What is Embodied Anti-Oppressive Practice in Therapy?

Current consensus in the field of trauma is that the impact of significant stressors and traumatic events are not held in conscious, explicit parts of the brain, but instead in subconscious, implicit parts of the brain. Embodied anti-oppressive approaches to psychotherapy understand how individual experiences of systemic oppression and social injustice can be held in this same way. 

There are various doorways into the subconscious, implicit parts of the brain, one being our in-the-moment experience of our body. Embodied anti-oppressive practice, when applied to therapy, makes use of this doorway to explore the impact of significant stressors and traumatic events related to social identity. 

It’s less a specific method, and more a lens brought to somatic therapy. It leaves room for nuance in our understanding of mental health by taking into account how distress can come from multiple, intersecting layers of a person’s environment, rather than from within that person themself. 

For me, part of embodied anti-oppressive practice is acknowledging how harmful systems of power have shaped the field of mental health itself. I engage in ongoing reflection and learning to divest from the ways in which these systems continue to influence care. 

What does Embodied Anti-Oppressive Practice in Therapy look like?

• Using somatic psychotherapy and other experiential psychotherapy techniques to explore how systems like colonialism, white supremacy, patriarchy, cisheteronormativity, capitalism, and ableism impact your wellbeing and may shape the concerns you bring to therapy

• Exploring and processing forms of trauma that extend beyond you, such as collective trauma or intergenerational trauma