Kenneth V. Hardy

Racial trauma is an inescapable byproduct of persistent exposure to repressive circumstances that emotionally, psychologically and physically devastates one’s sense of self while simultaneously depleting one’s strategies for coping. It is a life-altering and debilitating experience that affects countless numbers of people of colour over multiple generations. Unfortunately, the failure to consider the interrelationship between racial oppression and trauma limits clinicians’ ability to work effectively with many people of colour who live amid sociocultural conditions that are injurious to their psyches and souls. Even when therapy is trauma-informed, it rarely devotes adequate attention to racial oppression and the pervasive trauma associated with it. This groundbreaking book provides a comprehensive overview of the anatomy of racial trauma and the debilitating hidden wounds associated with it. Racially sensitive trauma-informed interventions and strategies that centralise race and racial oppression in every facet of the therapeutic process and relationship are meticulously highlighted, making this a must-read resource for all practising and aspiring clinicians.

Offering a fresh perspective on treatment, this book presents an overarching framework and many specific strategies for working with violent youth and their families. The authors shed light on the complex interplay of individual, family, community, and societal forces that lead some adolescents to hurt others or themselves. Effective ways to address each of these factors in clinical and school settings are discussed and illustrated with evocative case material. The book provides essential guidance on connecting with aggressive teens and their parents and managing difficult situations that are likely to arise. The strengths-based interventions presented are applicable to a broad range of high-risk behaviors, from bullying and assault to substance abuse, self-mutilation, and suicidality.