On-Demand

Treating Racial Trauma

Monnica T. Williams, PhD, ABPP
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Pricing

Information

What Sets This Course Apart:

Research-Based and Actionable: Includes cutting-edge tools like the UnRESTS interview, Racial Trauma Scale, CBT-based strategies, and real-world case studies to bridge theory and practice.

Comprehensive Scope: Covers the full therapeutic process—assessment, stabilization, healing, and empowerment—culminating in post-traumatic growth and overcoming adversity.

Cultural Responsiveness: Emphasizes the therapist’s role in understanding cultural identities and dismantling systemic barriers in a sensitive, respectful manner.

Client and Therapist Empowerment: Prepares therapists to lead by example, addressing their own biases while guiding clients through transformative healing.

Description

Coming Soon On Demand - April 28, 2025

This comprehensive course equips therapists with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to effectively address: racial trauma, fostering healing, empowerment, and systemic change. Drawing on cutting-edge research, evidence-based strategies, and culturally responsive practices, this course takes participants on a transformative journey through understanding, assessing, and treating the complex impacts of racial trauma.

 

Participants will develop skills to identify and assess the stratified impacts of racial stressors—including systemic racism, microaggressions, and internalized biases—using validated measures like the UnRESTS interview. Through psychoeducation and therapeutic strategies, therapists will learn to help clients stabilize emotions, process racial trauma, and build resilience. Emphasis is placed on fostering posttraumatic growth, empowering clients to reclaim their voices, and equipping them to navigate and challenge racism in their daily lives.

 

This course also prepares therapists to embody civil courage, becoming effective racial justice allies and advocates within their practices and communities. With a focus on self-compassion, assertive communication, and meaningful advocacy, therapists will gain practical tools to support clients while cultivating their own growth and resilience.

 

By the end of the course, participants will have the expertise to create individualized racial wellness plans, integrate activism into healing, and help clients transition from trauma to empowerment.

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

  • Understand and Assess Racial Trauma: Identify the cumulative impact of racial stress and trauma using tools like the UnRESTS semi-structured interview, validated questionnaires, and client narratives.

  • Stabilize Clients and Build Resilience: Help clients make sense of their racial trauma, reduce internalized shame, and develop coping skills and supportive networks.

  • Facilitate Healing and Post-traumatic Growth: Guide clients through processing unresolved trauma, reframing harmful narratives, and learning new skills for empowerment.

  • Promote Advocacy and Activism: Equip clients with assertive communication and boundary-setting skills to safely confront racism while identifying meaningful ways to engage in transforming their environments.

  • Foster Therapist Growth: Develop the therapist’s capacity for growth, courage, cultural competence, and advocacy to better support clients and challenge systemic racism in professional and personal contexts.

Target Audience

  • Counselor
  • Marriage & Family Therapist
  • Psychologist
  • Social Worker
  • Substance Use Disorder Professionals

Presenters

Monnica T. Williams, PhD, ABPP
Dr. Monnica T. Williams is a board-certified Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Professor at the University of Ottawa, in the School of Psychology, where she is the Canada Research Chair in Mental Health Disparities. She is also the Clinical Director of the Behavioral Wellness Clinics in Connecticut and Ottawa, where she provides supervision and training to clinicians for empirically-supported treatments. Prior to her move to Canada, Dr. Williams was on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School (2007-2011), the University of Louisville in Psychological and Brain Sciences (2011-2016), where she served as the Director of the Center for Mental Health Disparities, and the University of Connecticut (2016-2019), where she had appointments in both Psychological Science and Psychiatry. Dr. Williams' research focuses on BIPOC mental health, culture, and psychopathology, and she has published over 200 scientific articles on these topics. Current projects include the treatment of racial trauma, improving cultural competence in the delivery of mental health care services, and addressing structural racism. She gives diversity trainings nationally for academic programs, scientific conferences, and organizations. Through the Kentucky Psychological Association (KPA), Dr. Williams served as the diversity delegate to Washington DC for the American Psychological Association (APA) State Leadership Conference for two consecutive years. She has served as the African American SIG leader for Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT), and recently served as Chair of their Academic Training & Education Standards (ATES) Committee. She serves as an Associate Editor of Behavior Therapy and the Behavior Therapist. She also serves on the editorial board of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Canadian Psychology, International Journal of Mental Health, the Journal of Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders, and the Cognitive Behavioural Therapist. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the International OCD Foundation, and co-founded their Diversity Council. Her work has been featured in all major US and Canadian media outlets, including NPR, CBS, CTV, CBC, Huffington Post, and the New York Times.

Financially Sponsored By

  • Behavioral Wellness Clinic, LLC