in developing the ‘Embodiment of a Decolonial Therapist Framework,’ ™ Radical Love is the heartbeat of our approach to mental health and wellness. It is more than an ideal. It is an active, embodied commitment to seeing, honoring, and healing the whole person (Heart, Body, Mind, and Spirit)—especially within the context of power, culture, and community.
Radical Love is a decolonial value, a clinical stance, and a sacred practice.
It challenges the belief that care must be earned or that healing must be neat and joyful.
It invites us to center presence over perfection, truth over politeness, and connection over performance.
At YAI, Radical Love means you do not have to shrink to be supported
What is Radical Love?
This is not just therapy. This is support that liberates.
WHY RADICAL LOVE MATTERS IN CLINICAL PRACTICE
In a world shaped by coloniality, many mental health spaces unconsciously reinforce silence, urgency, and disconnection - specially for those navigating family expansion.
Radical Love offers a counter-practice rooted in:
Cultural humility over clinical neutrality
Truth-telling and story sharing as a path to healing
Ancestral wisdom honored as a valid and essential knowledge
“Radical Love in mental healthcare is not just a therapeutic tool; it is a radical act of healing. It challenges the colonial structures that have historically shaped mental health practices and demands that we create spaces of cultural humility and accountability. This model invites us to honor the fullness of each person’s humanity, especially those who have been dehumanized by systemic forces. In this context, therapy becomes an act of collective liberation,.”
— Dr. Ana Irazábal de Sánchez
Name emotions like grief and joy through times of transformation without guilt or shame.
Stay connected through rupture and repair
Hold space for emotions that do not fit neat narratives
Create family stories rooted in dignity, not domination
Radical Love In Times of Family Expansion
Family expansion brings joy, grief, the full breath of the human experience when it comes to emotions. It expands our identity with massive identity shifts and ancestral echoes. Radical Love becomes essential in these moments. As essential as breathing - not simply self care.
It helps us:
Developed by Dr. Ana Irazábal de Sánchez, DSW, LCSW, PMH-C
Embodiment of a Decolonial Therapist Framework™
What if therapy wasn’t just about symptom relief—but about remembering who you are, where you come from, and what is possible when healing is rooted in truth, connection, and collective care?
The Embodiment of a Decolonial Therapist Framework™ is the heart of my practice and the foundation of everything I offer. It was created to move us beyond systems that ask us to "fit in" and instead toward practices inviting us to come home to our knowing, bodies, and communities.
This model draws from Indigenous worldviews across Abya Yala, Latin American philosophies, and decolonial thinkers who remind us that Western models of care often erase the ancestral, the communal, and the sacred. Inspired by the Tiwanaku gathering in Bolivia (2024) and the "Three Hearts" principle, this framework sees healing as rooted in the Mind (knowing), Body (being), Heart (valuing/acting), and Spirit (relating and connection to all things).
At The Heart:
This model doesn’t ask us to abandon science or training—it asks us to expand it. It invites practitioners and clients alike to:
- Ground therapy in cultural wisdom and ancestral care
- Center dignity and relational truth in the healing process
- Reclaim the sacred nature of therapy as a space for liberation
Radical Love
At the Heart of this model is Radical Love — a clinical and cultural commitment to show up with care that is honest, embodied, and in a deep relationship. Through Radical Love, the therapist centers and assists the client in cultivating:
- Reciprocity: Care that flows in mutual, accountable exchange
- Relationality: Healing that happens with, not to
- Solidarity: Standing beside others in resistance and resilience
- Hope: A future imagined and built together
“This isn’t just a method — this is a lived, ethical, and embodied approach to care.”
-Dr. Irazábal de Sánchez
For Professionals & Communities
for clients
If you’re looking for a space where your authenticity is welcome—your story, your lineage, your grief, your joy—this framework is the foundation that holds it. YAI is here to support your process with tools that honor your spirit, not just your symptoms.
Dr. Irazábal de Sánchez offers trainings, workshops, and talks on the Embodiment of a Decolonial Therapist Framework ™ for clinicians, educators, and community healers. Together, we explore how to decolonize our practices and co-create care that honors our humanity.
