The pursuit of happiness is a human right, and this begins with equal access to civil liberties. The resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement brings to our awareness the existence of persistent systemic oppression in nearly every aspect of society. This illumination goes hand in hand with facing the depth of the trauma, anxiety, depression, and chronic stress caused by systemic racism.
Mental health is often a social justice issue. In the service of disrupting and healing the impact of this trauma, Resmaa Menaken, an accomplished therapist, author, and civil rights activist is currently offering a free online course on racialized trauma through the Cultural Somatics Training and Institute.
This course is not a practice of spiritual bypass or positive thinking, but rather, a grounded, accessible process of acknowledging the impact of racialized trauma and how trauma is stored in the nervous system across generations. This course also provides techniques for building stamina to communicate about racism and trauma within our communities.
Resmaa Menaken has also written an incredibly helpful book on this topic entitled,
My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. This wonderful book offers tools from somatic psychology and neuroscience to help your body release personal and generational trauma.
To explore this book and view additional books related to mental health on the Happiness Clinic booklist, you can click here. As always, 100% of profits from every purchase on this list will go to our charity alliance partners: Direct Relief, ACLU, and Action Against Hunger.
Feel free to send a message if you need support, referrals, or additional resources to address PTSD, chronic stress, and the impact of radicalized or intergenerational trauma.