Background: This study sought to determine whether a six-week individualized Ayurvedic, decolonial feminist self-care framework could be used to promote healing in queer and/or women survivors of psychological trauma in South Africa. Methods: An Indigenous epistemology was integrated with pragmatism, and an embedded multiple case study was used employing a fully mixed sequential dominant status mixed methods approach. The qualitative component comprised 149 individual online therapeutic sessions with nine participants, selected through self-selected sampling, as well as radical action research and document analysis. The quantitative component involved a questionnaire and a cohort panel prospective longitudinal study. Eight of the nine participants (89%) completed the six-week intervention. Results: Content analysis using ATLAS.ti® resulted in the identification of five key themes: Trauma; Physical, emotional and mental signs and symptoms; Use of western healthcare services, equipment and/or medication; Components of the self-care healing framework; and Signs of healing. Participants experienced both physical and mental benefits. Participants felt calmer, more grounded and relaxed; improved mental clarity and memory were reported. Physical benefits included improved digestion, pain alleviation, greater flexibility and the relief of nasal allergy symptoms. A paired samples t-test on IBM SPSS Statistics® showed that, over the six weeks, there was a statistically significant increase in participants’ mean kapha and sattva levels, which reflected a greater sense of groundedness and mental peace, and a significant decrease in mean tamas levels, which indicated less mental heaviness. Few barriers were raised to the continued use of the framework. Conclusion: This self-care framework has promoted healing in queer and/or women survivors of psychological trauma in South Africa.
