Format: Self-paced / asynchronous program
Engage with this recorded program on your schedule.
CE: 1.5 CEs total, read for more information on CEs
Fee: $35, read for more information on fees and scholarships
Description: Western Eurocentric paradigms of mental health historically and presently wield incredible power in mental health research, conceptualization, and treatment. This power has unfortunately contributed to the continued subjugation of marginalized communities, specifically in its ability to pathologize the cultural behaviors of minoritized people. This results in research which: re-victimizes and overgeneralizes people’s experiences; produces practices that are “normed” on Western Eurocentric values on health and identity and thus harmful to communities of color; and creates policies that negatively impact minoritized communities whose voices are not centered in the research process. Recent studies within the mental health care field strive to reckon with the colonial legacy of mental health research and treatment by proposing decolonial approaches to therapy. During this presentation, participants will explore the theoretical basis for the timeliness and necessity of adopting a decolonial approach to mental health treatment and research. Furthermore, participants will discuss the significance of applying decolonial approaches to therapy and explore the use of somatics and embodiment as decolonial tools in the therapeutic process.
Trainer: Asia Tonja Marie Amos, Ph.D.
Dr. A.T.M. is a rootworker, Afrofantasy storyteller, Pleasure Activist, and witness of the human experience. She received her B.A. in Psychology and Medicine, Health, and Society from Vanderbilt University in 2013, and her M.Ed. in Human Development in 2017 from Vanderbilt University. She completed her doctoral studies at The University of Memphis in Counseling Psychology in 2022 and obtained a graduate certificate in Qualitative Studies in Educational Research. Dr. ATM is passionate about decolonizing psychology and approaches therapy through an integrative feminist/womanist and liberational framework. She runs her private practice Trauma Alchemy Therapy in North Carolina where she provides integrative trauma-informed services rooted in science and soul.
Learning Objectives:
- At the end of the training participants will be able to:
- Define two decolonial approaches to therapy
- Identify three applied practices of decolonial approaches to therapy
- Integrate two embodied somatic practices as decolonial tools in their therapeutic approach
References:
- Adams, G., Dobles, I., Gómez, L. H., Kurtiş, T., & Molina, L. E. (2015). Decolonizing Psychological Science: Introduction to the Special Thematic Section. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 3(1), 213-238. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v3i1.564
- Collins, C. R., Kohfeldt, D., & Kornbluh, M. (2020). Psychological and political liberation: Strategies to promote power, wellness, and liberation among anti-racist activists. Journal of community psychology, 48(2), 369–386. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22259
- French, B. H., Lewis, J. A., Mosley, D. V., Adames, H. Y., Chavez-Dueñas, N. Y., Chen, G. A., & Neville, H. A. (2020). Toward a Psychological Framework of Radical Healing in Communities of Color. The Counseling Psychologist, 48(1), 14–46. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000019843506
- Grzanka, P. R., Gonzalez, K. A., & Spanierman, L. B. (2019). White Supremacy and Counseling Psychology: A Critical–Conceptual Framework. The Counseling Psychologist, 47(4), 478–529. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000019880843
- Kurtiş, T., & Adams, G. (2015). Decolonizing Liberation: Toward a Transnational Feminist Psychology. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 3(1), 388-413. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v3i1.326
- Maldonado-Torres N. (2018.) Frantz Fanon and the decolonial turn in psychology: from modern/colonial methods to the decolonial attitude. South African Journal of Psychology, 47(4):432-441. doi:10.1177/0081246317737918
UNC Chapel Hill – Clinical Lecture Series Programs