This episode features a conversation with the incredible Dr. Ahmad Washington, Associate Professor of Counseling and Human Development as well as Pan African Studies at The University of Louisville. Among other things, we discuss the violent origins of existentialism, black structural positionality, bringing consciousness of systemic oppressions to individualized therapeutic spaces, and reimagining what it means to be human. You can learn more about Dr. Washington and his work here: https://louisville.edu/education/faculty/washington/ahmad-washington

This episode of Psychologies of Liberation features organizer and all-around excellent human, Sandra VanderVen. She describes her work mapping out a functional behavioral health ecosystem in Washington State. We discuss the ways in which we value and devalue mental health work, the links between psychiatric care and carceral systems, and the interdisciplinary nature of organizing and therapeutic work.

Welcome to Psychologies of Liberation, a podcast that examines the goals and practices of psychology with radical imagination to help us all get free. This podcast is for all of us world builders who are not only interested in grappling with systems, structures, and ideologies that threaten our well-being, but who dream into new futures for relationships that are grounded in joy, equity, and everyone’s right to beautiful, radiant things.The guests on this pod come from diverse backgrounds, professional pedigrees, identities, and perspectives. They embody the multiplicity of ideas, practices, and projects that yearn toward collective healing in new ways. You will find a range of topics discussed here, from therapist self-disclosure, to labor organizing for a functional mental health ecosystem, to informal networks of psychological support, to important considerations for new therapists and the educators that mentor them, to the question of “What are we trying to liberate ourselves from?”The themes and title of this podcast are inspired by Helene Shulman and Mary Watkins's seminal book, Toward Psychologies of Liberation, in which they envision liberatory psychology as a great river that is fed by many streams, all longing for transformation that addresses psychological suffering. This podcast is an attempt to explore and highlight a few of these headwaters.There is something here for mental health workers, academics, movement activists, and anyone who is interested in decolonizing traditional notions of psychology and considering the ways in which we can and are already do live into joy and healing together.