Child Study Center Grand Rounds: "Liberation Psychology: Addressing the Wounds of Racism"

This presentation will illuminate ways the field of psychology can serve communities who live with the psychological effects of racism. Insights from liberation psychology, decolonial psychology, Black psychology, and womanist psychology will be presented. This training is for beginner and advanced clinicians, as most training programs have not offered training in addressing racial trauma. The training will encompass both theory and practical application of liberatory frameworks.

The training also touches on sustainability, self-care, and community-care as clinicians may be direct targets themselves and may be affected by vicarious trauma when working with clients in the aftermath or continued exposure to racial trauma.

Topics discussed will include:

• The need for anti-racism therapeutic practice as an ethical mandate given the prevalence of racism-related stress and trauma
• The overlapping theoretical frameworks of liberation psychology, decolonial psychology, and anti-racism psychology
• Liberation and Decolonial Psychology in assessment and treatment.

By the end of this workshop, clinicians will be able to:

1. List at least three potential mental health consequences of racism
2. Apply decolonial, trauma-informed principles to assessing racial trauma
3. Describe an appropriate liberation, trauma-informed framework to a racial trauma intervention