SEASON 2 FINALE: Healing Is Not Neutral: Therapy, Power, and the Systems That Shape Us with Maria Fakouri, MA, RP

Deconstructing Therapy – Season 2, Episode 7 Healing Is Not Neutral: Therapy, Power, and the Systems That Shape Us with Maria Fakouri, MA, RP What happens when therapy can no longer ignore the world we are living in? In this season finale of Deconstructing Therapy, Alefyah sits down with Maria Fakouri, a Palestinian therapist whose work challenges the limits of Western psychotherapy and calls us into a more honest, relational, and liberatory practice. Maria shares how the past two years disrupted the illusion that therapy exists outside of politics, systems, and collective trauma. As both a therapist and someone directly impacted by genocide, she found herself navigating an impossible tension—holding her own grief while witnessing a field that often refused to name the very realities shaping that pain. Together, Alefyah and Maria explore what it means to practice therapy in a world on fire—and why neutrality is not only impossible, but harmful. This conversation asks therapists to reckon with a deeper question: Are we helping people heal… or helping them adjust to systems that harm them? Throughout the episode, we explore: The disorienting split between therapist identity and lived reality in times of collective trauma How dominant therapy models reinforce individualism while ignoring systemic harm The concept of “spiritual bypassing” and how it shows up in clinical spaces Why clients are seeking therapists who can hold both personal and collective pain The shift from individual-focused intake to starting with the world and its impact The role of authenticity, vulnerability, and therapist self-disclosure in liberatory practice How therapy can either reinforce or challenge systems like capitalism, racism, and colonialism The emotional labor of witnessing violence while continuing to show up as a therapist Maria also speaks to the courage required to move away from the “white gaze” in therapy and toward a practice rooted in community, truth-telling, and collective care. Her work reminds us that sometimes the most powerful thing a therapist can do is not to fix—but to name, to witness, and to stand alongside. Ultimately, this episode invites us to reimagine therapy not as a tool for adaptation, but as a space for awareness, resistance, and transformation. Because healing is not neutral. And neither is the work we do. Maria Fakouri, MA, RP is a Palestinian therapist offering anti-oppressive, trauma-informed psychotherapy in Ontario, Canada. Her work centers the lived experiences of Palestinians and others navigating trauma under systems of oppression. Maria writes and speaks through a liberation-focused, anti-colonial, and neuro-queer lens, inviting both therapists and communities to move beyond individualistic models of care toward approaches that are relational, culturally grounded, and rooted in justice. Instagram: @mar._underscoreunfiltered Practice: Decliance (Ontario, Quebec, and select Canadian provinces) Booking: mariafakhouripsychotherapy.jnapp.com Email: ⁠[email protected]⁠ Website: DeconstructingTherapy.com Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @DeconstructingTherapy BuyMeACoffee.com/DeconstructingTherapy Special thanks to George Alvarez for his steady presence and support behind this work, and to Rayana Sims Consulting and Chanson Brummett for their contributions in helping bring this episode into the world. #EmotionallyFocusedTherapy #EmotionallyFocusedCouplesTherapy #EmotionallyFocusedTherapist #DeconstructingTherapy #RelationalHealing #CulturallyResponsiveTherapy #DecolonizeTherapy #LiberationPsychology #PalestinianVoices #QueerTherapist About the GuestConnect with MariaConnect with Deconstructing TherapySupport the PodcastSpecial ThanksHashtags Chapters (00:00:00) - In the Elevator With Therapy(00:00:22) - De deconstructing therapy(00:05:00) - Ashkenazi therapist on the white gaze(00:10:55) - "It's Not Worth It"(00:11:40) - How a Palestinian therapist shifted her perspective(00:15:23) - You're More Vulnerable On The Internet(00:18:58) - Since the election, has your practice changed?(00:23:03) - How I Learned To Love My Therapist(00:28:19) - "What is the Meaning of Your Job?"(00:31:49) - How to Be More Vulnerable in Therapy