IR Home > Publishing > Active Journals > Maya America > Vol. 7 > Iss. 1 (2025)

Maya Migrants and Psychotherapy: Recommendations and a Case Study from Comunidad Sol in Canton, Ohio

Robin Chancer, Pacifica Graduate Institute
Gerónimo Ramírez
Ernesto Ajanel Calel
María Ixcoy Mejía

Abstract

This article approaches the question: How can non-Indigenous mental health practitioners work appropriately with Maya K’iche’ and Ixil communities in the United States? The authors are three Maya leaders and one non-Indigenous psychotherapist, the four of whom have worked together for several years. Psychological treatment rooted in Euro-American paradigms can be minimally helpful—if not harmful—to many Indigenous communities (Dudgeon & Bray, 2016). Traditional approaches such as cognitive-behavior therapy continue the colonial preoccupation with individual pathology and the separation of mind, body, spirit, and nature. The authors suggest that more appropriate approaches would include acknowledging structural oppression and centering the K’iche’ and Ixil cosmovision, which are oriented toward community and Mother Earth. In addition, cosmic health processes consistent with the communities’ lifeways work from a non-hierarchical relationality based on dialogue and shared power. The authors discuss a case example with an Ixil man which demonstrates such a re-orientation toward cosmic wellness.

Publication Date

8-14-2025

Keywords

mental health, psychotherapy, Indigenous psychology, resilience, Maya cosmovision

Author Bio(s)

I, Robin Chancer, have worked as a clinical social worker for 15 years. Originally from Tongva ancestral lands (Los Angeles), I first met the co-authors in 2015 through collaboration with a legal nonprofit called The Immigrant Worker Project. Knowing them changed my life and led me to Pacifica Graduate Institute’s program in Community, Liberation, Indigenous, and Ecopsychologies (CLIE). I, Geronimo Ramirez, am Maya Ixil. I was raised by my maternal grandmother, a survivor of the internal armed conflict, a human rights defender, and a current leader of the Ixil Ancestral 12 Council. I have been defending Maya people, our lands, our rights, and the rights of Mother Earth since the age of 13. I, Ernesto Ajanel Calel, am Maya K’iche’. My family was internally displaced because of the war and genocide in Guatemala. This led to my birth in the mountains of Nebaj, Maya Ixil territory. My parents’ resistance, teachings, and survival inspired me toward community leadership in which I support Maya migrants’ access to resources and understanding of their rights. I, María Ixcoy Mejía, am Maya K’iche’. I was born in Iximulew (Guatemala) three years after the Peace Accords. My parents survived the internal armed conflict in Guatemala. I now work to support Maya communities through interpretation, health promotion, accompaniment, and resource education. I am also a leader of Comunidad Sol, a local nonprofit founded by Maya women and youth.