Black Women, Trauma and Therapy: Revolutionising therapeutic thought and practice

This necessary and timely book attests to the kaleidoscope of Black women’s experiences. It concurrently educates a broader audience of therapists, researchers and policymakers about the complex and multilayered realities that Black women navigate, the movements we initiate on our journey to find inner peace and healing and the joy we deserve to hold and embody. Drawing on practice, research, real-world clinical examples and lived experiences, each chapter stimulates reflection, action and gives pertinent insight into the differing and valid ways Black women deserve to be seen and connected and collaborated with. There is sensitivity, deep respect and knowing threaded into each chapter – the authors honour and remember the wisdom of our practices and the importance of our existence and survival, challenging the reader to look beyond a limited construction of who Black women are. As a Black woman I feel deeply seen. As a Black therapist, reading these chapters nourished my learning and practice. As one of the African diaspora, I feel affirmed. This book is a major contribution to the amplification of Black women’s voices and the advancement of developing transcultural, intersectional and holistic practice. Dr Ohemaa Nkansa-Dwamena, counselling psychologist and Associate Professor of Counselling Psychology, City St George’s, University of London

Dominant models of psychotherapy, born in Eurocentric colonial contexts and shaped by white male thinkers, marginalised and pathologised Black women. Their needs were diminished, their voices silenced. The one-drop rule erased distinctions of geography, shade and circumstance, collapsing individuality into invisibility. This groundbreaking collection breaks that silence. Together, these authors illuminate how transgenerational wounds persist in present-day struggles – from infertility to spiritual healing, ancestral trauma to professional survival. Speaking out, they show wounds that need attending to and work being done. In a world still shaped by colonial legacies and anti-Black racism, Black Women, Trauma and Therapy is essential reading for therapists, educators, students and all who care about psychological wellbeing. For Black practitioners, trainees and marginalised clients, long unsupported and unseen in theory and training spaces, it offers something rare and vital: recognition, validation – and the knowledge that they are not alone. Helen George’s curation is a radical act of resistance, a call to transformation and a gift of reparation. This book is a step towards healing, remembering and reclaiming the emotional lives of Black women. Sharon Frazer-Carroll, psychodynamic psychotherapist, clinical fellow of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society, lecturer at the Open University, doctoral researcher at the University of Exeter, and founder of Time to Talk Black.

There are not enough words to describe the richness, depth and urgency of this timely and much-needed book. Silence, oppression and discrimination in their many forms are some of the vital themes that are expertly deconstructed – being silenced, as one writer puts it, because ‘we’ve been trained to keep on slaving and serving silently without complaint because we think it’s our responsibility’, or falling silent because ‘therapists may unwittingly un-see and silence mixed race people’. These observations and experiences bring to the fore the urgency to reposition black female experiences from the fringes of invisibility or objectified hypervisibility – for example, in the stereotypical form of the ‘strong black woman’ – into the centre, where acknowledgement and respect for her is a fundamental human right. Personal narratives are brought to life by a plethora of brilliant therapeutic voices, who not only articulate their own lived experiences but also expertly ground them in clinical wisdom. Whether it is discussing post-traumatic slave syndrome, exploring light skin privilege or exploding the myth the of the ‘strong black woman’, this book is a much-needed resource. An incisive challenge is made to existing modalities that may simply not acknowledge or include diverse cultures, ancestral voices and generational racial trauma. But there is hope in the broadening and expansion of knowledge that this book offers all therapists. The examples it describes, such as the black empathic approach, which creates a safe therapeutic space for black women; compassion-focused therapy; African-centred therapy, and allowing Soul to enter the therapeutic space, thereby creating a more holistic model, make this book unique, transformative and vital. Anjula Mutanda, Fellow of NCPS, BACP-accredited practitioner, media broadcaster and author

Helen P. George and her contributors have crafted an exciting and extraordinary lens on the experience of black, brown, mixed and multi-racial heritage women. Written by highly regarded thought leaders revolutionising feminist thinking, this book systemically addresses the challenges melanated women encounter across their transgenerational lifecycles. Tacitly shifting the experience of internalised silencing, the text defines theoretical models and somatic expressions to lift women to emancipate, empower, teach and share strategies for a healthy mindset. Written in an academic and compassionate tone, we learn about the trauma experienced by women in their quest for developing family life, in the workplace, education, home and everyday living. These excellent chapters augment and challenge individual and group approaches and interventions and reflexively encourage the reader, students, teachers and clinicians to bring respect and dignity to their work with women of colour. Karen Carberry, consultant family and systemic psychotherapist, Head of Family and Systemic Therapy at Orri, and visiting lecturer at the University of Oxford

Helen George has drawn together a stellar group of authors for the 10 chapters in this groundbreaking book that goes beyond disciplinary boundaries. The book is an invaluable resource for therapists, practitioners, policy makers, researchers and all involved in the field of therapeutic thought and practice, and beyond. It fills a lacuna, where there is limited research on trauma, therapy and Black women. It is well written, challenging and thought-provoking. Helen George has drawn together Black women authors who have resisted the colonial stereotypes that have been foisted on Black women. These eloquent and skilled writers dismantle the notion of ‘single stories’ and ‘single-issue’ approaches and present Black women in all their complexities, heterogeneities and powerfulness. Drawing on current research and evidence and grounded in historical analysis, the chapters bear witness to the array of inequities experienced by Black women in British and global societies. They present different ways of knowing and different knowledges while deconstructing the complexity of ‘Blackness’. A range of theoretical perspectives is presented, including intersectionality and epistemic injustice frameworks. We have needed a book like this for a long time. In addition, it is enjoyable and uplifting to read. Congratulations on this important contribution to the field of therapeutic practice. Dr Jenny Douglas, Senior Lecturer in Health Promotion at the Open University and founder and Chair of the Black Women’s Health & Wellbeing Research Network