Decolonizing Shame: The Paradox of Healing Intergenerational Trauma

In this episode, Danielle Herrera, LMFT, shares her personal and professional journey of decolonizing mental health. We are initiated into the intergenerational wisdom and trauma of our ancestors. Healing multiple generations of trauma is the duality of returning what's not ours, and allowing ourselves to be held in the relational and collective space of of something bigger - divinity, nature, and ancestry. Danielle speaks about an Arabic phrase from Islam, أَسْتَغْفِرُ ٱللَّٰهَ (Astaghfirullah) which signifies "seeking forgiveness from god;" A process of releasing and returning trauma to a higher power, which we may experience through the "initiation" of our ancestral trauma.