The Future of Healing: Building a Pluriversal Approach to Trauma
Healing from trauma has often been approached through narrow, singular frameworks—individual recovery, clinical interventions, or symptom management. While these methods have their value, they are limited by their focus on a one-size-fits-all approach. To truly address the complexity of trauma, we need a pluriversal perspective: one that honours diverse ways of knowing, being, and healing.
A pluriversal approach to trauma rejects the idea of a single “right” path to healing. Instead, it embraces relationality, cultural specificity, and systemic awareness. This perspective recognizes that trauma is not only personal but also collective, systemic, and historical—and that healing must reflect this complexity.
What Is a Pluriversal Approach?
The term pluriverse, as described by Arturo Escobar, refers to a world where many worlds fit—a recognition of the diversity of experiences, perspectives, and ontologies that exist. Applied to trauma, a pluriversal approach acknowledges that different cultures, communities, and individuals experience and respond to trauma in unique ways.
This framework moves beyond the dominant ontology of separation and control, which often pathologizes trauma and imposes rigid models of healing. Instead, it invites us to embrace relational and culturally rooted practices that honour the interconnectedness of life. For example, Indigenous traditions often integrate land-based practices, ceremonies, and storytelling into healing—approaches that go beyond individual recovery to restore relational balance.
Why Pluriversality Matters in Healing
Trauma is deeply influenced by systemic forces such as colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchy. These systems impose narrow definitions of health and well-being while marginalizing alternative ways of knowing and being. A pluriversal approach challenges these limitations by centring the voices and practices of those who have been historically excluded.
By embracing pluriversality, we can create spaces for diverse healing practices to coexist. This might mean integrating Western therapeutic models with ancestral traditions, community-led initiatives, and ecological restoration. Pluriversality is not about replacing one model with another—it’s about creating a mosaic of approaches that reflect the richness and complexity of human experience.
Imagining a Pluriversal Future
A pluriversal future of healing prioritizes connection, justice, and reciprocity. It shifts the focus from individual pathology to relational repair and systemic transformation. This perspective asks us to imagine new possibilities for healing: What if therapy included not just one-on-one sessions but also communal rituals? What if addressing climate change was seen as integral to addressing trauma? What if healing meant restoring balance—not just within individuals, but within systems and ecosystems?
Building a pluriversal future requires humility, openness, and a willingness to unlearn. It asks us to listen to the wisdom of others, to recognize the limitations of our own perspectives, and to co-create new pathways for healing.
An Invitation
What would it look like to embrace a pluriversal approach to healing in your own life? How might your understanding of trauma shift if you saw it as a collective experience shaped by relationships, culture, and history?
I invite you to step into the pluriverse: to explore diverse ways of knowing, to honour the connections that sustain life, and to imagine a future where many paths to healing coexist. Together, we can build a world that reflects the beauty and complexity of our shared humanity.
