Kristina Yarbrough,
LMFT & Ph.D. (c),
Counseling, Ancestral Work, Post-Human Healing
she/her
Post-Human
To me, in the context of counseling and working with clients, post-human is a blurring of the boundaries imposed by separation and the epistemologies and ontologies associated with separation such as capitalism, coloniality and the epoch of the Anthropocene. This means going beyond the 'human' as simply a body that merely thinks, feels and behaves on it's own. Agency, in post-humanism is within and among the ecosystems which one is entangled in, not within you or within me to control or force to change or to be something it isn't.
Post-humanism in counseling involves being with your pains, sufferings, joys and struggles, not ignoring them by focusing on a 'solution' or running from them with a model of 'treatment'. This is often counter to what we are taught in the modern world, though if we sit with our suffering the ecosystem will take care of it, and take care of us. Of course, there are exceptions, such as crisis, emotional/psychological or physical violence. We certainly will attend to those.
Post-humanism also means that I listen and offer guidance and insight from deep within my body's responses and with my intuition, not simply from superficial behavior-cognitive-emotion paradigms. This all allows for deep changes in your ecosystems that may nourish you and continue to provide you insight outside of sessions. Post-humanism re-connects you, and heals any forced separations from yourself, or from any other part of life.
Ancestral Work
Ancestral work may include illuminating family legacies and limitations that you have inherited. It may include guided imagery to engage in healing with your ancestors or offering ways that you can communicate with your ancestors outside of sessions. Ancestral work may involve us working together through impactful enduring or single events with your family that create knots in your life. We may identify patterns, links and uncover psychic pain that need processing and releasing. This can include inner child work.
Ancestral work also involves celebrating your linage, where you are from, the gifts your ancestors have given you and receiving guidance from them for your healing. It may include grief work, ritual and other forms of connecting with them.