Overthrowing the Colonizers

Explicit content warning

06/10/21 • 49 min

Dr. Jennifer Mullan trained as a psychologist but quickly realized that so much of what we call therapy doesn’t get to the root of systematic oppression. That realization led her to start Decolonizing Therapy. In this interview she talks about that work.
Find more here:
https://www.drjennifermullan.com/
Dr. Jennifer Mullan creates spaces for people and organizations to heal. She believes that it is essential to create a dialogue to address how mental health is deeply affected by systemic inequities and the trauma of oppression. Dr. Mullan has earned her Doctorate of Psychology (Psy.D) in Clinical Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies; a Master’s in Counseling & Community Agencies from New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education; and her Bachelors of Arts in Psychology and Elementary Education, from New Jersey City University. She notes that her dissertation: “Slavery and the Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma in Inner-City African American Male Youth: From the Cotton Fields to the Concrete Jungle,” has been a primary foundation for her current work in furthering emotional wellness on a larger collective scale for communities of color. Dr. Mullan is currently a full-time Psychologist at New Jersey City University’s Counseling Center, facilitator for the campus LGBTQIA+ Support group, Coordinator of the University’s nationally recognized Peer Education program (Peers Educating Peers). She has almost 15 years of experience in clinical practice, higher education, teaching, and grant writing. She is passionately committed to solidarity work that effectively addresses inequities based on race, gender, class, ability, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Her professional research and clinical interests include complex and intergenerational trauma, group psychotherapy, LGBTQIA wellness, spirituality & mindfulness practices, racism as trauma, healing in therapeutic settings, self-love as a revolutionary act, and the process of decolonizing mental health.

Social Media has been a primary platform for Dr. Mullan’s current work in politicizing therapy and emotional health on a larger collective scale, with over 53K followers on Instagram. In 2019, she founded Decolonizing Therapy, LLC. They seek to create spaces to “call mental health professions IN” (rather than call people out). Dr. Mullan believes it is essential to ask mental health professionals to reassess their education, “whom they are serving? “and begin to question the relatability of the mental health industrial complex to the People they serve. It is her belief that we can tend to our emotional/ mental health AND hold systemic oppression accountable. You can frequently hear Dr. Mullan stating, “Everything is political!” Dr. Mullan also centralizes Historical and Intergenerational Trauma, which she identifies as Ancestral Trauma, at the crux of decolonization work. Through the movement of Decolonizing Therapy, Dr. Mullan can be found providing international keynotes, holding Radicalizing Rage workshops, doing Coaching sessions while un-training mental health professionals and providing Ancestral healing sessions.

Whether on stage or through her writing, Dr. Mullan offers conscious, clear, and authentic dialogue that is a healing i

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Whether on stage or through her writing, Dr. Mullan offers conscious, clear, and authentic dialogue that is a healing i

www.charukumarhia.com

Previous Episode

Black Food Arts with Therese Nelson

Chef Therese Nelson’s culinary career began in 2004 after graduating summa cum laude from Johnson and Wales University, with degrees in Food Service Management and Culinary Arts. Her training spanned throughout the East Coast, where she worked her way through the kitchens of major hotel groups such as the Hilton, Marriott, Orient Express, and Four Seasons. In 2006, she joined the all-female team of The Get Em' Girl Inc., using her culinary expertise as a recipe consultant for the company's two branded cookbooks, The Get Em' Girl's Guide to the Power of Cuisine and The Get Em Girl's Guide to the Perfect Get Together. She was the food editor for the brand's lifestyle website and the executive chef for the company's in-house boutique catering company.

Her food graced the tables of global brands such as Black Enterprise, Carol's Daughter, BET, MTV, WEEN, Verizon, and RocNation. In 2014 the company dissolved and Thérèse pivoted to the private sector, working as a chef for select clients, writing for publications such as First We Feast, and consulting for catering and restaurant businesses throughout the Tri-State area.

In addition to her culinary life, Thérèse is the founder and culinary curator of Black Culinary History, founded in 2008 as a way to connect Black chefs, preserve Black heritage throughout the African diaspora, promote and share the work of Black food and beverage professionals, and maintain the legacy being constructed by Black chefs for the next generation.

Thérèse is a member of Eta Sigma Delta, Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, Southern Foodways Alliance, Equity At The Table, International Association of Culinary Professionals, National Association of Professional Women, and the Culinary Historians of New York. She’s worked with AFROPUNK and has been featured in the Washington Post, New York Times, and Huffington Post. She is a board member of the Museum of Food and Drink and was one of the first chefs-in-residence for TASTE Cooking. Thérèse is a proud native of Newark, NJ and currently resides in East Harlem, NY where she enjoys being a part of the community's rich and diverse culinary landscape, personally and professionally.
https://www.blackculinaryhistory.com/home

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Next Episode

Growing Up Gullah

Victoria Smalls grew up on St. Helena, South Carolina. St. Helena is a barrier island on the coast of of the eastern United States. It’s home to many descendants of slaves brought from Africa to grow rice, sea island cotton and other crops.
In this interview she talks about her Gullah heritage and the famous Penn School set up to educate newly freed slaves.

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