Racial and Generational Trauma: Evidence-based Somatic Interventions for BIPOC Clients

CPD

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Handouts

Speaker

Chinwé Williams, PhD Related seminars and products

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Chinwé Williams, PhD, is a licensed and board-certified EMDR therapist, and counselor educator and supervisor with close to two decades of experience supporting individuals in trauma recovery. She has a strong commitment to helping clients overcome various forms of trauma and anxiety. As a published researcher, author, consultant, and educator, Dr. Williams brings a wealth of knowledge to her work.

Her expertise lies in somatically focused approaches that teach clients how to regulate the nervous system and utilize the body for healing from various traumatic experiences. Formerly a faculty member at Georgia State University, the University of Central Florida, and Rollins College, she specializes in trauma recovery, stress/anxiety management, adolescent and women’s wellness, and equity-centered trauma-informed education.

Dr. Williams is actively involved in contributing to the field of behavioral health. She consults with several corporate and nonprofit organizations, and school districts. Dr. Williams also serves on the advisory board for Brightline, a telemedicine company providing mental health support to kids, teens, and families. In this role, she consults on the best practices to support diverse youth and families through programs, content development, and care team training.

She is the co-author of two books, SEEN: Healing Despair and Anxiety in Kids and Teens Through the Power of Connection and Beyond the Spiral: Why You Shouldn’t Believe Everything Anxiety Tells You. As the owner of Meaningful Solutions Counseling & Consulting, a thriving private practice in Roswell, GA, Dr. Williams applies her expertise to address a broad range of trauma issues across many client demographics.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Chinwé Williams is the co-owner of Southeastern Counselor Training Institute and has an employment relationship with Meaningful Solutions Counseling & Consulting. She receives royalties as a published author. Dr. Williams receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Chinwé Williams has no relevant non-financial relationships.

Objectives

1. Differentiate 3 challenging components of race-based traumatic stress and how to address them.
2. Utilize clinical strategies and evidence-based assessments to identify current and intergenerational trauma, related symptoms, and potential co-morbid conditions in BIPOC teens and adults.
3. Analyze the role of microaggressions in the therapy room and how therapists perpetuate racism and support racist social structures without realizing it.
4. Apply strategies for identifying their own blind spots and become more conscious and aware of their own implicit biases.
5. Apply 3 polyvagal approaches to help clients create safety, enhance social engagement, and help BIPOC clients navigate their nervous system.
6. Apply 3 specific somatic resources that can help BIPOC clients process race-based trauma.
7. Utilize evidence-based models and strategies that empower BIPOC clients to attune to their nervous system, notice patterns of behaviour, and uncover their own internal growth and resilience.

Outline

Why Cultural Competence is Not Enough

• Learn what is missing in traditional diversity training
• Types and causes of racial trauma
• Psychological and physical toll of overt and subtle acts of racism
• Common racial microaggressions committed by therapists
• Tools to examine bias and assumptions
• Repair ruptures and build connection

Identify, Assess and Respond to Racial Trauma

• Signs and symptoms of racial trauma
• Step-by-step racial trauma intake process
• Respond strategies and examples to clients who disclose a racial trauma event
• Two racial trauma assessments (including intergenerational trauma and work with BIPOC teens)

Regulate the Nervous System in Therapy

• Apply Polyvagal theory to race-based trauma
• Optimize safety for BIPOC clients
• Skilful responses to triggers, shutdown and emotional reactivity
• Tools to calm the nervous system before, during and after therapy
• Somatic resources for cross-cultural therapeutic relationships

Somatic and Integrative Clinical Approaches

• Resources to widen the window of tolerance of current and generational trauma
• Response strategies for disclosure of overtly racist event
• Grounding for BIPOC clients and direct or vicarious acts of racism
• EMDR strategies for racial trauma
• 5 self-care race-based trauma practices
• Racial Wellness Tool-Kit

Implicit Bias & Self-awareness

• Tools for identifying implicit bias
• Expand self-awareness
• Cross-cultural strategies for deeper relationships
• Limitations and when to refer out
• Future directions for the field

Target Audience

• Psychologists
• Psychiatrists
• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Psychotherapists
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Case Managers
• Addiction Counselors
• Physicians
• Nurses
• Other Mental Health Professionals