Guest Post by Adriana Stetson

As an aspiring psychologist and mentee of Dr. Brazaitis, I’ve been fortunate to receive her guidance as I begin my journey into the field. This guest post is a reflection rooted in my personal experience reading Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice by Dr. Jennifer Mullan — a book Dr. Brazaitis recommended — and what it means to become a psychotherapist within, and beyond, a colonized mental health system.

Finding Home. What does that mean? What is home? Who is home? Why does it matter?

A few months ago, I found myself browsing the psychology section at my local bookstore when I came across a title made familiar to me by Dr. Brazaitis. She had spoken about it numerous times before, calling it a must-read, especially for aspiring psychologists like me who are looking for a framework that puts humanity at the forefront of the conversation. I picked up Decolonizing Therapy, only to find myself 45 minutes later, teary-eyed and determined.

Why Decolonizing Therapy Resonated So Deeply

Over a decade ago, my Salvadoran mother became very ill. She was experiencing debilitating gastroenterological symptoms that not even the most renowned institutions could explain. I watched as she was passed from one specialist to another, often being gaslit in the process — told it was all in her head, and if she just put on some weight (usually followed by a suggestion to drink a protein shake), she’d be fine. At the same time that her body was telling her “enough is enough”, I was at the age where curiosity about my mother’s upbringing was kicking in. She had grown up during the brutal Salvadoran Civil War — a conflict deeply fueled by the legacy of colonial beliefs and structures: land theft, racial hierarchy, cultural erasure. The more I learned, the more her symptoms began to make sense. Her body wasn’t just “sick”; it was carrying unspoken generations of pain. Years later, I found myself reading a book about the mind-body connection, and it solidified my desire to become a psychotherapist. So when I found Decolonizing Therapy that day in the bookstore, I hadn’t expected to be so moved, or to gain insight into questions I didn’t even know I had — about identity, power, our past, present, and future. About healing, not just as an individual, but as a collective society. A community. In that quiet corner of the store, I realized that my mission — to become a psychotherapist — has the power to be a radical act of justice.

Navigating Graduate School as a Future Therapist

But here’s my biggest question since reading Decolonizing Therapy: How are we able to honor Dr. Jennifer Mullan’s teachings and instruction while abiding by a schooling process that is still rooted in colonization? For those unfamiliar, becoming a psychotherapist requires a formal graduate education that typically spans anywhere from two to eight years. These programs are often grounded in Western, Eurocentric models, designed to treat rather than heal. As a student entering this field, I can’t help but wonder: What does it mean to train inside a system I hope to change?

“There’s no such thing as neutral education. Education either functions as an instrument to bring about conformity or freedom.” – Dr. Jennifer Mullan, quote from Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice

This is daunting. It’s daunting to know that we devote a large part of our lives and the beginning of our careers as psychotherapists to learning a way of doing things that doesn’t always put humanity and healing at the forefront. However, as an optimist who believes good things take due time, I have hope, especially for the field of psychology. I believe that the majority of aspiring psychologists want to have a positive impact on the human experience, and when given the right tools rather than weapons, can do just that, for their clients but also themselves. So, where do we begin?

While reading Decolonizing Therapy, I couldn’t help but feel perplexed by the work that needs to be done (and undone) to evolve into the type of society and community I like to think most of us want to be a part of. The word “evolve,” however, is antithetical to any sort of fast change or quick fix. Evolution takes years, decades, centuries, millennia, to become fully-fledged, and even then, who’s to say it’s fully fledged? Evolution is ongoing. Decolonizing Therapy is a manifesto to join a conscious evolution, knowing that as we have harmed and been harmed, we have the capacity to evolve beyond cycles of harm, both those we inflict and those we endure. 

“Metabolizing big ideas and emotional realities doesn’t necessarily happen all at once; but, when we honor the process and make it our practice to continually ask these questions over and over again, change inevitably happens within and around us.” – Dr. Jennifer Mullan, Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice

Now, what can be done with this knowledge? What can actually be done? I ask myself this question often when reading the news these days. I don’t think I’m alone when I say I feel helpless when hearing about events – war, natural disasters, disease, accidents – occurring hundreds of miles away, with what feels like no tangible way of making a difference. When thinking about the Mental Health Industrial Complex (MHIC) and how ingrained it is in our health care system, I feel that same sort of helplessness. But Decolonizing Therapy has reminded me that change is possible, even if it begins at the molecular level.

The Power of Returning Home

The instruction that resonated the deepest with me from Decolonizing Therapy was the invitation to find home, meaning, understanding oneself beyond just our current state. Where do we come from? Who do we come from? What history came before us? What did our ancestors sacrifice for us? What pain did they inflict on others? What pain was inflicted on them? Connecting with the parts of us that came before the body we currently reside in is necessary, as Dr. Jennifer Mullan puts it, in “truly deconstructing the colonizer within” (Mullan, 2021).

“This work also highlights the need to return back Home: to our ancestry, to many of our practices, our medicines, our native tongues, and our communal ways of thriving, while reconfiguring and integrating these practices into the present and future.” – Dr. Jennifer Mullan, Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice

The way I interpret this – the need to return home and the power in doing that work – is the same way I interpret the importance of loving oneself before being able to love someone else. Returning home is not just a nostalgic longing; it is an act of healing and reclaiming oneself. It’s about understanding who we are at our root, not just as individuals but as interconnected beings shaped by the land and people that came before us. Just as self-love provides the foundation for deeper connection with others, honoring one’s history expands our ability to engage with others compassionately and as our truest selves. I take Mullan’s call to action – returning home – as the most impactful way we can be a part of this conscious evolution. 

As I move forward on this path — toward graduate school, toward clinical work — I’ll carry Dr. Mullan’s teachings with me, always aiming to continue moving closer to home rather than further from it. Just as Dr. Brazaitis invited me to pick up this book, I invite you, aspiring psychologists, healers, clinicians, those seeking healing… to sharpen your edge, disarm your lexicon, and join Dr. Mullan in decolonizing therapy.