Friday CE Series:The Grammar of Therapy at the Borderlands: A Decolonial Spanglish Perspective for English-Based/Trained Therapists

Experience new ways of thinking about language, culture, and therapy

The Grammar of Therapy at the Borderlands: A Decolonial Spanglish Perspective for English-Based/Trained Therapists

Presented by marcela polanco, LMFT

2 CEs available

Free for Marin CAMFT members and reciprocal chapter members!

Workshop Description

Family therapists in the United States, regardless of their linguistic ancestries, are trained to develop a specialized skill to listen intentionally to various aspects of a person or family’s life for purposes of change. How we come to learn to listen in our practice is highly shaped by the various family therapy models we subscribe to. These models lead us to listen either to patterns, exceptions, attachments, behaviors, emotions, etc.

Family therapists whose practices are guided by philosophies such as postmodernism, poststructuralism, and socioconstructionism tune their ears to client’s language by paying close attention to the meaning that people attribute to their lives and relationships, linguistically.  In this presentation, participants will hear how family therapy is not only shaped by philosophies, theories, and practices, but by the logic of the English language within which these ideas emerged or have been disseminated. Consequently, the English language has influenced the way in which therapists listen and make sense of clients' lives. This is the case even when family therapy is practiced in a non-English language.

This discussion will be facilitated from a decolonial perspective in relation to the colonial role that English has gained in grammatically dominating the control of language, therefore knowledge and narratives globally, specifically when attuning therapists to its English logic, muting the logic of non-English languages. This training will be situated at the borderlands as a point of departure for articulating possibilities in which English is one among many other linguistic possibilities from where to think and do therapy. Specifically, Spanglish will be situated as a borderlands to engage English speakers into poly-lingual considerations that go beyond English, without requiring to leave the English language behind. The discussion will be supported by experiences of practice and training bilingual and monolingual family therapists.

Educational Goals

The goal of this workshop is to advocate toward plurilinguistic family therapy practices that dignifies and honors non-English linguistic ancestries.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this workshop, participants should be able to:

1. Articulate the colonial system of power that has placed English as the global dominant language in family therapy.
2. Describe the logic of the English language embedded in therapeutic conversations.
3. Apply a borderlands perspective to their practices when working with families with access to various languages that are foreign to the therapist.
4. Demonstrate an honoring stance to the client family’s diverse linguistic ancestries.
   
   

Presenter marcela polanco, LMFT

My ancestry es Muisca, African and South European de Colombia. Como inmigrante en los United States (U.S.), I completed a Ph.D. in Family Therapy at Nova Southeastern University (2011). Mi trabajo de supervisión, teaching, research, and therapy in my immigrant English are informed by the Australasian narrative therapy and U.S. Black feminism. En my Español Colombiano y Spanglish, I am particularly interested in Andean decoloniality, anti-racist feminismos and Chicanx borderland activismo as a response to Eurocentrism. I am a practicing licensed Marriage and Family Therapist en los Estados de California and Texas and AAMFT Supervisor.

PLEASE NOTE: This event will be recorded. By registering for this event you are consenting to a recording being made which may include your voice and/or image. This recording may be available for review and downloading. By registering for this event, you are agreeing for your likeliness to possibly be used by Marin CAMFT.

The Zoom link and password are provided in the registration confirmation email after sign-up is completed.

Attendance at the live event in full and completion of the evaluation at the end qualifies for 2 hours of Continuing Education (2 CEUs).

Date: Friday, April 12
Time: 12:30 to 2:30 pm Pacific
Cost: Free for Marin CAMFT members and reciprocal members, $30 for non-members.
Location:  Online via Zoom. Zoom link sent upon registration.

Additional Information about Marin CAMFT CE Programs

For more information about the Friday Continuing Education Series or about joining the Marin CAMFT Continuing Education Committee, please contact our Director of Programs Norman Hering.

• Continuing Education: This workshop meets the qualifications for 2 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LEPs and/or LPCCs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. These CEs will be provided by Marin CAMFT (CAMFT Provider # 56895), which is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs. We regret that at this time we are not able to provide CE units for Licensed Psychologists. Participants must attend the full duration of the program (on Zoom, or in person, per event details above) and complete the course evaluation to receive the CE completion certificate. Marin CAMFT maintains responsibility for this program and its contents. Contact our Director of Programs at marincountycamftchapter@gmail.com for more information.
  
  
• Continuing Education Goal: Marin CAMFT is committed to offering continuing education courses to train LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs to treat any client in an ethically and clinically sound manner based upon current accepted standards of practice.
  
  
• Refund Policy: Our refund policy requires a $20 processing fee, and we must be notified in advance of the event if you would like to cancel. We do not provide refunds in case of non-attendance by the registrant.  Please contact our Director of Programs at marincountycamftchapter@gmail.com with any questions.
  
  
• Request for Accommodations: If you need accommodations for this event, please contact the Director of Programs at marincountycamftchapter@gmail.com.

• Grievance Procedure: Marin CAMFT will respond to complaints in a reasonable, ethical and timely manner, when submitted by program attendees in writing to the Director of Programs.
  
  
• Anti-Discrimination Policy: Marin CAMFT shall not discriminate against any individual or group with respect to any service, program or activity based on gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, creed, national origin, citizenship status, religion, age, ability, or other prohibited basis. Marin CAMFT does not require attendees to adhere to any particular religion or creed in order to participate in training. Marin CAMFT will not promote or advocate for a single modality of treatment that is discriminatory or likely to harm clients based on current accepted standards or practice.
  

Continuing education credits are available for attendance in the Zoom presentation. You must stay on the Zoom meeting for the entirety of the training and complete the course evaluation afterward in order to receive a completion certificate. Because of the requirement to attend the training in full, if you attempt to log in to the Zoom late, after the training is already underway, you may not be admitted. Please log onto the event promptly at the listed start time.