About
Thoughts, reactions, and reflections on Mental Health, Psychotherapy and Society from the colonial divide.
I am Lucia Sarmiento, an immigrant, a therapist, and a client trying to explore how eurocentrism and colonial power shape our understanding of different experiences.
I am interested in exploring Intercultural therapy, Ethical practice, Liberation Psychology, Social Justice, Decolonial perspectives, and alternative ways of practicing. Critical thinking needs to be at the core of anti-oppressive practice. I wish psychotherapy were truly open to ‘Other’ minds.
I am active on Twitter and Instagram. For more information on my work as a therapist, you can visit my practice website here.
This blog was born in January 2021 as a reaction to the limited thinking and the (wilfull) omissions in our theory and training. Therapy theories and practice severely lack critical perspectives and interdisciplinary thinking as well as considering the lived experience of people from marginalised background IN CONTEXT.
Today, South of Therapy’s content aims to bridge the gap between sociology, history, decolonial thinking, and psychological and therapeutic thinking. This blog’s content and any other activity under the South of Therapy name are created in hopes to share knowledge and reflections on the topics of Coloniality, Injustice and Oppression as well as Social Justice & Liberation, and their links to individuals and communities’ wellbeing and mental health.
In the future, I hope to provide spaces in which we can reflect, learn and support each other in our anti-oppressive praxis. To stay informed of upcoming meetings and events, follow me on social media or have a look at the Events page.
Values & Principles
The principles and values that underpin my work and the South of Therapy project are:
- Seeing therapy as political and considering mental health in social contexts
- Commitment to anti-oppressive praxis & reflection
- Decentring from privileged perspectives, including my own
- Challenging current harmful practices in therapy
- Sharing knowledge and resources as accessibly as my capacity allows
- Sustainability & self-care
- Stepping away from individualism, fostering community and collective work
- Accountability
On this last point, I’d like to remind everyone that I am only one person behind this project. I am fallible and have limited capacity, but I will always do my best to rectify my mistakes and continue learning and growing. I would appreciate being called-in if necessary.
On this note, comments have been disabled under the blog posts simply because I have a very busy schedule and do not have the time to moderate them or to respond, but you can easily contact me through social media or email, using the Contact Form.