Decentering the Medical Model: There's Nothing Wrong with You, w/ Halle Thomas
Nervous System Care & HealingShow Notes
If you hold marginalized identities (like being queer, BIPOC, or neurodivergent), you’re used to navigating spaces that weren’t built for you — including the medical system.
Unfortunately, the mental health field has a history of pathologizing folks... leading many to believe, “there’s something wrong with ME.” It’s time that we change this narrative.
Join me in a poignant conversation with therapist Halle Thomas (she/they), where we talk about: what prompted her to divest from the medical model (which assumes that mental health = "absence of mental illness”), and why alternatives to the medical model are important how we can make therapy safer for everyone, by navigating conversations about diagnosis with care & consent why it’s important to talk about privilege, oppression, & identities (rather than pretend that these dynamics don’t exist) what it means to acknowledge ancestral responsibilities & engage in intergenerational healing — including when harm was perpetuated by your own ancestors how Halle uses sensory breaks to take care of her nervous system
🌿 About the Guest Halle Monique Thomas, LPC is an anxiety therapist who also works with trauma. Through Brainspotting, parts work, & spiritually-informed practices, she supports anxious adults whose anxiety stems from trying to follow rules that were written FOR them, instead of by them. Halle’s work centers the lived experiences of BIPOC, queer, chronically ill, and neurodivergent folks.
🌿 Connect with Halle >> Download free guide to reduce anxiety >> Instagram: www.instagram.com/chicorycounseling >> Website: www.chicorycounseling.com
🌿 About the Host Liz Zhou is a neurodivergent therapist of color, coach, & speaker based in Colorado (MA, LPC, she/her). She helps highly sensitive, neurodivergent adults & couples heal their nervous systems and connect with their authentic selves. Her specialties include: Brainspotting, EMDR, IFS, Psychedelic Integration, and Nervous System Intensives (deep-dive, accelerated therapy). Liz’s services are available online in Colorado & worldwide.
🌿 Connect with Liz >> Subscribe to Liz’s Neurodivergent Letters >> Instagram: www.instagram.com/liz.holistic.therapist >> Website: www.seasonsofgrowthcounseling.com
02:04 The journey from pre-med to counseling 10:25 Navigating mental health in a multicultural household 15:11 De-centering the medical model 24:03 Conversations on privilege, power, & intersectionality in the therapy room 28:19 The role of the therapist as a bridge 30:54 Ancestral responsibility & healing across generations 37:36 How do you take care of your nervous system?
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