Change is Coming: An Open Letter to Our Community

To our clients, community, and stakeholders:

We recognize and acknowledge that we have made a mistake. It has been brought to our attention that our business name, Modern Tribe Counseling, is not ok. We could sit here and explain how we chose it, what it represents, what our experience as business owners are as it relates to the name, but that is the exact opposite of the behavior we believe is productive when being called in to reflect on our choices and how they impact others, especially those who have been marginalized and oppressed.

Instead we apologize for our use of the word tribe when naming our business. We acknowledge that use of this word by business owners who are white with no lineage to tribal nations from any land, regardless of the lineage, ethnicity or race of our team members, is a form of appropriation. We are grateful to the individuals who called us in and to those black and indigenous members of our shared communities who consensually engaged us in discussion, providing emotional labor and directing us towards resources, assisting us to understand the impact the use of this word has on others.

Our next step is to begin the process of changing the business name. As you can imagine this is no small undertaking but we are committed to complete this task in the tightest timeline possible. Our primary goals for this process are to ensure that none of the costs associated with this process impact our clients and that the name we choose accurately reflects our mission statement: To promote access to quality behavioral healthcare for individuals who identify as part of a gender, sexuality or relationship structure minority.

We believe transparency is key when developing or regaining trust so as we achieve steps in the business plan we will keep you posted on our blog. Updates will be posted to our Facebook, Instagram and blog page on our website. We hope you will follow along and help support as we go through this process.

We know this action to be the right action and we will move as swiftly as possible. We ask our BIPOC friends and supporters for your patience and our white friends and supporters to help spread the word about the changes we are making so that the business name transition is as smooth as possible. As many of you know, in this business word of mouth is everything and Modern Tribe Counseling as become familiar to many, not only in Georgia but around the nation, as a place that provides quality behavioral health care to: All identities. All genders. All relationships. All people.

We hope you will continue to support us and help our business grow so that we can help others.

Signed,

Nickie Fuentes, MS LPC, LMHC, CPCS, NCC, CCMHC

Kelley Bennett