Clinician? Wanting more information on the BIPOC experience that is therapeutically focused? I thought y'all would never ask.

I’ve been getting texts about this…since decolonizing therapy is kinda my thing.

(And when I say kinda my thing, I mean, in my dissertation I wasn’t allowed to call counselors “false prophets of mental health” in conjunction with how indigenous peoples experience Western therapy…don’t worry, I slid in the idea sideways and got the dean to finally sign off).

And the texts are asking about clinical reads. Like “What were those books you are always yelling that people should read?”

And since ‘FUCKING ALL OF THEM” is not an appropriate answer, here are a few ideas to get you started:

My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menaken, MSW, LICSW, SEP (Have you ever highlighted more than you left unhighlighted when reading a book? Yep, this is one of those. The somatically based exercises made it extra relevant to my work, it’s fantastic.)

Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome by Dr. Joy Degruy (Dr. Degruy did research for over a decade before creating the theory shared in this book and I don’t even know how yellycaps I need to be in order to get you to read it.)

Native American Postcolonial Psychology by Eduardo Duran and Bonnie Duran (This book is older….but still an incredible classic and I cited it on like every other page in my own dissertation).

Understanding Indigenous Perspectives: Visions, Dreams, and Hallucinations by Gayle Morse and Vicky Loman (Ok, I contributed a chapter to this book…but it’s academic so I don’t make shit off you buying it. I included it because it’s the first academic psychology book where every contributing author is an indigneous academic or elder. And that didn’t happen until 2020, and only because it was spearheaded by the Society of Indian Psycholgists).

Toward Psycholgies of Liberation by Helene Shulman and Mary Watkins (Speaking of my dissertation….it was epigentic indigneous trauma. And the data I was collecting led me to this book…I had to stop and read all the liberation theory I could find so I could more fully undestand what people were telling me.)

…then once you read Shulman and Watkins and you are properly radicalized, I’d suggest going back to THEIR source works which include Ingacio Martin-Baro and Paulo Friere.

And if you really want to ensure you will never get tenure? Read Tuck & Yang’s 2012 journal article “Decolonization Is Not A Metaphor.” and talk about it incessantly.

Welcome to the revolution, my badasses.