CC4C is a container for navigating your relationships in political organizing and mediating disputes among politically engaged partnerships. Unlike traditional psychotherapy options that are designed for romantic partnerships and run by a mental health professional or therapist, this offering is for political partnerships and organizing teams (2-5 people) who are attempting to get to the heart of their (mis)alignments on values, vision, or strategy.

I’m not a licensed therapist; I bring systems thinking, organizing knowledge, and mediation and facilitation experience to this work to help you and your political partners sort through your sources of tension and build stronger relationships that can be a foundation for your actions and goals.

We do this through a series of virtual meetings. You’ll start by having a member of your group or collective submit an interest form for us to work together, describing the nature of the work that you’d like to do, and if that aligns with the CC4C mission, we’ll start with a consult call to assess your goals and whether I can genuinely help with the issues you’re confronting.

If we choose to work together, we’ll meet virtually for at least 4 sessions. We’ll map out the nature of the conflict you’re experiencing, gather perspectives from all partners, develop tools for navigating the issues at hand, and build a plan of action together. Our meetings can continue as long as all parties feel that the container remains useful toward the aim of negotiating the issues of interest.

While everyone’s consent and active participation is necessary to engage in this group work, individuals from within a group are also welcome to set up their own times for political mentorship outside the CC4C container if they need additional support.

👋 Hi I’m Sirus and I personally facilitate all of these sessions. I have over a decade of experience helping people across all levels of education and at all different stages of their journeys hone in on their political ideals, philosophies, and practices. I have experience facilitating interpersonal conflicts, academic and philosophical debates and workshops, and organizational strategy sessions across the public and private sectors, as well as in academia, and I’ve mediated and guided individuals and groups across a wide range of topics—from race, gender, and class through to technological preferences and institutional strategy. You can read more about my experience and credentials on the about page.

Throughout our work together, we’ll explore and articulate the contours of your presenting political issue, map its influence on and role in your relational dynamic, and develop a structure for communicating and negotiating your relationship in light of the political lens you’ve presented with.

I bring a listening ear and a macro-structural lens to each session and each set of relationships. What that means in practice is:

• I don’t exist only to validate perspectives, or to pronounce any one person or point of view “right” versus “wrong.” I aim to invite and inventory all the dimensions of the conflict or focus of discussion, and make sure that each perspective is heard. I also work to situate each perspective within a power dynamic—examining where that perspective comes from and how it manifests for each person involved.

• I am not the magical provider of solutions. You may or may not “resolve” a conflict or find a path toward reconciliation in these sessions, but I aim to provide a container for you to explore the nature of the tension, and to build skills to communicate and work through how and whether your relationship will evolve in the context of the political issue(s) you bring. I may recommend or help brainstorm possible “solutions” to substantive disagreements, but no one involved is obligated to implement any of these suggestions.

• I am not a neutral party or quiet observer. I exist outside of your relationship and conflict, so I can provide an external perspective and reflection for each person involved in the conversation, but I also aim to challenge perspectives and provide additional nuance, context, or synthesis. If you are familiar with NVC methods or other styles of mediation, you may find this approach more solutions-forward and less removed.

CC4C is designed for partnerships: whether you’re a duo within a larger organizing team, or a collective attempting to find a common set of values and voice, this offering can adapt to meet your needs.

CC4C is specifically designed for political partnerships. This isn’t couples therapy that addresses romantic or sexual dynamics, nor is it psychotherapy that addresses clinical mental health needs for the involved parties. While those issues may also be at play, this offering is targeted toward addressing tensions, disputes, or moments of missing clarity in political partnerships.

Here are some examples of issues that might be a good fit for CC4C:

• You and a close friend have suddenly discovered you don’t see eye-to-eye on a political issue and you need to work through that disagreement with some facilitation.

• You’re part of a group putting on a Pride event, and some members want a city permit and police presence while others don’t.

• Your organizing team wants to offer a BIPOC-only scholarships for an event, and while some members favor means-testing (e.g., requiring an application, requiring proof of financial hardship), others prefer open qualification.

• Your group did a really successful action! But now you need to do a post-mortem that addresses some problematic behavior, microaggressions, or disagreements that arose in the organizing process.

This offering is not intended as a substitute for professional mental health counseling or clinical support for mental, emotional, or physical health needs.

This offering is also not appropriate when all parties are not willing and engaged partners in the conversation. If your group or organization requires third-party mediation as part of a restorative justice process, please note this in your intake before we get started. If you are not able to participate alongside your organizing partners or agree to joint participation, any individual party is welcome to get 1:1 political peer mentorship in order to move forward with their own work.

Probably not. If you’re a community leader, space owner, or someone in a position of responsibility attempting to deal with feedback that someone in your circles is perpetrating harm, you deserve support for that acute need. If you’re someone who has been on the receiving end of harm in your political organizing space or community, you also deserve support and may have specific needs for care.

Under some circumstances, these issues might be able to be addressed as part of CC4C, but more often they are better addressed elsewhere. Find out more about ways I can support you and reach out with any questions.

All of my offerings operate with tiered pricing and/or sliding scale to increase financial access. Prices below reflect the total price for all participants.

Even though CC4C is a group offering, each individual can decide the rate that fits their means, and some participants may choose to subsidize others’ participation. All pricing is also offered with no-fee/no-interest installment payment options.

Single Sessions (for 2-4 people):

• Supportive: $450 for 90 minutes

• Sustaining: $400 for 90 minutes

• Solidarity: $350 for 90 minutes

Single sessions are rarely the appropriate container for this type of work.

For a more structured and sustainable approach, I offer a 4-session package (90 minute sessions) for groups of 2-4 people.

4-Session Package:

• Supportive Tier: $1750

• Sustaining Tier: $1600

• Solidarity Tier: $1450

For groups of >5 people, please note this in your intake form and we will discuss customized pricing.

Question not answered here? Feel free to reach out directly or fill out an intake form including your question and I’ll get back to you ASAP. If you’d like, you can also schedule a FREE consult call to discuss face-to-face.