Preparing Mental Health Practitioners to Serve Latinx Communities - April 21, 2025

Dra. Susana O. Salgado is a bilingual Chicana psychologist, the daughter of immigrants from Mexico. She launched her private practice and consultation in 2019 and is the creator of Mind Body Corazón. Her work is guided by decolonial, mujerista-liberation frameworks informed by Indigenous wisdom. 

Her areas of specialty are working with BIPOC with an emphasis on Latinx communities, trauma (e.g., sexual abuse/assault, intergenerational trauma, racial trauma), motherhood/maternal mental health, life transitions race & cultural related matters (e.g., immigration, acculturation, reclaiming & integrating of identities), BIPOC professional identity/career related matters (e.g., burnout prevention, self-care & self-preservation and working through imposter phenomenon) and grief & loss.

Dra. Salgado is also an adjunct faculty in Aliento, The Center for Latina/o Communities at Pepperdine University. She is committed to decolonizing our mental health practices through healing and education. Dra. Salgado has also served as president of CLPA.

Decolonial psychology : toward anticolonial theories, research, training, and practice

https://antioch.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1402269167

Authors: Lillian Comas-Díaz(Editor) Hector Y Adames(Editor) Nayeli Y Chavez-Dueñas(Editor)

Summary: "This book offers an expert synthesis of the scholarly literature on approaches to decolonial psychology, its historical foundations, education and training, and psychological practice. From its inception, psychological science and practice in the United States has been framed predominantly by Eurocentric epistemologies. As a result, oppressed people have internalized the belief that their culture and values are inferior to those of dominant groups. Infusing a decolonial lens into psychology is one way for the field to become more inclusive and relevant to the numerical majority worldwide. Decolonial psychology creates space and methods for oppressed and impoverished communities to radically imagine their existence outside of the superimposed borders of coloniality, neoliberalism, racism, and other systems of oppression. It emphasizes how people's subjectivity and connections to diverse social groups are influenced by history, context, and oppression; how these populations actively resist and survive attacks on their humanity; and how knowledge production is shaped not only by how data is interpreted but also by the questions asked. The chapters in this book provide an opportunity for readers to deepen their understanding of how colonization and coloniality impacted knowledge creation in society and the field of psychology, including thought-provoking resources that explore the subject matter. The book also underscores how coloniality continues to reverberate in many aspects of psychology today. Collectively, the authors invite readers to resist engaging in psycolonization by generating ideas and pathways to help reclaim, honor, and celebrate Indigenous ways of knowing and being. The volume offers guidance on methods to disrupt psycolonization and its epistemic violence, helping to provide a roadmap to decolonial psychology and anticolonial futures. It is time to confront the limitations of mainstream psychology. This book will help psychologists at all levels anchor their research, teaching, and practice in decolonial methods and practices"-- Provided by publisher.