Racism, Trauma & Mental Health: The Inconvenient Truth-View Presentation

Video Transcription

Video Summary

In this video, Dr. Ernestine Briggs-King discusses the intersection of racism, trauma, and mental health. She highlights the disproportionate rates of trauma and mental health problems among communities of color, particularly Black and Indigenous people. Dr. Briggs-King explains the concept of racial trauma, which includes both individual and collective injuries resulting from exposure to race-based stressors. She emphasizes the need to acknowledge and address racism as a source of trauma in mental health care. Dr. Briggs-King provides strategies to reduce mental health disparities and promote healing, including cultural humility, trauma-informed care, and systems-level changes. She also emphasizes the importance of self-care and support for providers and encourages individuals to challenge implicit bias and advocate for social justice. Dr. Briggs-King emphasizes the need to assess racial trauma in clinical settings and provides resources for assessment and interventions. She concludes by recommending the use of touchstones, such as curiosity and wonder, in difficult conversations and the importance of storytelling and narrative therapy to promote healing. Overall, Dr. Briggs-King highlights the importance of addressing racism and its impact on mental health in order to achieve racial equity and reduce disparities.

Keywords

racism

trauma

mental health

disproportionate rates

racial trauma

cultural humility

implicit bias

clinical settings

narrative therapy