Namely, they can also take steps toward changing an unjust and racist system that powerfully and negatively affects the mental health of Black Americans. Hammonds had to compartmentalize her own feelings of powerlessness to help the client.Ĭounselors play an important role in helping Black Americans cope with and heal from racial stress and trauma, but they can do more. Hammonds left the store and shortly thereafter went into a counseling session where her client recounted feeling powerless, angry and upset because of injustices they were experiencing in their life. She feared the consequences of saying or doing anything in response. Hammonds, wearing a shirt that read “Black and Educated,” was shopping in Walmart recently when a White woman passed by her and casually said, “You’re disgusting.” In that moment, Hammonds felt powerless. How do daily acts of racial violence, injustice and discrimination affect the mental health of Black Americans? What is it like to work and live beside people who don’t value you as a human being? What is it like to live in a country where your rights are frequently threatened?ĭominique Hammonds, an assistant professor and testing coordinator in the Department of Human Development and Psychological Counseling at Appalachian State University, provides a quick glimpse into the complexities of being a Black woman and counselor in a racist society. The horrible and senseless killings of Black people throughout our nation’s history and into the present day. Disparities in education and health care. The weaponization of Whiteness and privilege. The way policies and laws are implemented. Racial violence and discrimination are woven into the fabric of the United States.
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