Nuestros Encuentros: Healing through Dialogue

Abstract

This manuscript explores Latine bilingual counselor educators’ experiences in academia through Nuestros Encuentros, a co-created counterspace. Utilizing Healing Justice and decolonial frameworks, the authors detail their process of fostering authentic dialogue, cultural reconnection, and collective healing. Through creative practices and critical reflection, they confront internalized oppression and systemic barriers. Recommendations are provided for counselor educators to create similar supportive communities, contributing to the decolonization of higher education and the counseling profession. Additionally, drawing from their experiences in these encuentros, the authors offer clinical insights into the use of creative practices when working with Latine clients who have been exposed to traumatic and oppressive experiences.