Mental Health & Healing - Diversity | Equity | Inclusion Resources at Truman College

Mental Health | "includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices" (CDC).

Healing | There is a direct connection between mental and bodily health. "Trauma can be held in the body, leading to physical symptoms years later -- such as headaches, jumpiness, chronic pain, and dissociation. ... With the right support, healing is possible. Therapies that connect the body and mind -- like cognitive processing therapy (CPT), prolonged exposure (PE) therapy, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy -- can help...." (PsychCentral).

Books @ CCC

Cover art The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health

Print Books

Leary, J. D. (2005). Post traumatic slave syndrome : America's legacy of enduring injury and healing. Joy DeGruy Publications. While African Americans managed to emerge from chattel slavery and the oppressive decades that followed with great strength and resiliency, they did not emerge unscathed. Slavery produced centuries of physical, psychological and spiritual injury. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing lays the groundwork for understanding how the past has influenced the present, and opens up the discussion of how we can use the strengths we have gained to heal.
Satcher, D. (2022). My quest for health equity : notes on learning while leading. Johns Hopkins University Press. "Dr. David Satcher is a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, surgeon general, and a lifelong leader for civil rights and health equity. This is an inspiring and instructive look inside Satcher's career. The hard-won lessons of his experience will inspire those who champion health equity"-- Provided by publisher.

eBooks

Menakem, R. (2017). My Grandmother’s Hands : Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. Central Recovery Press. In this groundbreaking book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology.The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze, and it endures the trauma inflicted by the ills that plague society. Menakem argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies. Our collective agony doesn't just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans&#8212our police.My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not only about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.Paves the way for a new, body-centered understanding of white supremacy&#8212how it is literally in our blood and our nervous system.Offers a step-by-step healing process based on the latest neuroscience and somatic healing methods, in addition to incisive social commentary.
Singh, A. A. (2019). The Racial Healing Handbook : Practical Activities to Help You Challenge Privilege, Confront Systemic Racism, and Engage in Collective Healing. New Harbinger Publications. A powerful and practical guide to help you navigate racism, challenge privilege, manage stress and trauma, and begin to heal.Healing from racism is a journey that often involves reliving trauma and experiencing feelings of shame, guilt, and anxiety. This journey can be a bumpy ride, and before we begin healing, we need to gain an understanding of the role history plays in racial/ethnic myths and stereotypes. In so many ways, to heal from racism, you must re-educate yourself and unlearn the processes of racism. This book can help guide you.The Racial Healing Handbook offers practical tools to help you navigate daily and past experiences of racism, challenge internalized negative messages and privileges, and handle feelings of stress and shame. You'll also learn to develop a profound racial consciousness and conscientiousness, and heal from grief and trauma. Most importantly, you'll discover the building blocks to creating a community of healing in a world still filled with racial microaggressions and discrimination.This book is not just about ending racial harm—it is about racial liberation. This journey is one that we must take together. It promises the possibility of moving through this pain and grief to experience the hope, resilience, and freedom that helps you not only self-actualize, but also makes the world a better place.
Walker, R. (2020). The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health : Navigate an Unequal System, Learn Tools for Emotional Wellness, and Get the Help You Deserve. New Harbinger Publications. An unapologetic exploration of the Black mental health crisis—and a comprehensive road map to getting the care you deserve in an unequal system. We can't deny it any longer: there is a Black mental health crisis in our world today. Black people die at disproportionately high rates due to chronic illness, suffer from poverty, under-education, and the effects of racism. This book is an exploration of Black mental health in today's world, the forces that have undermined mental health progress for African Americans, and what needs to happen for African Americans to heal psychological distress, find community, and undo years of stigma and marginalization in order to access effective mental health care.In The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health, psychologist and African American mental health expert Rheeda Walker offers important information on the mental health crisis in the Black community, how to combat stigma, spot potential mental illness, how to practice emotional wellness, and how to get the best care possible in system steeped in racial bias.This breakthrough book will help you:Recognize mental and emotional health problemsUnderstand the myriad ways in which these problems impact overall health and quality of life and relationshipsDevelop psychological tools to neutralize ongoing stressors and live more fullyNavigate a mental health care system that is unequal It's past time to take Black mental health seriously. Whether you suffer yourself, have a loved one who needs help, or are a mental health professional working with the Black community, this book is an essential and much-needed resource.
Yarbrough, E. (2018). Transgender Mental Health: Vol. First edition. American Psychiatric Association Publishing. Societal awareness of transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) individuals is greater now than at any point in history, owing to the education of policy makers by advocacy organizations, the education of clinicians by research and scientific organizations, and the education of the general public by movies, television, and other media. However, most professional training programs for mental health professionals provide little to no education regarding gender diversity.Transgender Mental Health squarely addresses this deficit. This guide forgoes clinical jargon in favor of accessible, straightforward language designed to educate clinicians on how to address the basic needs of the TGNC community, thus increasing access to mental health care for TGNC individuals, which has been sorely lacking to this point.

Articles & Essays

Bensimon, E. M. (2018, October 16). Reclaiming Racial Justice in Equity, Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 50(3-4), 95-98. Reclaiming Racial Justice in Equity. Estela Mara Bensimon is Dean's Professor in Educational Equity and Founding Director of the Center for Urban Education. In 2017, she was elected to the National Academy of Education and presented with the 2017 Social Justice in Education Award by the American Education Research Association (AERA); she is the 2018 AERA Division J Research Award recipient. Her opinion pieces have been published in Inside Higher Education, Denver Post, Sacramento Bee, and Zocalo. In January 2018, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Dr. Bensimon to the Education Commission of the States.
Cadet, D. (2020, May 28). Your Black Colleagues May Look Like They’re Okay — Chances Are They’re Not. Refinery 29. Let’s cut to the chase. It’s been a tough few days...weeks...months. For many people, working in the midst of a global pandemic has been difficult. For those of us fortunate enough to continue doing our jobs safely at home, we've had to somehow make ourselves look presentable for nonstop digital meetings, and had to learn how to be productive as the lines between our personal and professional lives continue to blur. We’ve run out of shows to stream, Instagram lives to watch, things to bake. We’re confused and scared, and we don’t know when any of this will be over. But there’s a tale of two quarantines. Because while some Americans have been consumed by banana bread, others have had to navigate surviving a pandemic in a country they were never actually meant to live in.
Dillard, C. (2019, Fall). Black Minds Matter. Learning for Justice, 63. Interrupting school practices that disregard the mental health of Black youth.
Duane, A., et al. (2021) Beyond deep breathing: A new vision for equitable, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed mindfulness practice. Middle School Journal, 52(3), 4-14. To access the full article, contact the library using the widget at the top left of this page, or complete the this online form: https://tinyurl.com/ytmvvrfy As the research on mindfulness expands to include school-based interventions, middle school educators across the country have implemented mindfulness in the classroom. However, similar to other social-emotional learning approaches, when implemented in the absence of cultural context and trauma-informed care, mindfulness can be weaponized. In this paper we describe how educators can facilitate mindfulness practice in the classroom in affirming, culturally responsive and trauma-informed ways. In doing so, we propose a new vision for how mindfulness can further equity work in schools.
Frye, D. (Reviewer). (2019, November 15). Radical Self-Care in the Face of Mounting Racial Stress. Psychology Today. Cultivating hope through acts of affirmation. 5 Ways to Practice Radical Self-Care.
Ginwright, S. (2018, May 31). The Future of Healing: Shifting From Trauma Informed Care to Healing Centered Engagement. Medium. Shifting From Trauma Informed Care to Healing Centered Engagement
Gorski, P. (2020). How Trauma-Informed Are We, Really? To fully support students, schools must attend to the trauma that occurs within their own institutional cultures. Educational Leadership, 78(2), 14–19. The author offers insights on trauma-informed education and the initiatives that educators and schools may consider for the benefit of students suffering from trauma. Topics discussed include the need to acknowledge the significant factors that contribute to student trauma, the identification of institutional culture and school policies that tend to produce traumatizing patterns, and the way educators may respond with concern to student trauma.
Johnson, M. M. (2020). Self-Care: The Antidote to Compassion Fatigue. Educational Leadership, 78(2), 46–51. The article discusses how self-care may help prevent compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress (STS) among education leaders. Topics explored include the symptoms of compassion fatigue which range from sleep problems to depression, the categories of self-care such as emotional, cognitive, and spiritual, and the need to practice self-awareness and self-management to effectively navigate stress.
Joseph, J. (2022, February 16). Healing Generational Trauma. Yes! Magazine. For Black and Indigenous communities, it takes more than therapy and medicine to tackle mental illness. We need a holistic approach.
Minahan, J. (2020). Maintaining Relationships, Reducing Anxiety: During Remote Learning. Educational Leadership, 78(2), 20–27. The article discusses the support and assistance that teachers may extend to address student anxiety during the implementation of remote learning programs in the midst of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Topics explored include the level of anxiety in students due to the disruption caused by the pandemic, the importance of maintaining healthy connection and communication between students and teachers, and the way teachers may validate the emotions of their students.
Simmons, D. (2020). Confronting Inequity / The Trauma We Don’t See. Educational Leadership, 77(8), 88–89. The article offers information on the trauma of inequality in the high-achieving Black students. Topics include unsafe neighborhood terrorized by violence of poverty & racist policies; effect of typical mental health sequelae of exposure to violence and adverse childhood events such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and behavior problems; and trauma changes the biomarkers and brain structure in young people, results in violent behavior, suicidal tendencies & drug abuse.
Simmons, D. (2020). Healing Black Students’ Pain: If schools aren’t addressing racism, they aren’t fully addressing trauma. Educational Leadership, 78(2), 80–81. The author discusses the need for schools and educators to acknowledge the racism-related trauma of African American students. Topics explored include the level of anxiety which may be attributed to the increasing racist incidents affecting the African American community in the U.S., the mental and physical health impact of racism-related stress, and the need for educators to demonstrate commitment to racial justice to effectively teach students how to mitigate racial trauma.
Wakeel, F., & Njoku, A. (2021). Application of the Weathering Framework: Intersection of Racism, Stigma, and COVID-19 as a Stressful Life Event among African Americans. Healthcare, 9(2), 145. The disproportionate impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on African American communities necessitates an increased focus on the intersectional roles of racism, stigma, and other social determinants of health in influencing disease and mortality risk. The Weathering Framework is applied to demonstrate the dynamic interrelationships between these factors and to conceptualize COVID-19 as a stressful life event that will have profound health implications over the life course for African Americans. Recommendations for population health research, interventions and policies aimed at reducing COVID-19 incidence and mortality, and mitigation of the long-term impacts of the pandemic on communities of color are discussed. Keywords: health disparities; COVID-19/coronavirus; stigma; race/ethnicity; social determinants of health; Blacks/African Americans; racism; systemic racism
Wilson, A., & Richardson, W. (2020). All I Want to Say Is That They Don’t Really Care About Us: Creating and Maintaining Healing-Centered Collective Care in Hostile Times. Occasional Paper Series, (43). Too often educators (care-givers) are left to navigate toxic work environments without proper support to combat the systemic issues they face daily. Institutions of higher education have neglected to make the health and well-being of care-givers a priority. This failure continues to maintain and perpetuate the oppressive conditions that mirror trauma, pain and stress. The authors of this study extend Ginwright’s (2018) healing centered engagement to conceptualize what they call healing centered collective care—a fugitive framework of care for the care-givers. Data was collected through two case studies and those generative themes are presented using testimonios from the authors.

Audiovisual Resources

Abolitionist Teaching Network. (2020-2021). ATN - Teaching To Thrive [Audio podcast series]. Captivate.fm Teaching to Thrive is a podcast committed to sharing ideas that strengthen the everyday lives of Black and Brown students within our schools and communities. Each episode is aimed at empowering our knowledge for collective liberation.
Acho, E. (2020). Mental health doesn’t discriminate with Lil Wayne - Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man Ep. 11 [TV Series Episode]. uncomfortableconvos.com. 5 time Grammy award winner, Lil Wayne, opens up for the first time ever about the details of his attempted suicide at age 12. Lil Wayne discusses his life long mental health struggles in a brave and vulnerable conversation with Emmanuel Acho. Listen as Wayne speaks with a transparency that we’ve never seen before. If you, or anyone else you know, has ever struggled with anxiety, depression, loneliness or any other mental health challenges - this is for you.
Bradford, J. H. (2019-). Therapy for Black Girls [Audio podcast series]. therapyforblackgirls.com To be seen, to be heard, and to be understood. So often the stigma surrounding mental health issues and therapy prevents Black women from taking the step of seeing a therapist. This space was developed to present mental health topics in a way that feels more accessible and relevant.
Bradford, J. H. (2020, January 9). Session 21: How Racism Impacts Our Mental Health [Audio podcast]. In The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast. therapyforblackgirls.com. The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast is a weekly conversation with Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed Psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, about all things mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves. After the harrowing events in Charlottesville, VA this past weekend and the cumulative amount of racial stress and trauma that has occurred in our community, it felt important to discuss how racism impacts our mental health and ways you can continue to take care of yourself.
Bradford, J. H. (2020, January 9). Session 42: Race-Related Stress [Audio podcast]. In The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast. therapyforblackgirls.com. The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast is a weekly conversation with Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed Psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, about all things mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible version of ourselves. This week’s episode features Crystal Joseph, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Licensed Professional Counselor, National Certified Counselor, & Board-Certified Case Manager. Crystal and I discussed what race-related stressors look like, stages of Wokeness, and how she works with her clients to manage some of these stressors including her use of music and pop culture.
Bradford, J. H. (2020, January 9). Session 134: The Impact of Racial Trauma [Audio podcast]. In The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast. therapyforblackgirls.com. The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast is a weekly conversation with Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a Licensed Psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, about all things mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible version of ourselves. Today we’re joined by Licensed Psychologist Dr. Candice Nicole Hargons for a discussion about the work she has done and continues to do to arm Black people with incredible resources to work through racial trauma, how we can advocate for ourselves and how that might look differently for each of us, and she offered tips for dealing with racism at work and school.
Bradford, J. H. (2020, July 1). Session 162: Processing Our Collective Grief [Audio podcast]. In The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast. therapyforblackgirls.com. Much of what we’ve been experiencing in various ways over the past couple of months is grief. Grief related to the loss of loved ones, our previous way of life, and our ideas about what 2020 would look like. To help us dig a little deeper into what grief looks like given our current state of affairs, Dr. Ajita Robinson is back with us this week. Dr. Robinson and I chatted about our collective sense of grief, how our rituals around grief have been upended, the importance of processing symbolic losses, and her thoughts about the work that will need to be done on the other end of the pandemic.
Bradford, J. H. (2020, May 20). Session 156: Managing Loneliness [Audio podcast episode]. In The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast. therapyforblackgirls.com. Our favorite friendship researcher, Dr. Marisa G. Franco is back with us this week to chat about managing loneliness. Dr. Franco and I chatted about the 3 different types of loneliness, how to tell if we’re struggling with loneliness, and tips for overcoming loneliness.
Bradford, J. H. (2020, May 20). Session 156: Managing Loneliness [Audio podcast]. In The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast. therapyforblackgirls.com. Our favorite friendship researcher, Dr. Marisa G. Franco is back with us this week to chat about managing loneliness. Dr. Franco and I chatted about the 3 different types of loneliness, how to tell if we’re struggling with loneliness, and tips for overcoming loneliness.
Missouri Institute for Mental Health. (2013). Deep, Dark Secret: A Closer Look at Mental Illness in the African American Community. AVON. Vetta Sanders-Thompson, PhD, and Jermine Alberty, BSB/M, MDiv, will discuss the taboo subject of mental illness in the African American community. They will explore topics surrounding the causes of the illness, the reason for the secret, and the need to break the silence. Sanders-Thompson and Alberty will address major mental health issues in the African American community, their causes, their effects on physical health, and the taboos surrounding them. They will also discuss the role of the clergy in combating the stigma against mental illness, and Mental Health First Aid-an education program that helps the public identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders.
TED. (2017). The trauma of systematic racism is killing Black women. A first step toward change... - T. Morgan Dixon & Vanessa Garrison [Video]. TED. T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison, founders of the health nonprofit GirlTrek, are on a mission to reduce the leading causes of preventable death among Black women -- and build communities in the process. How? By getting one million women and girls to prioritize their self-care, lacing up their shoes and walking in the direction of their healthiest, most fulfilled lives.
TEDx Talks. (2012, November 5). How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion: Peggy McIntosh at TEDxTimberlaneSchools [Video]. Youtube. Studying privilege systems can strengthen compassion and support social justice work
TEDx Talks. (2014, October 16.) Implicit Bias -- how it effects us and how we push through | Melanie Funchess | TEDxFlourCity [Video]. Youtube. This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Everyone makes assumptions about people they don’t know. Melanie will teach us to recognize these assumptions and work toward a common understanding. Ms. Melanie Funchess is currently employed by the Mental Health Association where she serves as the Director of Community Engagement. She is also involved in several community based coalitions and organizations such as the African American Leadership Development Program, African American Health Coalition, Black Women’s Leadership Forum, Greater Rochester Parent Leadership Training Institute, the Mental Health Promotion Task Force, and the Neighborhood Consortium for Youth Justice. She is a founding member of the Coalition for the Beloved Community. The Coalition’s mission is to serve as a “countywide movement to build a culture of peace; grounded in dignity and fed by hope”. She is a devoted wife and mother of four children (two boys and two girls) three of whom experience mental/ emotional challenges. Her mission is to use her knowledge of systems and communities to create opportunities for youth and families to be empowered and successful and to break down the walls that separate us and build bridges to unite us as one community where every child is our own, we have front porch neighborhoods, and we use language that respects everyone.

Guides & Tools

RESilience. (2019, October). Strategies to deal with racial stress and practice self-care. American Psychological Association. So, what can you do to mitigate racial stress?
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Mental Health: Tools and Resources. cdc.gov. The free and confidential resources below can help you or a loved one connect with a skilled, trained mental health professional.