Being a Therapist at This Moment in Our Global History
I come to this work from the radical acknowledgment that, as a species, we are in desperate need of epistemologies and worldviews (i.e., ways of knowing and navigating) that center interconnectedness and ecological belonging. Western psychology contributes some very helpful tools in working through focused issues and problems. This can be extraordinarily helpful. However, in my experience, mainstream Western psychology is not as helpful when it comes to leaning in with the radical acknowledgment that we, as a species, actually do not have the answers to the cataclysmic challenges that are on the horizon for the planet. Why is this the case? Quite simply it is because the origin story of mainstream Western psychology is deeply entangled with legacies of colonization that have sought to eradicate Indigenous ways of knowing the world over. Not only is there a profound reckoning to be made for these legacies, but there is a need for humble admission the we have cut ourselves off from ways of knowing and belonging that could make a profound difference to our Earth home.
The Circle, Kinship Worldview
Fifteen years ago, I was a first-year graduate student in counseling psychology. On a regular basis, I teetered on the verge of dropping out of school. While my studies were interesting, there was an unavoidable ache in my soul. I knew that what I was studying didn't reflect the depths of what I knew to be true in the world around me.
By a series of synchronicities and answered prayers to my ancestors, I stumbled into a community of Indigenous and Chicanx elders in Austin, TX who were organized under the name Alma de Mujer (soul of woman). They took me under their wings, and without my even understanding what was happening, they started to work on me, mentor me, and model for me a way of being that I would never learn in the books. In short, they set about to help me decolonize and reclaim the Indigenous ways of knowing of my ancestors.
By a series of synchronicities and answered prayers to my ancestors, I stumbled into a community of Indigenous and Chicanx elders in Austin, TX who were organized under the name Alma de Mujer (soul of woman). They took me under their wings, and without my even understanding what was happening, they started to work on me, mentor me, and model for me a way of being that I would never learn in the books. In short, they set about to help me decolonize and reclaim the Indigenous ways of knowing of my ancestors.
Visiting Madre del Mundo at Alma de Mujer, Austin, TX.
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My elders at Alma introduced me to a kincentric system of knowledge, a kinship worldview,* that brings humans down to size. From this approach, humans are not unimportant, but they have their place alongside the rest of creation: plants, animals, fungi, the land in all forms, the elements, ancestors, descendants, everything seen and unseen, the cosmos. Everything constituting a sacred circle of dynamic interdependency. Knowledge not being limited to the cognitive mind. Knowledge not being something that is individually owned but collectively held and cultivated. Personhood not being limited to the human. From this dynamic lifeworld, humans are not alone, nor burdened with needing to have answers for everything. The exact opposite is real.
I centered my entire dissertation on a collaborative dialogue with my elders at Alma de Mujer. We talked about their histories, their stories, and their passion for reclaiming and recentering Indigenous ways of knowing and healing at this time on the planet. I wrote about what our community elders have to teach Western psychology and how we, as therapists, might lean into ways of knowing that honor deep roots of healing on the planet. |
You can read about my time learning from the community of elders at Alma de Mujer in Austin, TX. Their history and my own journey with them as a psychologist is the heart of my dissertation, which you can download here:
Con Alma: Dialogues in Decolonizing Counseling
Con Alma: Dialogues in Decolonizing Counseling
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*For an introduction to the Kinship Worldview, see the collaborative work by Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows) and Darcia Narvaez, Ph.D., Restoring the Kinship Worldview: Indigenous Voices Introduce 28 Precepts for Rebalancing Life on Planet Earth.
There is a field of unimaginable belonging beckoning to us.
