August 12 through the Lens of Racial Trauma and Recovery

This week we mark the anniversary of the white supremacist violence of August 11-12, 2017. The horrific events of three years ago are a part of the long and continuing legacy of systemic racism—including the enslavement of Africans in Virginia beginning in 1619; the lynching of John Henry James in Albemarle County in 1898; Black residents of Charlottesville being arrested at far higher rates than people of any other race within the past five years; and, nationally, in 2020, the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.

The psychological impacts of these ongoing traumas are clear: The lack of safety for Black Americans leads directly to mental health distress and anguish (a topic Michelle Obama recently spoke about—read her words below). In order to provide safe spaces for support in our community, The Women's Initiative Sister Circle Program is offering a number of virtual programs for Black women this August and September. See below for details. And during the pandemic our "virtual doors" continue to be open to provide culturally responsive support through Call-in Clinics and individual counseling.

(For additional culturally responsive resources, see our post "Racism and Police Brutality Cause Mental Health Trauma.”)

To register or for more information, click here


"Offer a shoulder to lean on, or ask for one yourself."

Michelle Obama recently spoke out about depressive feelings she has been experiencing due to the pandemic and ongoing racist violence. Her courage reminds us of the power of sharing our stories. She wrote these words of advice for anyone struggling in this time:

"I hope you all are allowing yourselves to feel whatever it is you’re feeling... I hope you’re also reaching out to all those you’re closest with, not just with a text, but maybe with a call or a videochat. Don’t be afraid to offer them a shoulder to lean on, or to ask for one yourself."

Stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram for more self-care and wellness ideas

Racism and Police Brutality Cause Mental Health Trauma

Dear friends,

As a trauma-informed agency, we know that the first step of healing from trauma is creating safety. Black people living in constant fear of their lives and the lives of their loved ones is a mental health emergency. And with each new instance of police violence, we are reminded that the ability to find safety is not equally distributed in our community. The suffering can feel relentless. Grief, anger, hopelessness and exhaustion are normal responses to these horrific events.

The recent acts of police brutality represent only a tiny fraction of the inhumane cruelty that white people in power have perpetrated against the Black community for over 400 years. As Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker wrote recently, “The lynching of George Floyd follows an infinite history of white brutality against Black Lives. From the time that bodies were stolen from the coasts of Africa to present day, white people have failed to see us as human.” As we mourn the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, and see the threat to Christian Cooper’s life, we encourage everyone to recognize the horrific impact, both physical and emotional, that racism and systems of oppression have on the Black community. The coronavirus’s disproportionate impact on Black men and women is yet another chapter in this same brutal history. Any possibility of healing these longstanding wounds requires recognition and reckoning with the truth of the trauma.

The mission of The Women’s Initiative is vitally connected to fighting for safety and justice for every member of our community. We stand in solidarity with Black leaders and communities locally and nationally seeking justice and promoting safe spaces for healing. We encourage you to take action for change (see resources below) and to take care of yourself during these difficult days. If needed, please consider our Call-in Clinic, or connecting with our Sister Circle Program or some of the other local and national resources listed below. If you have suggestions for additional ways that our organization can proactively support our community,
please feel free to be in touch directly with me.

Racism is a mental health issue because trauma and the inability to feel safe are mental health issues. Black lives matter; Black safety matters; Black mental health and healing matters.

Much love,

Elizabeth Irvin, LCSW
Executive Director, The Women's Initiative

Culturally responsive mental health & self-care resources

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Resources for learning & taking action

Sister Circle promotes Community Healing Days

Somebody told a lie one day…They made everything Black, ugly and evil.
— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Take a day to heal from the lies you’ve been told and the ones you’ve told yourself.
— Dr. Maya Angelou

The Women’s Initiative Sister Circle Program is promoting the National Community Healing Network’s annual “Community Healing Days” this October as a part of its commitment to fostering healing for Black women and women of color in our community.

The goals of the Community Healing Days include celebrating Black identity and the idea of “flourishing while Black.” These days are also about healing the global Black community from the trauma of anti-Black racism.

Sister Circle Co-Coordinators Alyson Stewart, MFT, and Shelly Wood, MSW, attended the conference of the National Community Healing Network and the Association of Black Psychologists in Richmond in August. They suggest the following activities and conversation starters for Community Healing Days this October 18-20.

TWI counselors Shelly Wood, MSW, left, and Alyson Stewart, MFT, center, with Dr. Cheryl Grills, right, of the Association of Black Psychologists.

TWI counselors Shelly Wood, MSW, left, and Alyson Stewart, MFT, center, with Dr. Cheryl Grills, right, of the Association of Black Psychologists.

  • Take the pledge to “defy the lie of Black inferiority” and “embrace the truth of Black humanity”

  • Wear a sky-blue article of clothing, responding to Dr. Maya Angelou’s call “to show our collective determination to turn the pain of the blues into the sky blue of unlimited possibilities.” Ideas: Tie, lapel pin or brooch, shoes, earrings, nail polish, scarf, carnation. Post pictures on social media with the hashtag #communityhealingdays

  • Take time out with a friend, such as for coffee, lunch, or a walk

  • Gather friends, family or coworkers to…

The Sister Circle Program at The Women’s Initiative provides mental health and wellness programs to reach and serve Black women and women of color.

TWI recognized for service to refugees

Staff of The Women’s Initiative and the International Rescue Committee at the award ceremony in July. The IRC cited the impact of the work of TWI therapist Joanna Ajex, MA, second from left, who provides counseling to refugees at the IRC office in C…

Staff of The Women’s Initiative and the International Rescue Committee at the award ceremony in July. The IRC cited the impact of the work of TWI therapist Joanna Ajex, MA, second from left, who provides counseling to refugees at the IRC office in Charlottesville each week.

The Women’s Initiative has been named the 2019 “Service Partner of the Year” for its work with refugees in the state of Virginia.

The award was given by the Virginia Refugee Resettlement Network “for outstanding contributions in the field of refugee mental health.”

In its nomination of The Women’s Initiative for the award, the Charlottesville office of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) cited the impact of the work of Joanna Ajex, MA, MD (Russia), TWI therapist and education coordinator, who provides individual counseling to refugees at the IRC office every week.

Dr. Ajex and The Women’s Initiative ... help refugees at a crucial moment in their lives.
— International Rescue Committee

“She is adept in working with interpreters and clients from diverse backgrounds,” the Charlottesville IRC staff wrote. “Having her as a resource allows our clients to access mental health services in a timely and efficient manner. Whereas psychiatry providers focus primarily on medication, and other psychological services are often restrictive in their availability, costs, and language capacity, Dr. Ajex and The Women's Initiative circumvent these challenges to help refugees at a crucial moment in their lives.

“These appointments, free of charge for IRC clients, greatly reduce the barriers to care that refugee and immigrant families typically experience. Long waits for appointments, difficulty with scheduling and transportation, unfamiliar locations and limited access to interpretation as well as a general mistrust of mental health care regularly prevent individuals from accessing help. TWI's contribution and commitment have mitigated these barriers significantly.”

The IRC also noted its collaboration with TWI and VCU on a psychoeducational program that increases understanding of the mental health impact of resettlement on refugees. The program, called Trauma-Informed Cross-Cultural Psychoeducation (TICCP), empowers leaders of refugee and immigrant communities to build awareness about stress, trauma and culture. Ajex co-leads the program with Ingrid Ramos, LPC.

“The Women’s Initiative has demonstrated exemplary vision and leadership in the field of mental health for a number of years, and has generously contributed their services to the refugee community through our partnership,” the IRC wrote.

Yoga offerings help women heal

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Yoga at The Women’s Initiative helps women restore a feeling of safety in their bodies.

Increasing research testifies to the healing power of yoga and other mindfulness practices. Bessel Van Der Kolk, a professor of psychiatry at Boston University Medical School and a leading researcher in traumatic stress, has found that frequent yoga practice over extended periods of time helps decrease symptoms of PTSD and depression in women.

The Women’s Initiative offers new yoga classes each season. Examples include Chair Yoga; Gentle Yoga for Mindfulness; and Yoga for Women of Color in partnership with Common Ground Healing Arts. Click here to see our current yoga and other mind-body offerings.

Yoga and mindfulness practices can help us befriend our bodies and their sensations, release muscular tension instilled not just by everyday stress but by traumatic histories, and use our breath to regulate our nervous systems—all processes that trauma is apt to disrupt.

Mind-body programming at TWI is free and open to all women and all bodies.Though any community yoga or mindfulness class can help one to heal, our trauma-sensitive program is unique in that it puts particular emphasis on cultivating physical and emotional safety. In TWI mind-body classes, all "instructions" are really invitations: a participant is as free to exit a pose or a movement or the room as she is to enter it. And this invitation is itself part of the healing, enabling a sense of physical and emotional agency that the traumatized body may have forgotten.

This article is adapted from our Winter 2018 Newsletter.

Understanding the impact of childhood trauma

Recommended reading: "What Do Asthma, Heart Disease and Cancer Have in Common? Maybe Childhood Trauma," from NPR.

Read this report and learn about the severity and prevalence of childhood trauma, also known as toxic stress. This public health issue affects so many in our community, including many of our clients.

That's why we are bringing greater awareness of all the ways to heal trauma—including therapy, movement, groups and education.

Chair Yoga promotes strength & healing

Join us on Wednesday mornings for Chair Yoga, a gentle and therapeutic offering that promotes strength, flexibility, healing and mindful attention.

Chair Yoga is a part of our expanded Mind-Body Program to meet the holistic needs of women who have experienced trauma.

Increasing research testifies to the healing power of yoga and other mindfulness practices. Bessel Van Der Kolk, a professor of psychiatry at Boston University Medical School and a leading researcher in traumatic stress, has found that frequent yoga practice over extended periods of time helps decrease symptoms of PTSD and depression in women.

Yoga and mindfulness practices can help us befriend our bodies and their sensations, release muscular tension instilled not just by everyday stress but by traumatic histories, and use our breath to regulate our nervous systems—all processes that trauma is apt to disrupt.

Katharine Scott Gilliam teaches Chair Yoga at The Women's Initiative, which is free and open to all women and all bodies. The class meets every Wednesday at our main office, 1101 East High Street, from 11:15 am-12:15 pm.

 

 

Katharine Scott Gilliam teaches Chair Yoga at The Women's Initiative.

Katharine Scott Gilliam teaches Chair Yoga at The Women's Initiative.

Trauma-informed care discussion draws 700 attendees

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The Greater Charlottesville community came together Tuesday morning to commit to addressing trauma as a major public-health issue. 

Theresa Caldwell, left, and Dr. Allison Sampson-Jackson.

Theresa Caldwell, left, and Dr. Allison Sampson-Jackson.

Dr. Allison Sampson-Jackson and Theresa Caldwell lead a conversation entitled “Trauma: How it affects you and every member of our community” at the Paramount. More than 700 people were in attendance.  

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The Women’s Initiative was a co-host of the event in partnership with Adiuvans, the Greater Charlottesville Trauma-Informed Community Network, ReadyKids, Piedmont CASA, the Community Mental Health and Wellness Coalition and the Early Education Task Force.

Toxic trauma is the result of prolonged or multiple exposures to adverse childhood experiences, abbreviated ACEs, such as physical, sexual and emotional abuse. A landmark study in the 1990s established that these experiences are common and can impact many aspects of physical and mental health, even leading to early death. Additional research is also connecting multigenerational trauma and historical oppression of minority communities to negative health outcomes.

Theresa Caldwell, left, and TWI Board Member Beverly Adams, PhD.

Theresa Caldwell, left, and TWI Board Member Beverly Adams, PhD.

A recent study, for example, found that 61% of mental health conditions that caused a disruption in work or other activities for 14 days or more were related to ACES.

“People are dying, going to jail, suffering...we have to be able to talk about it,” Sampson-Jackson said.

Sampson-Jackson and Caldwell also stressed that resilience—the ability to bounce back from difficult experiences—can be built and nurtured in individuals, families and communities.

The Women’s Initiative is committed to being a leader in trauma-informed care in Central Virginia. TWI Executive Director Elizabeth Irvin, LCSW, is on the steering committee of the Greater Charlottesville Trauma-Informed Community Network and is co-chair of the Community Mental Health and Wellness Coalition. And, as a part of our 2016-2020 Strategic Plan, The Women’s Initiative is creating a comprehensive trauma program to bring greater awareness of all the ways to heal trauma—including therapy, movement, groups and education.

To learn more or become involved in the Greater Charlottesville Trauma-Informed Community Network, email Trauma@PCASA.org and include your name in the body of the email.

Growing our Mind-Body Program to heal trauma

We're growing our Mind-Body Program to help heal trauma through movement.

Trauma-informed yoga, dance and other movement styles help release muscular tension stored in our bodies because of both everyday stress and histories of trauma. These practices also enable us to use breath to regulate our nervous system, a process which trauma often disrupts. 

All of these offerings are free and open to all women and all bodies, and no experience is required.

Check out our latest mind-body offerings...

Additionally, The Women's Initiative will be hosting a special Holiday Breathe & Move event, with yoga as well as origami paper-crane-making.

Call (434) 872-0047 to reserve your spot, and check out the Facebook event!