Episode 99: Rage and Decolonization Inside The Mental Health Industry with Dr. Jennifer Mullan
“I believe that rage is a deep expression of historical and intergenerational trauma, meaning: I'm not just feeling what I'm feeling because of this interaction right here. I can't explain this feeling because it feels so old. It's so deep. It's so primordial.”
-Dr. Jennifer Mullan, The Everything Belongs Podcast
Today on the Everything Belongs Podcast, Madison is in conversation with Dr. Jennifer Mullan. Affectionately nicknamed “the Rage Doctor” by peers and clients, Dr. Mullan (she/her) is trained as a Clinical Psychologist, and is a published author. She currently serves communities as a Consultant for behavioral and mental health organizations and schools, Ancestral wound worker, and CEO and founder of Decolonizing Therapy, LLC. Dr. Mullan seeks to unpack the oppressive legacy of modern mental health practices, and reconnect practitioners and clients to the roots of our wounding and healing within a sociopolitical lens, most particularly for Queer Indigenous Black Brown People of Color (QIBPOC). Dr. Mullan helps people return Home to themselves, their lineages, their Peoples indigenous ways of healing, and lights the fire towards collective action.
In this episode, Madison and Jenn speak on decolonizing therapy and how it differs from regular therapy. They also speak on colonization, continued colonization, and how it permeates into our emotional, mental and physical health. Plus a very candid talk on rage as a healing practice and what Jenn believes about what rage truly is. This conversation is rich, full and deep.
Listen -
In this episode, we talk about:
Why Jenn got nicknamed "rage doctor" after a long time being a "Pollyanna"
Jenn's work doing decolonization therapy and her history
How we surrender, land with life and learn about ourselves through different systems
Why decolonizing therapy is different than regular therapy
Colonization, continued colonization, and how it permeates into our emotional, mental and physical health
How ancestry shows up in your current life and how it weighs on the next generations
Transitioning through the reality of the current mental & emotional health industry
A true experience of being a practitioner acting with rage
The importance of grief and rage in the human experience, and how healthy it is
Why rage is globally required, individually and in differing times, for healing
Rage as a health practice, instead of a harm practice
How to begin decolonizing our mental health, and for those of us who are practitioners
Where colonization has detached us from so many areas of life, community and the Earth
