In this episode, I am joined by licensed psychotherapist & racism specialist April Harter. She is the founder of the Racism Recovery Center in Colorado. April is a black woman who provides services to white people who want to explore & heal their covert or overt racism. Yes, you read that right. April sees racism as a trauma response and, through healing her own racialized trauma, she's able to hold space for individuals & groups so that a major cause of racial trauma can be identified & healed: racism itself.
Our interview was so deep and juicy (2.5 hours) that I broke it up into two parts. In this first part, we talk about everything from lineage traumas, white supremacy, poverty trauma, and the cultural traumas that all of our ancestors (of every ethnicity) experienced when leaving their lives for a new life in America.
The takeaway for me? Work on your own capacity to hold your own trauma and you can be an authentic ally for anyone in need. In this case, white people exploring their own unresolved trauma so that they can physically & mentally show up to people of color, hear their stories, and provide an open heart vs. one of guilt, defense, or performative allyship. Through this, we heal our racist defense mechanisms and thinking. One by one, we can heal the racist systems as well.
For more information on April's work, visit https://www.racismrecoverycenter.com, or follow her on Instagram @racismrecoverycenter.
You can join May's Addiction Circle here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/events/somatic-addiction-circle-1
You can read more about, and register, for the upcoming retreat here: https://www.holisticlifenavigation.com/menla-retreat