Coach Chat on Decolonizing Mental Health with Melody Li

Start Within w/Coach Colette

The 2021 theme for World Mental Health Day is “Mental Health in an Unequal World.” This theme highlights the fact that between 75% to 95% of people with mental health issues in low and middle-income countries are unable to access the care that they need. In the US, it's not much better for people of color given that only 14% to 15% of U.S. psychologists are non-white. The good news: there is a movement to decolonize, disrupt, and dismantle oppressive mental health practices. That movement is being led by our Coach Chat guest, Melody Li.

Melody is a queer therapist of color and founder of Inclusive Therapists, a platform that offers a safer, simpler way for people of all identities and abilities in all bodies to find a culturally responsive, social justice-oriented therapist. Melody is a mental health liberation activist whose goal is to decolonize mental health and healing, especially for those who live at the BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ intersection.

Melody talks in this episode with Coach Colette about what it means to decolonize mental health and how colonizing practices impact those with marginalized identities. Melody shares their own decolonizing journey to healing from internalized shame, oppression, and white supremacy. They also talk about the power and necessity of telling your story and the importance of finding safe, healing, liberation-oriented communities — communities that take your mental health seriously and provide space for that storytelling. You don't want to miss this one— it's a conversation rich with meaning and reflection on how we can tend to ourselves and others.

To see Coach Colette's offerings, view her profile on Inclusive Therapists here.

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