Decolonial Therapy

What is therapy?! We think and talk about this all the time at hella good. We know that psychotherapy is “the treatment of disorders found in the DSM” - but what if we’re critical of the DSM? What if we believe that “symptoms” are actually a normal part of human diversity and most often a response to the environments, systems, and relationships we exist within? What are we “treating” in an individual if we believe the pathology causing distress lies not in the individual, but in a lack of balance or harmony or justice in those environments, systems, and relationships? 

We got into the field to help - to use our strengths in service of healing, yet we found that “treating” individual distress felt like a band-aid, or a game of whack-a-mole, because we weren't changing the conditions for which the distress/symptoms were a warning bell. 

So now we approach therapy, less as the treatment of symptoms, and more as the healing of wounds caused by the interconnected systems of power that shape our world and ultimately disconnect us from our nature. We approach therapy as though all humans are naturally whole, and the goal is to reconnect to that wholeness. 

We use the language of anti-colonial or decolonize as an umbrella term for non-indigenous ways of existing in the world that disconnect humans from our interdependence with one another and with nature. It’s an umbrella term to describe supremacy culture, individualism, capitalism, extraction, all the isms and phobias that create false categories (racism, homophobia, etc), power over, accumulation, conditional belonging, and right or wrong/us and them thinking. We work hard to investigate the ways colonization is impacting our lives and the lives of our clients as a way to divest from systems that harm individuals and the collective. 

If you have questions or are interviewing therapists to ensure they are a good fit for you and your values - check out our therapists below and schedule a free consultation to dig into it with us!