Racial trauma is an inescapable by-product of persistent exposure to repressive circumstances that emotionally, psychologically, and physically devastates one’s sense of self while simultaneously depleting one’s strategies for coping. It is a life-altering and debilitating experience that affects countless numbers of people of color over multiple generations. 

Unfortunately, the failure to consider the interrelationship between racial oppression and trauma limits our ability to work effectively with the People of Color who live in the midst of sociocultural conditions that are injurious to their psyches and souls. Even when clinical work is trauma informed, it rarely devotes adequate attention to racial oppression and the pervasive trauma associated with it.

This workshop will provide a comprehensive overview of the anatomy of racial trauma and the debilitating hidden wounds associated with it. Special attention will be devoted to highlighting trauma-informed interventions and strategies that centralize race and racial oppression in every facet of life.