A Call To Action for Helping Professionals
As technology bares witness to the viral assassination of black and brown people there has to be a shift in how WE, the community of helping professionals who took an oath to be ethically responsible for the mental wellbeing of others, have to rethink our approach to preventative and intervention therapies. It was long thought that strengthening a clients racial, ethical and cultural identity increased positive outcomes in terms of self esteem and self worth. THIS IS NO LONGER THE CASE. In fact, for black and brown people the fixed nature of the phenotypic characteristics of race now increases the likelihood of fear and feelings of dread that extend from the public domain into their private homes.
As a collective WE must work to respond to the call and provide a unified effort to share best therapeutic practices for the present-day harm that our black and brown clients face.
It is imperative that we ensure that the safe spaces that we hold sacred within our offices, extend to our black and brown clients as they move through their lives. “Silence gives consent”.
Let us all begin the dialogue here and within our helping communities so that we can develop best practices to support our black and brown clients thrive through the reality of racism.
