Mental Wellness and Racial Trauma

Racism Resources

Self-Care for People of Color after Psychological Trauma

Black Mental Health Directory

Resources compiled by Northwestern University CAPS

Resources on Mental Wellness and Racial Trauma

“Racial trauma, a form of race-based stress, refers to People of Color and Indigenous individuals’ (POCI) reactions to dangerous events and real or perceived experiences of racial discrimination. Such experiences may include threats of harm and injury, humiliating and shaming events, and witnessing racial discrimination toward other POCI. Although similar to posttraumatic stress disorder, racial trauma is unique in that it involves ongoing individual and collective injuries due to exposure and re-exposure to race-based stress.”

Racial Trauma: What is it and how does it impact mental wellness?

 Understanding Race Based Trauma University of Louisville Med School Newsletter Racial Trauma: Theory, Research, and Healing– American Psychological Association

Racial Trauma is Real: The Impact of Police Shootings on African Americans by By Erlanger A. Turner, PhD & Jasmine Richardson

Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story about Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano

  • Read Aloud with Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center

Healing and responding to racial trauma for children, parents, and families:

Helping Your Child Cope with Media Coverage of Community Racial Trauma: Tips for Parents Racial Trauma Toolkit– Boston College Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race & Culture The Child Mind Institute: Racism and Violence: How to Help Kids Handle the News

Therapy for Black Girls Podcast– Episode 21: How Race Impacts our Mental Health and Episode 42: Race- Related Stress; Episode 134: The Impact of Racial Trauma

  • These are intended for older teens and mothers, not young

The Breakdown with Dr. Earl– A Mental Health Podcast intended for older male teens and men. Radical Self-Care– Inside Higher Ed, Kerry Ann Rockquemore

44 Mental Health Resources for Black People Trying to Survive in this Country

Dr. Allison Briscoe- Smith offers a variety of resources on trauma, race, and supporting children

https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2019-01033-001.html American Psychological Association. Comas-Díaz, L., Hall, G. N., & Neville, H. A. (2019). Racial trauma: Theory, research, and healing: Introduction to the special issue. American Psychologist, 74(1), 1-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/amp0000442