Decolonizing Mental Health Delivery with Melody Li (Part 2, Episode 228)
Description
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Discomfort is a necessary part of liberating ourselves from patriarchal and white supremacist ideology
Art by Nisha K. Sethi
This is part two of a two-part series with the founder of Inclusive Therapists, Melody and TU Co-host, Sue Marriott. This episode features challenging yet important conversations on active anti-racist practices, exploration of oppression, and dismantling whiteness in mental health structures. Melody emphasizes the need for white clinicians to examine their own complicity in upholding oppressive systems and to listen to and center the experiences of marginalized communities. They also highlight the interconnectedness of healing and the power of collective liberation through rehumanizing.
“…if I uphold a system that I know is dehumanizing someone, I become less human myself.” – Melody Li, LMFT (they/佢)
About our Guest – Melody Li, LMFT (they/佢)
Time Stamps for Decolonizing the Mental Health System (Part 2)
2:18 – Definition of QTBIPOC
3:22 – Deep dive into anti-oppressive and liberators practices
8:20 – Understanding cis-gender identity
9:49 – Structural oppression is not about your feelings
15:34 – How white feminism can be exclusionary
17:06 – Dismantling whiteness from the mental health field
23:30 – Actions items for white clinicians to be more inclusive
25:52 – Top down versus bottom-down healing
30:40 – The core of oppression is to dehumanize
Resources for today’s episode – Decolonizing the Mental Health System (Part 2)
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire – Literature recommendation by Melody Li
Melody Li’s Instagram Profile
Inclusive Therapists Resource Library
Open Letter: End Mental Health Field’s Complicity to Genocide
Steadfast for Collective Liberation Newsletter: Confronting our Bullshit & Toxicity
Palestinian Liberation: Lessons in Solidarity for Mental Health Providers
Palestinian Liberation Resources
When is exploring whiteness clinically relevant? (Melody Li, LMFT)
Dismantling whiteness, white feminism and supremacy delusion: resources by Black, Indigenous and People of Color (Li advised against buying white authors on this subject)
Decolonizing Therapy (Dr. Jenn Mullan)
Stages of Colonialism in Africa: From Occupation of Land to Occupation of Being (Hussein A. Bulhan)
Mental Health Liberation: Website | Instagra<wbr />m | Facebook | BIPOC Therapy Fund | <a href="https://mentalhealthliberation.org/liberatory-student-support-circle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://