By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP
Beyond multiculturalism education and cultural competency, we discover a new phrase – that of decolonizing therapy. This important movement demands that we explore how we can begin to include the trauma of oppression within our healing and helping sessions and dismantle the often-unconscious structures of racism that permeate the field of mental health as we know it. This “decolonizing” trend is related to the larger decolonizing movement, which is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby a nation establishes and maintains its domination on overseas territories, and speaking up for social justice and inclusion. Within the educational context, for instance, this means confronting the colonizing practices that have influenced education in in the past, and which are still present today; in application, this would include diversifying materials and content, teach to learning outcomes that address power and social justice and design assessments that allow diverse students to demonstrate mastery in diverse ways.
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 By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP
One of our dearest illusions in the workings of the brain is the belief that, “It can’t happen here.” Too frequently, and in too many ways, we come to learn – actually experience – that it can indeed happen here. The latest place of this lesson is the medium-sized Midwestern city of Kenosha, Wis., which has been everywhere in the news because of what happened two weeks ago today. Sadly, the community is the place where Jacob Blake, an apparently unarmed Black man was shot seven times in the back at extremely close range by a police officer while Jacob's three children watched from the back seat of the car that their father was trying to enter.
By Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP
Today is Juneteenth, which celebrates the day in 1865 when enslaved black people in the United States won their freedom after centuries of uprisings and struggle. It is also a time to look more deeply into our nation's history. In these times, we are invited into challenging conversations about racism and white privilege and how they impact our lives, the health of our communities and the structure of our society. As a white human, a psychotherapist and an educator, I am committed to not only speaking out for justice and equality but also to examine my own hidden prejudices and blind spots, and I am encouraging others to examine their own. |
AuthorKaren Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP, is an author, trainer and psychotherapist who promotes, practices and teaches experiential methods including psychodrama, Family and Systemic Constellations, mindfulness and Tarot imagery. Archives
March 2023
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