The Diversity Workgroup workshop series:
Through An/Other Lens: Multicultural Perspectives
Exploring the Unconscious: African American Males, Social Justice, and Violence in America
Presenter: Nakia Hamlett, PhD
Saturday December 13, 2014
Violence and homicide are leading causes of death for African American males and they are disproportionately represented among the incarcerated (Edelman, 2014). Even among those African American males who overcome early adversity and successfully navigate the American educational system, the legacy of racism, fear, and cultural marginalization that has characterized the African American experience, continues to impact their lives and outcomes. The present talk will explore unconscious elements of racial bias, perceptions, stereotypes, and links to social justice and violence involving African American males. Informed by theories of attachment, object relations, cognitive science, and multicultural psychology, the overall aim of this work is to highlight the psychological characteristics and therapeutic needs of this vulnerable group framed within the larger socioeconomic, political, and cultural context of American society. This work also seeks to explore cultural perceptions including the pervasive conscious (or unconscious) fear of the African American male and identity development in contemporary African American youth. Contemporary research models highlighting racial bias and cultural perceptions will be integrated with experiential activities and case material to enhance learning, exploration, and discussion. In the short-term this diversity workshop seeks to engage clinicians in honest, challenging dialogue about stereotypes, perceptions of African American youth, racial bias, and contemporary cultural realities. In the long-term, this work challenges mental health care practitioners to carefully consider ways in which their own cultural biases, perceptions impact their clinical work and to explore ways in which they can become positive agents of social change.
**Workshops are free and open to CSPP members only. Please RSVP to Dr. Rita McCleary at rita.mccleary@gmail.com**
Light refreshments will be available.
Directions:
Mt. Carmel Medical & Professional Building
3074 Whitney Ave., Bldg 1, Hamden, Ct. 06518
Take exit 10 off Rt. 91 onto Rt 40 connector and go to the end . Turn R at the end, onto Whitney Ave., (Rt. 10) toward Mt. Carmel. Go about 1/4 mile, passing Thyme and Seasons health food store. Just past Gulf Station turn left onto driveway 3074 Whitney. Park in back.
Past workshops:
On Othering and Otherness
Presenter: Rachel Torello, Psy.D.
Saturday September 20, 2014, 11am to 1pm
This workshop will explore the concept of “othering” (the process whereby a dominant group defines into existence an inferior group) as a social phenomenon that manifests itself in various forms in our psychotherapeutic relationships. We will discuss issues of power, privilege, oppression, and efforts to resist “otherness” in our clinical work.
In Search of the Language of the Heart:
A bilingual client in therapy
Presenter: Maria Elena Oliva, LCSW, PhD candidate
Saturday October 25, 2014, 12:30 - 2:30
Psychotherapy for a bilingual client is complex when experienced in their second language. Much can be misunderstood and much can be missed altogether. Language is in the spotlight when we consider therapy with bilingual clients referred for the “talking cure.” The bilingual client is at a disadvantage when the intimacy of their culture and expression of their affective experience cannot be accessed in their second language. The first language holds the bonds of attachment ties and the rhythm and intonations in the voices of their primary caregiving relationship.
