What does it mean to decolonize therapy?
“Decolonize” is a word I see a lot these days and it is thrown around with other words to mean a whole lot of different things so I want to take the time to explain what it means to me and the work I do in my therapy space. This is written for those who may be new to these terms and/or those who are already familiar with the concept but want to hear how it actually shows up in our work together.
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Simply put, to decolonize therapy is to rethink the mental health industry and bring it outside the confines of western, Eurocentric ideas of healing and wellness/wholeness. To do that, we have to understand the roots of colonization and how it has shown up in the ways we understand mental health and healing. While I hold the truth that the entire system of the mental health industry itself should be dismantled and that we deserve to imagine new systems of healing that are sustainable, regenerative and accessible to all, I also hold the truth that western therapy can be utilized as a harm reduction strategy while we work towards the bigger goal. People are hurting now as a result of systemic injustice and oppression and for many, therapy is an accessible way to feel better and get back to one’s agency and power. And so I continue to work within this system as a way to serve the people and meet them in their pain while we figure out how to create new systems of healing and health.
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We know that much of traditional western psychology were largely developed by white, Western men whose frameworks largely reflected individualism and pathology-based models. This means that most mental health professionals excluded/demonized indigenous/non-western approaches that are often community-based, land-based, and body-based ways to heal distress. And so in our work together, we center these approaches that have long been dismissed by the industry in favor of “evidence-based practices.” I use bottom-up approaches as a primary way to process and explore the hard things in our work together and I weave top-down approaches where needed. This is the integrative nature of the work I am drawn to do. This also means that as a therapist, I bring my whole self to sessions including my ancestral gifts, wisdom and ways of being that are outside the western practices.
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To decolonize therapy is to also address any power, privilege and oppression at play not just in the client’s life but also in the therapeutic relationship where they may exist. We name and explore the ways the systems have shaped our lives and the therapeutic space we are in and we work towards social justice and liberation. This means we rethink our relationship with the systems of harm and we reimagine ways to create systems of care in the client’s life and in the therapeutic space. This can look like diving into community and looking into cultural and ancestral resources that may be available to the client. This also looks like challenging the normative stance of a clinician’s neutrality as well as humanizing the therapist and bringing down that wall that separates us as therapist/client when possible and beneficial. It means I do not take the stance of expert. We create the therapeutic relationship collaboratively and reciprocally as much as is possible.
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There is so much more we can explore about this topic - but I want to focus on these things that I want to prioritize in the therapeutic space at the moment as I learn how to practice this with integrity and authenticity. I acknowledge that using the word “decolonize” without supporting the land back movements/indigenous sovereignty where we are situated dilutes the actual point of the work and so in this spirit, I am committed to supporting initiatives for and by the Suquamish people, who are the original stewards of the land I live in as well as other related work that I feel inspired to support.
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I take the stance of growing and learning together. Making space for each other’s journey with as much as compassion and care as we are able to is how we heal and do this work together.