This book provides in-depth analysis of the historical, philosophical, anthropological, political and neurobiological reinforcements of fear and the role of fear-on-fear interactions in the construction and maintenance of systems. This text will help systems appreciate the profound, pervasive and deleterious role fear has played in the establishment of laws, policies and practices, and explore what systems can do to reduce fear and prioritize safety and healing. Right now we are dealing with hard truths: human suffering runs deep and is universal; trauma is ubiquitous and widespread; racism is real and has profound psychological, physical, political, social and economic implications; and the world is hurting and needs healing. Many are curious about where and when healing will commence, who will facilitate it and what it will look and feel like. Healing comes in this order: safety, truth and then reconciliation. When we know better, we can (or should) certainly do better. This book offers a framework for how to effectively begin to deconstruct systemic fear, prioritize safety, reduce needless suffering and move toward optimal healing and sustained change.

A large body of research has established a causal relationship between experiences of racial discrimination and adverse effects on mental and physical health. In Measuring the Effects of Racism, Robert T. Carter and Alex L. Pieterse offer a manual for mental health professionals on how to understand, assess, and treat the effects of racism as a psychological injury. Carter and Pieterse provide guidance on how to recognize the psychological effects of racism and racial discrimination. They propose an approach to understanding racism that connects particular experiences and incidents with a person’s individual psychological and emotional response. They detail how to evaluate the specific effects of race-based encounters that produce psychological distress and possibly impairment or trauma. Carter and Pieterse outline therapeutic interventions for use with individuals and groups who have experienced racial trauma, and they draw attention to the importance of racial awareness for practitioners. The book features a racial-trauma assessment toolkit, including a race-based traumatic-stress symptoms scale and interview schedule. Useful for both scholars and practitioners, including social workers, educators, and counselors, Measuring the Effects of Racism offers a new framework of race-based traumatic stress that helps legitimize psychological reactions to experiences of racism.

2020 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award - Multicultural 2021 Christianity Today Book Award - Christian Living/Discipleship Award Publishers Weekly starred review "People of color have endured traumatic histories and almost daily assaults on our dignity. We have prayed about racism, been in denial, or acted out in anger, but we have not known how to individually or collectively pursue healing from the racial trauma." As a child, Sheila Wise Rowe was bused across town to a majority white school, where she experienced the racist lie that one group is superior to all others. This lie continues to be perpetuated today by the action or inaction of the government, media, viral videos, churches, and within families of origin. In contrast, Scripture declares that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. Rowe, a professional counselor, exposes the symptoms of racial trauma to lead readers to a place of freedom from the past and new life for the future. In each chapter, she includes an interview with a person of color to explore how we experience and resolve racial trauma. With Rowe as a reliable guide who has both been on the journey and shown others the way forward, you will find a safe pathway to resilience.

This book offers an integrated training and coaching system to facilitate change in systems that serve youth (education, healthcare, and juvenile justice). The integrated training and coaching system combines brain development, cultural responsivity, and trauma-informed practices. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the neurobiology of fear, brain development, trauma, substance use, and mental health, structural bias and environmental factors that pose a threat to healthy brain development. The book employs practical applications/recommendations and case examples that help solidify understanding of key concepts. Each chapter begins with a set of objectives and interactive exercises that builds on the next, thoughtfully challenging the reader (and giving specific, practical ways for the reader) to apply the information presented with the goal of "change". The text is written from the perspective of a trauma-informed addiction psychiatrist who has effectively facilitated systems change. Topics featured in this book include: Common threats to healthy brain development. The neurobiology of trauma. Applying trauma-informed practices and approaches. Cannabis and its impact on the brain. Labeling theory and implicit bias. Exploring the connection between fear and trauma. Rehabilitation versus habilitation. Managing stress through mindfulness. Training for Change will be of interest to graduate and advanced undergraduate students and researchers in the fields of cognitive psychology, criminology, public health, and child and adolescent development as well as parents, teachers, judges, attorneys, preventative medicine and pediatric providers.

A Guardian “Best Book of 2021” Selection A powerful look at the impacts of anti-Black racism and a practical guide for overcoming racial trauma through radical self-care as a form of resistance Over the past 15 years, radical psychologist Guilaine Kinouani has focused her research, writing, and workshops on how racism affects both physical and mental health. Living While Black gives voice to the diverse, global experiences of Black people, using personal stories, powerful case studies, and eye-opening research to offer expert guidance on how to set boundaries and process micro-aggressions; protect children from racism; handle difficult race-based conversations; navigate the complexities of Black love; and identify and celebrate the wins. Based on her findings, Kinouani has devised tried-and-tested strategies to help protect Black people from the harmful effects of verbal, physical, and structural racism. She empowers Black readers to adopt self-care mechanisms to improve their day-to-day wellness to help them thrive, not just survive, and to find hope and beauty—or even joy—in the face of racial adversity. She also provides a vital resource for allies seeking to better understand the impacts of racism and how they can help. With the rise of far-right ideologies and the increase of racist hate crimes, Living While Black is both timely and instrumental in moving conversations from defining racism for non-Black majorities to focusing on healing and nurturing the mental health of those facing prejudice, discrimination, and the lasting effects of the violence of white supremacy.

African American identity is racialized. And this racialized identity has animated and shaped political resistance to racism. Hidden, though, are the psychological implications of rooting identity in race, especially because American history is inseparable from the trauma of slavery. In Trauma and Race author Sheldon George begins with the fact that African American racial identity is shaped by factors both historical and psychical. Employing the work of Jacques Lacan, George demonstrates how slavery is a psychic event repeated through the agencies of racism and inscribed in racial identity itself. The trauma of this past confronts the psychic lack that African American racial identity both conceals and traumatically unveils for the African American subject. Trauma and Race investigates the vexed, ambivalent attachment of African Americans to their racial identity, exploring the ways in which such attachment is driven by traumatic, psychical urgencies that often compound or even exceed the political exigencies called forth by racism.

From the powerhouse author of The Memo, the essential self-help book for women of color to heal—and thrive—in the workplace In workplaces nationwide, women of color need frank talk and honest advice on how to deal with microaggressions, heal from racialized trauma, and find relief from invisible workplace burdens. Filled with Minda Harts’s signature wit and warmth, Right Within offers strategies for women of color to speak up during racialized moments with managers and clients, work through past triggers they may not even know still cause pain, and reframe past career disappointments as opportunities to grow into a new path. Through action points, exercises, and clear-eyed coaching, Harts encourages women to summon hidden reserves of strength and courage. She includes advice from therapists and faith leaders of color on a full range of ways to heal. Right Within will help women of color strengthen their resolve across corporate America, ensuring that we can all, finally, rise together.