ABSTRACT
This chapter offers critical reflections on the influence and institutions of psychology in Aotearoa New Zealand. While we generally consider that psychology encompasses the psy disciplines, i.e. counselling, psychology, and psychotherapy, in this chapter and given our respective professional backgrounds and identities, we focus more on clinical psychology and psychotherapy. Weaving together our own stories of place, space, and belonging, the chapter discusses our different experiences of how some of the assumptions implicit in Western psychology impact on the education/training and culture of the psy professions and complex, as well as their clinical practice, and the resistance to changing this. Written and edited together, while also acknowledging our individual experiences and voices, the chapter addresses the question of how a critique based on a decolonising perspective could lead to a psychology that serves the health and well-being of all the people of Aotearoa New Zealand.
