Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism Resources for Therapists

Published: June 2, 2020 by Zencare Team

In order to provide safe and culturally competent care, it’s crucial that therapists understand the modern reality and historic basis of systemic and interpersonal racism. This is not a quick or easy process, and to aid in learning and unlearning what we know about race and the experience of being Black in America, we’ve compiled resources tailored to therapists in private practice. Below is a collection of books, articles, online courses, and other resources for therapists on diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and we encourage you to share helpful resources with your colleagues, friends, and families to continue this important work together.

Online courses on racial trauma

• Racialized Trauma – A 5-part e-course by Resmaa Menakem, LCSW
• Effects of Racism on Mental health – A webinar on the negative impact of racism on mental health symptoms for people of color
• Coupling within Context: Black Men and Women in Therapy from Christiana Awosan, PhD with AAMFT

Live online trainings

• White People Confronting Racism Online – A three-day online workshop by Training for Change for white people who want to challenge racism around them. Held July 17-19, 2020.
• Loving While Black – An online workshop by Racine R. Henry, PhD, LMFT on treating couples of African descent. Held on July 24th, 2020.

Articles on issues of race in psychology

• Whiteness Matters: Exploring White Privilege, Color Blindness and Racism in Psychotherapy (Margaret Clausen, PsyD)
• Biases Against POC Clients (CNN)
• Institutional Racism & Social Work: A Call To Action (NASW)
• Cultural Competence (NASW)
• Minority Health: Mental Health and African Americans (HHS)
• Left Out (APA)
• Racial Identity Development (Interaction Institute for Social Change)
• Healing the Hidden Wounds of Racial Trauma (Kenneth V. Hardy)

Articles on Black clients’ therapy experiences

• Why I’ll Be Choosing My Next Therapist by Race (Glamour)
• Why I Need a Woman of Color Therapist (Teen Vogue)
• Why I Left My White Therapist (Vice)

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Books on race and psychology

• Using Race and Culture in Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theory and Process by Janet E Helms, PhD
• A Race Is a Nice Thing to Have: A Guide to Being a White Person or Understanding the White Persons in Your Life by Janet E Helms, PhD
• My Grandmother’s Hands: Radicalized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem
• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD

Books on Blackness and exploring anti-racism

• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, the history of mass-incarceration in the United States
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, a letter from father to son on being Black in the United States
• Citizen by Claudia Rankine, a lyric on being Black in the United States
• Redefining Realness by Janet Mock, on growing up a multiracial and trans in America
• Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Dr. Brittney Cooper
• Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-Create Race in the Twenty-First Century by Dorothy Roberts, on the myth of the biology of race
• How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi (plus titles from his Anti-Racist Reading List)
• Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis, an exploration of prison abolition

Podcasts on anti-racism, Whiteness, and racial trauma

• Speaking of Psychology: Understanding your racial biases (Audrey Hamilton, with John Dovidio, PhD)
• Healing Racial Trauma – Episode 31 (Christiana Awosan, Christine Beliard and Erica Wilkins)
• How to Be Antiracist (Brene Brown, with Ibram X. Kendi)
• Let’s Talk About Whiteness (Krista Tippett, with Eula Biss)
• Seeing White (John Biewen, with regular guest Chenjerai Kumanyika, PhD)

Video resources

• 13th – Ava DuVernay, a documentary exploring race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States
• How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion Peggy McIntosh, a TEDx talk on issues of privilege through the lens of race, gender, and class
• Black Feminism & the Movement for Black Lives Barbara Smith, Reina Gossett, Charlene Carruthers; a panel on Black Feminism
• Reimagining Policing with former President Obama

Diversity and inclusion supervision for therapists

• Christiana Ibilola Awosan, LMFT, PhD (New York City)
• Melba Sullivan, PhD (New York City)
• William James Jones, PhD (Los Angeles)
• Sunitha Chandy, PhD (Chicago)
• Stephanie Thrower, PhD (Chicago)
• Nina Miller, PhD (New York City)

Anti-racist groups

• Black Lives Matter – global organization with a mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities
• INCITE! – feminists of color organizing to end state violence and violence at home and in communities
• Anti-Racist Alliance – for individuals, educators, activists and trainers who are interested in participating a national movement for racial justice
• Southern Poverty Law Center – a mission to fight hate, teach tolerance, and seek justice
• Equal Justice Initiative – working to end mass incarceration, excessive punishment, and racial inequality
• Audre Lorde Project – LGBTQIA2 POC community organizing center
• Black Women’s Blueprint – a feminist group working towards erasing disparities of race and gender
• NAACP – working towards eliminating racial discrimination and promoting equality
• Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) – multi-racial organizing group with a commitment to resourcing organizing led by POC

Additional resources

• Undoing Racism (The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond)
• Being Antiracist (National Museum of African American History & Culture)
• Talking to kids about discrimination (APA)
• Discrimination: What it is, and how to cope (APA)
• Stress in America: The impact of discrimination (APA)
• Black Liberation Reading List (NYPL)
• 31 Children’s books to support conversations on race, racism and resistance (EmbraceRace)
• Answering White People’s Most Commonly Asked Questions about the Black Lives Matter Movement (Bold Italic)
• Teach and Transform – anti-bias and anti-racism teachings for adults and children; including age-appropriate anti-bias reading lists
• Liberate (a meditation app for black, indigenous and POC community members)

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