Therapy For Racial Trauma & Racial Identity
Your Identity Matters. You Matter.
Race, culture, and ethnicity has always shaped your experiences and how you navigate the world.
Growing up as a person of color in the United States was and still is complex, confusing, and traumatic.
All of your racist experiences have compounded. You are tired, exhausted, angry, and sad.
You code-switched and became someone else because that was a survival tactic growing up. You wanted to assimilate, conform, and fit in with everyone else.
Maybe you wanted to change your name. Perhaps it was just easier to ignore the microaggressions and flippant comments than to address them daily.
Over time, you became numb, dissociated, and disconnected from yourself, your body, and your emotions.
Common Struggles
Racial Trauma
Micro and macro aggressions
Different levels of racial trauma (historical, systemic, institutional, individual)
Impacts on mental health, health, education, housing, employment
You’ve navigated predominately white institutions your entire life, but never took time to slow down to see how this impacted your mind, body, and spirit
You wanted to change your non-Eurocentric name growing up to better fit in
You were repeatedly told to “go back to your country” growing up, but that was confusing and frustrating because you were born in the United States
Maybe you grew up in a small, conservative town/city where you and your family were the only people of color
You slowly internalized messages of inferiority and now want to unpack these myths and replace them with more realistic and loving messages
Adult Children of Refugees
Your parents are survivors. Survivors of the Khmer Genocide. Survivors of the Vietnam War.
The impacts of intergenerational trauma were normalized growing up. Parents waking up in the middle of the night with nightmares screaming. Living in scarcity saving every little thing in case a war breaks out again. Always on edge and worried something bad might happen.
You grew up with a scarcity mindset. You didn't have much and need much. You didn’t ask for much either. You learned to internalize a lot, like your feelings and thoughts.
Perhaps you grew up too quickly and became emotional caretaker in your family. You were really good at this, but it was so exhausting and tiring.
Racial Identity
Maybe some people tell you you’re not Asian/Black/Latinx/Indigenous enough. Perhaps others tell you that you are too white in the way you dress and speak.
Some of this may even come from your own friends and family members. This can be confusing and painful.
Perhaps you’re bi-racial or multi-racial and finding your way toward belonging and community.
Maybe you’re a trans racial adoptee who yearns to define what your identity means specifically for you and your complex experiences.
Adult Children of Immigrants
You were born overseas and came to the United States as a child. Or perhaps you immigrated during your early teenage years and attended high school in the United States
You grew up as a cultural broker for your parents (translating documents, navigating new systems like healthcare, banking, transportation, etc.)
You feel the push and pull of career expectations of your parents to become work in finance, business, law, engineering, computer science, and/or medicine
Your parents often compare your experience as luxury compared to theirs growing up with less privilege and resources
Therapy For Racial Trauma & Identity Can Help You
✔️ Heal from internalized oppression and internalized racism.
✔️ Make space for all your emotions including rage, anger, grief, and fatigue.
✔️ Identify how larger systems and structures intentionally cause violence, harm, and hurt to people and bodies of color.
✔️ Holding complexities (both-and, not either-or): Considering the individual identities you carry, and how each of those identities dynamically come together to make up the larger picture of your whole self.
✔️ Make explicit the implicit: Naming how intersecting systems of power, privilege, and oppression impact our therapeutic relationship and concepts of health and healing.
✔️Connect to your culture, rituals, spirituality, religion, and ceremonies as a way of honoring your losses.
✔️ Process and feel grief. Naming and expressing your feelings through letter writing, art, and talking.
✔️Guiding you toward self-love, self-acceptance, self-compassion, and ultimately a stronger sense of self for all parts of you.
Finding A Therapist As A Person Of Color
Seattle is an overwhelmingly white city (67%)
You’re tired of explaining to your therapist about your experiences of oppression, discrimination, and violence related to race
You never really vibe with or had a good connection with your white therapist. Something was off. You wanted more humanity and realness.
Many Of My Clients Are
First generation college students
First generation and 1.5 generation immigrants
Adult children of refugees
Queer folks
Professionals working in tech, medicine, education, and law
In the helping professions: social workers, therapists, nurses, and caretakers
Those who grew up working class and/or poor and now have more financial security
Healing Is Possible
I can help you heal from racial trauma, unlearn toxic messaging from white supremacy, and learn to love yourself unconditionally.
Our trauma does not just impact how we think, but also how we walk, carry ourselves, and relate to others. Trauma is stuck in the body.
You can heal from the wounds from the past and have a life of joy.
Reach out today to schedule a consultation.