The Black Paradise Project: Racial Trauma Within Black Communities

In recent years, Black people have been exposed to videos and images of fellow Black people being killed by the police. This barrage of Black death makes Black people susceptible to experiencing racial trauma, a term used to describe the physical and psychological symptoms that people of color often experience after exposure to stressful experiences of racism. Racial Trauma Within Black Communities: A Panel Discussion Among Black Mental Health Clinicians will invite a number of Black mental health clinicians with various social identities and areas of expertise to speak about racial trauma’s impact on the mental health of Black individuals and communities. Panelists will reflect on the impact racial trauma has had on their lives, share their clinical experiences working with people experiencing racial trauma, and provide perspectives on ways Black people can heal from racial trauma.

Join us virtually to learn about the impact of racial trauma, explore means of healing, ask questions to our panelists, and engage in a supportive and affirming space.

Moderated by: Kimberly Ashby, PhD

Panelists:

Shesheena A. Bray, M.S.Ed

Shesheena A. Bray is a mother, therapist, advocate, and educator. Through Going Inward Wellness, LLC, Shesheena sees individuals and couples for psychotherapy, teaches yoga, hosts wellness workshops for global majority women, teaches mindfulness to youth and adults, and offers professional wellness development to businesses and organizations. Shesheena currently serves as the lead clinician in the Life after Trauma Organization (LATO), a mindfulness instructor for What is Mindfulness (WIM), and Director of Programs for me too. International, supporting survivors of sexual violence.

Kevin Hubbard, LPC

Kevin Hubbard is a licensed professional counselor in PA and NJ, a certified mindfulness-informed professional, and a clinician trained in EMDR. Kevin has made it his career to work in under-served communities of color, including those with limited access to quality mental and behavioral health care. As a clinician at the Ladipo Group, Kevin provides therapy, training, and supervision for other mental health professionals, conducts mental health consulting, and engages in group mindfulness coaching.

Sam L. Rucker, MA, LPC, NCC

Sam L. Rucker is an Afro-Indigenous, Queer, Nonbinary psychotherapist, who utilizes trauma-informed, relational style therapy through an intersectional feminist lens and Afro-Indigenous spiritual practices to facilitate the healing process. The crux of Sam’s work rests in identifying and reconnecting to the self, healing internal dissonance. Sam refers to this work as reestablishing personal and generational roots to mend the fractured soul. In private practice and with the Therapy Center of Philadelphia (TCP), Sam works with marginalized adult individuals, transracial adoptive families, and guides newer clinicians/healers toward deepening and defining their practices.

Eva Wilson, PhD

Dr. Eva S. Wilson is a Multiracial, Black, cis-woman and counseling psychologist. Currently, Eva is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Counseling and Psychological Services, where she provides culturally responsive, social justice oriented therapy and outreach programming to students, including supporting Black students experiencing racial trauma. Eva’s clinical interests include working with adolescents and adults with a special interest in racial identity development and adult ADHD.