As a mental health professional, I have long been aware of the challenges inherent in mental health training—a field that, like much of Western psychology, often falls short of serving non-White populations. Decolonizing mental health training is essential to fostering inclusive, culture-centered, and socially just clinical practices in our professions. It’s time for us to critically examine the colonial legacies embedded in our various fields of practice and take actionable steps to dismantle them.
The Need for Decolonization in Mental Health
Colonial histories have profoundly shaped the field of mental health, influencing what is considered “normal,” “healthy,” or “sane.” Much of traditional mental health care is based upon European (or Western) values and worldviews. Thus, the foundations of our mental health disciplines were developed without regard to non-Western ways of knowing, often dismissing the rich psychological and healing traditions of Indigenous, African, Asian, Latino, and other non-European cultures. Consequently, many mainstream approaches to mental health view individuals and their struggles through a narrow lens, one that is often mismatched with the lived realities of marginalized populations.
This has led to what I call a “cultural misdiagnosis” of communities of color, in which behaviors, worldviews, and symptoms are misinterpreted through the biases of Eurocentric standards. For instance, Indigenous and African healing traditions emphasize collective wellness, spirituality, and the interconnectedness of mind, body, and environment—concepts that Western psychology has historically undervalued. Decolonizing mental health training is about expanding our approach, honoring these rich perspectives, and incorporating them into therapeutic practice.
Recognizing and Challenging Biases in Mental Health Training
A crucial aspect of decolonizing mental health training involves recognizing and challenging our own biases as practitioners. Many of us have been trained in programs prioritizing Western models, which tend to pathologize difference rather than embrace diversity. This creates an environment where culturally specific expressions of trauma or coping mechanisms are misunderstood and where practitioners may unknowingly perpetuate harm.
Decolonizing mental health training means committing to self-reflection and self-critique and actively seeking educational opportunities to expand our knowledge of diverse cultures and healing practices. This process requires humility as we recognize the limitations of our training and our need to grow to serve our clients equitably.
Embracing Culture-centered Approaches
A decolonized approach to mental health training must prioritize culturally centered, community-based approaches to healing. This involves:
Acquiring Knowledge About Culture-centered Theories: The first step in decolonizing our practices is learning about psychological theories outside the Eurocentric framework. Thus, learning about the various African-centered, Latino-centered, Asian-centered, and Indigenous Ways of Knowing (IWOK) theories is crucial. These theoretical frameworks are absent from our conventional training programs, with a few exceptions.
Integrating Non-Western Healing Practices: Many Indigenous cultures practice healing through ceremonies, storytelling, and communal gatherings that are profoundly therapeutic but often dismissed in Western training programs. Integrating these practices into therapy, when requested and culturally appropriate, can make the therapeutic experience more meaningful for clients from these backgrounds.
Validating Spirituality in Healing: Spirituality plays a significant role in mental wellness across many cultures, but it is often overlooked in Western psychology. A decolonized approach recognizes the importance of spirituality. It integrates it into the therapeutic framework, respecting clients’ beliefs and allowing them to draw on spiritual resources as a foundation for healing.
Community-Based Interventions: Many non-Western communities emphasize the role of family and community in individual well-being. This sharply contrasts Western models, which often focus on individualism and independence. Decolonized mental health practices must incorporate community-based interventions emphasizing interdependence, relationship building, and collective care.
Shifting the Curriculum: The Importance of Context and History
Our mental health training programs should be as diverse as the communities we serve, embracing cross-cultural competence as a core value. This involves restructuring curricula to include the history and impact of colonization, racism, and systemic inequity on mental health. When students learn about historical trauma, the transgenerational impact of slavery, or the role of systemic racism in creating mental health disparities, they are better equipped to understand and support clients who live with the legacy of these forces.
Decolonizing mental health training also means ensuring students are taught by a diverse faculty who can bring varied perspectives to the field. This creates an environment where diversity of thought is accepted and celebrated. It also challenges students to step outside their comfort zones, question their assumptions, and explore unfamiliar perspectives.
The Ethical Responsibility of Mental Health Professionals
Decolonizing mental health is not just a professional responsibility but an ethical one. As practitioners, we must recognize the power dynamics inherent in the therapeutic relationship and strive to create spaces where clients feel safe, respected, and valued. Working with a decolonized practitioner can be a transformative experience for clients from marginalized backgrounds, validating their identity, affirming their cultural values, and allowing them to heal on their own terms.
To ethically serve our clients, mental health professionals must actively reject practices and policies contributing to cultural erasure or misrepresentation. This is particularly vital for professionals who work with communities affected by intergenerational trauma, as we are responsible for preventing further harm and advocating for social justice within our field.
Moving Forward: Building a Decolonized Framework
Decolonizing mental health training is a complex, ongoing process that requires collective action from educators, students, practitioners, and policymakers. We must build programs that move beyond a “one-size-fits-all” approach to healing and instead celebrate the nuances of human experience. This will mean diversifying educational materials, inviting practitioners and scholars from marginalized communities to shape curricula, and creating practicum opportunities that allow students to work with diverse populations in culturally relevant ways.
For me, decolonizing mental health training is transforming the field and fostering a new generation of practitioners who see their work as a means of liberation. This is a vision in which mental health care does not impose colonial frameworks but instead respects and uplifts all communities' voices, traditions, and wellness practices. By doing so, we create a field that honors the humanity of every individual, enabling us to serve more effectively and equitably.
Let us commit to decolonizing mental health training—both in the classroom and beyond—to create a field rooted in justice, empathy, and cultural humility. This is not only our duty as practitioners; it is our privilege. Our clients and communities deserve nothing less.
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