Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice by Jennifer Mullan, PsyD

It’s no secret that the field of psychology was formed by Eastern European, older, white men, think Freud, Jung, Beck, Maslow, and Rogers. What is important is to contemplate and excavate the impacts this has made on the field of mental health. As Dr. Mullan writes, she’s a “critical lover of the field.” She challenges us therapists to ”elevate and evolve ‘our’ therapeutic consciousness.” We must work to unlearn, question, be curious, and inquire.

In her book, Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice Jennifer Mullan states that we must hold white supremacy accountable, she discusses how white supremacy disconnects us from our humanity. Race is a social construct that was first named in 1795. Racism is race prejudice plus power over another. White supremacy is the result of colonization.

Colonization is the violence of homeland separation, it takes away someone’s sense of connection and safety, it can create psychological and spiritual trauma, and dehumanizes people. It creates soul wounds, grief, and sacred rage (often connected to childhood).  In the field of psychology it shows up as:

1. Pathologizing clients, stress and lack of safety being labeled as “symptoms”

2. A mental health system that is ruled by capitalism

3. Providers having a rescue mentality

4. Session time limits

5. Providers allowed to offer little self-disclosure

6. “Treatment plans” putting provider as expert, disempowering clients

Mullan states that if we are not dismantling white supremacy, we are perpetuating it. Decolonization is about a return to “home.” Some of the tenets of the decolonial process include community, connection, creativity, sensuality, energetic boundaries, and practicing joy. Way to practice decolonization in your therapy include:

1. Asking about client migration stories

2. Exploring ancestral lineage and impacts

3. Taking a whole-person approach

4. Investment in healing, wellness, and harmony

5. Practice liberation focused psychotherapies

6. When you are someone with multiple privileged intersecting identities, listen more, talk less

This book was required reading as part of my Brainspotting Consultant-in-Training program. It starts off with a fiery energy that pulls you in, it’s confronting, and is a recommended read for those in the healing fields. After reading this book, I have a personal list of inquiries to work through, and action steps to help Coriander Living Collective (CLC) evolve. I need to process more the idea of “politicizing” my practice. I may be getting hung up on the term, but it is important for CLC to be a place of service to those of different beliefs and backgrounds. Here at CLC we believe in evolution, humanity, and ongoing learning. Questions? Reach out!