Resources on How to Cope with Traumatic Racial Events

When traumatization occurs due to experiences of racism it is sometimes referred to as racial trauma. Racial trauma can result from acts and experiences of racism such as workplace discrimination or hate crimes.  It can also be the result of an accumulation of many less overt occurrences, such as, everyday discrimination and micro-aggressions. Regardless of whether these racial acts are overt or not, they are traumatic to the victim of these experiences.

Watching the news right now can be overwhelming for both children and adults. The world can feel like a very unstable and unsafe place.

Understanding how to cope with traumatic racial events is important for mental health and overall wellness.

Understanding how to talk to your family and children about what is going on in the world is important for mental health and overall wellness.

Here’s some resources we’ve put together for both adults and kids:

Resources for Adults & Kids:

• Sesame Street 60-minute special “Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism. A CNN/Sesame Street Town Hall for Kids and Families” will air on Saturday, June 6, at 10 a.m. ET
• Glazer Children’s Museum “Embrace Race” Social Justice Resources for Talking with Your Children, Resources Targeted to Educators, Resources for Kids, Books & Podcast for Adults 
• Self Care Tips 
• Healed Men, Heal Men 
• 8 Tips for Talking to Your Child About Racial Injustice
• Supporting Kids of Color in the Wake of Racialized Violence
• Your 5 year old is already racially biased and here’s what you can do about it
• How Kids Learn About Race – confronting common myths
• Talking Race with Young Children, a Conversation with NPR and Sesame Workshop
• I Love My Hair – Sesame Street video featuring Mando and Segi (English & Spanish)
• Mental Health Issues Facing the Black Community 
• Black Youth Matters: Understanding Mental Health Issues among Black Teens

Coming of age is hard under practically all circumstances; coming of age and identifying as LGBTQ+ can be even more difficult, especially if the very people who are supposed to protect and love you judge you and treat you differently because of your orientation. The discrimination, abuse, and marginalization that LGBTQ+ young adults face in childhood can carry over well into adulthood in multiple areas of life, including the workplace, the family, the legislative chamber, and even the doctor’s office. Internal and external stressors can lead to serious mental health issues, including suicidal ideations and attempts. 

LGBTQ+ Young Adults and Teen Mental Health Guide

Resources for kids that celebrate diversity:

• All Are Welcome,  (ages 4-7)
•  *Lovely (ages 2+) 
• We’re Different (ages 2-5) We’re The Same

For cultural diversity:

• *On The Day You Begin (ages 6-12)
•  *Where Are You From? (ages 3-10)
• *Alma And How She Got Her Name (ages 3-8)

How diversity makes us stronger:

• *We Are America, (ages 6+)
•  *Three Balls Of Wool (ages 3-9) 
• *Spork (ages 4+)

Books with Protagonists of Color

A 2018 study by the School Library Journal showed that 50% of all characters in children’s books were white. 27% were animals. Populating your child’s bookcase with books featuring people of color as protagonists is an important step in combating the narrative of white domination. Here are a few of our favorites!

Preschool

• The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. A classic tale of joy and discovery in fresh snow.
• The Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena. Nana shows her grandson the city as they travel by bus.
• I Am Enough by Grace Byers. The main character celebrates herself in this poetic picture book.

Grades K-2

• Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall. Jabari is scared to jump from the high diving board. This book helps kids understand how to confront and deal with fear.
• Princess Hair by Sharee Miller. A beautiful, joyous celebration of all girls’ hairstyles and hair textures.
• The Katie Woo series by Fran Manushkin. Early rider chapter books featuring a stylish and spunky heroine in relatable adventures.

Grades 3-6

• The Birchbark House series by Louise Erdich follows an Ojibwe family through Minnesota in the mid-late 1800s.
• The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon. A sweet story of friendship and adventure. 
• Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. A Newberry-Medal winning novel about an orphan’s search for home.

Grades 6 and up

• Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D Taylor
• For Black Girls Like Me by Mariama J. Lockington. A black girl in a white family finds her voice.
• Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan. An award-winning piece of historical fiction that tells the story of a Mexican migrant farmworker in the 1930s.

Podcasts

• About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge  (4.8 stars)
• The Diversity Gap  (5 stars)
• What Matters  (5 stars)
• POD Save the People  (5 stars with 6.7K ratings)
• You’re Pretty for a Podcast

Apps

• The Safe Place – on Google play and in the App Store    Minority Mental Health app
• Liberate Meditation – on Google play and in the App Store   #1 meditation app for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color community

A Raw and Authentic Story

Join us as Jesaira L Glover, MA, APC, NCC, CPC, shares her story, “I Am Not My Hair”, a raw and authentic sharing from a member of the black community. Glover focuses on the physical and emotional effects of those suffering from Racial Trauma or Race-Based Traumatic Stress in today’s society: