Author Jennifer Mullan: Why I Love Her Book “Decolonizing Therapy”

“This book is wrapped in deep love and compassion. Its use is not just limited to therapists, but also to body workers, social workers, teachers, nurses, and others. We were trained within and for the System. No matter the oppressive system—we are Gatekeepers (and decently paid ones) in those systems. So, let us begin . . .” - Quote by Jennifer Mullan, Decolonizing Therapy

Every once in a while, you come across a thinker whose work feels like a homecoming—someone who puts words to the ideas and feelings you’ve carried but couldn’t yet articulate. For me, that person is Jennifer Mullan, and her work, Decolonizing Therapy, is a transformative guide for anyone grappling with the intersections of mental health, trauma, and systemic oppression. As someone doing a PhD on trauma studies within the frameworks of decoloniality, anti-racism, feminism, and relationality, I find Jennifer’s work to be an invaluable resource and a powerful call to action.

Jennifer Mullan: A Revolutionary Voice in Mental Health

Jennifer Mullan is not just a therapist—she is a truth-teller and visionary, unafraid to confront the colonial roots of the mental health industrial complex. Her book, Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice, exposes how Western mental health practices perpetuate ableism, capitalism, and systemic oppression, framing these structures as foundational to the systems that claim to offer care. She powerfully states, “Mental health oppression, and the larger net of ableism, was foundational to colonialism, white supremacy, gendered oppression, capitalism, imperialism, and all forms of oppression.”

Jennifer’s work resonates so strongly with me because it addresses the very core of what I see as missing in mainstream mental health narratives. Trauma is not simply an individual issue; it is deeply intertwined with histories of colonization, systemic violence, and intergenerational harm. Yet, much of Western therapy treats trauma as if it exists in isolation, disconnected from these larger contexts.

Insights from Jennifer Mullan’s Doctoral Research

I am a rabbit hole person, so of course I went and found Jennifer’s PhD dissertation, and read it as well! The doctoral dissertation, Slavery and the Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma in Inner City African American Male Youth: A Model Program—From the Cotton Fields to the Concrete Jungle, provides a transformative lens on trauma by examining its historical and systemic dimensions. She highlights how the psychological wounds of chattel slavery are not just historical remnants but are actively transmitted across generations. Jennifer identifies recurring patterns such as vacant esteem, ever-present anger, and internalized oppression—patterns deeply rooted in the legacies of slavery and systemic racism. In my research on trauma, I’ve been compiling both the biomedical model (dominant ontology) research, alongside wisdom through relational worldviews - and Jennifer’s research is compelling.

In the dissertation, Jennifer re-imagines trauma treatment by integrating historical education, community-building, and creative practices that honour ancestral legacies. Her work re-frames behaviours often misdiagnosed as conduct disorders as expressions of unhealed intergenerational trauma. By doing so, she shifts the focus from pathologizing individuals to addressing the systemic and relational contexts of harm. Her dissertation is a powerful call for practitioners to create culturally resonant spaces for healing that centre both individual and collective well-being.

Why “Decolonizing Therapy” Matters

Jennifer’s work doesn’t just critique; it offers pathways forward. She calls for an embrace of ancestral practices, collective grief, and the reclamation of rage as a healthy and necessary response to injustice. These are the cracks—unruly, unanticipated spaces—that offer the potential for transformation.

Her work reminds us that the systems claiming to offer care often perpetuate the harm they aim to heal. Diagnoses, individualism, and the pathologizing of emotions like rage are tools of colonization, used to police and control marginalized communities. She states, “Diagnoses are capitalism’s attempt to quantify human suffering.” This framing forces us to rethink the mental health system entirely, recognizing the need for a paradigm shift that integrates systemic accountability, relational healing, and liberation. On her website Decolonizing Therapy, Jennifer offers a community, one that I’m glad exists in such a fractured world.

An Invitation

Jennifer Mullan’s work is a call to action, a guide to unlearning, and an invitation to re-imagine. What would it look like to approach therapy not as a tool for compliance but as a practice of liberation? How might we integrate ancestral wisdom, collective care, and systemic accountability into our healing journeys?

If you’re ready to rethink mental health, to challenge the status quo, and to explore the intersections of personal and collective healing, I invite you to dive into Jennifer Mullan’s Decolonizing Therapy. Let her words disrupt and inspire you, and let’s continue the work of healing—together. Thank you Jennifer (and team!)