William Temple House counselors respond to the effects of racial violence in our community.

The William Temple House community has been grief-stricken by the violence we’ve seen in our country in past weeks and months. The attack in Atlanta last month, predominantly against Asian American women, followed by a string of mass shootings across the US and ongoing racial violence against Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) has brought forward trauma and pain for many people we serve. We have noticed the weight of it in our counseling work. While we grieve these horrific events, we recognize they are not unfamiliar to us and they did not occur in a vacuum. 

We denounce the violence in Atlanta as an act of racial violence. Many of us are aware that since the start of the pandemic anti-Asian hate and violence have been on the rise as a result of high-profile racist rhetoric. Reports of violence against Asians have increased dramatically in the last several months. The Stop AAPI Hate organization reported 3,800 incidents in the last year with a disproportionate 68% of incidents affecting Asian women. These numbers are the tip of the iceberg, with many incidents not being reported due to stereotypes, language barriers, mistrust of authority figures, and the cultural value of social harmony that resonates in many Asian communities.  

Lasting Impacts

We know that surviving acts of racism has an impact on the mental health of individuals and families for generations. In Asian American communities in particular, race-related stress is linked to increased rates of psychological stress, suicidal ideation, anxiety and depression (Litam, 2020). Racism takes many forms – from overt acts of hate and violence, such as the shootings in Atlanta, to much smaller interactions that can easily be dismissed as a “misunderstanding” or “misconception.” These microaggressions, as defined by the writer Ijeoma Oluo in her book So You Want to Talk About Race, are small, cumulative, and often unintentional. The cumulative effect of microaggressions is important to highlight here, which Oluo likens to bumping into someone over and over and over again. They may be understanding the first 10 or even the first 50 times it happens, but eventually the effect of that action is going to deeply impact their ability to move through the world comfortably and with confidence, never knowing where the next hit is coming from. This sense of not being safe in the world is one which many people who have experienced trauma can relate to – not knowing if it’s ever safe to fully trust someone or let your guard down, and often feeling that it was a mistake to do so. Any act of racism has the potential to contribute to race-based trauma (Hemmings & Evans, 2018) and such trauma can have life-long impacts on people as they search for safety and healing. 

Our role as mental health providers and educators is to support people as they survive and heal from acts of overt and covert racism. We work to help people use the characteristics, skills, talents, hopes and dreams that exist within them to make a path forward. The principles in Shawn Ginwright’s Healing Centered Engagement of finding healing in political action and connecting the person to their cultural community and identity in order to help restore their sense of self ring true in today’s deeply broken political climate. We hope and encourage members of communities that are affected by these tragedies – and their allies – to fight for systemic change to improve the safety of our communities, and to draw on our traditions and rituals that honor the painful loss we feel in the face of tragedy.

Counseling Resources in Portland

When racial trauma goes untreated, it can be passed down through generations. We believe that counseling and the pursuit of healing can help change our community for the better and ultimately play a part in deconstructing the systems that support white supremacy. At the same time, we know that BIPOC counseling providers are sorely underrepresented in our clinic and across the profession generally, and this affects BIPOC clients seeking support. At William Temple House, we stand in solidarity with communities of color and will continue to improve our cultural responsiveness in our counseling program. We also know that some of our peer agencies are better equipped to provide culturally specific support to members BIPOC communities today, including:

If you or someone you know are seeking healing from racial trauma, please reach out. We will do whatever we can to accommodate your needs, and if we cannot meet a need then we will work with you to connect you with someone who can.

We stand with and support our AAPI and BIPOC community members, partners, and neighbors, and encourage those who are connected with us to do the same to create a safer world for all of us. 

Brooke White, LCSW, Director of Training & Clinical Services
Melissa B, 2020-21 Counseling Intern
Hanna O, 2020-21 Counseling Intern


Additional Resources:

  • APANO is a great resource if you are interested in learning more about, with, and from the Asian community in Oregon. 
  • If you or someone you know needs to reach out to discuss acts of racism or violence, please call the Racial Equity Support Line at 503-575-3764. This line operates between the hours of 10 am and 7 pm and is led and staffed by people with the lived experience of surviving racism. They can provide support in dealing with the emotional impacts of microaggressions, cross-cultural experiences, and immigration challenges. 
  • If you or someone you know are of Asian descent and are needing support in either Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, or Fujianese please call the Asian LifeNet Hotline, operating 24 hours a day at 1-877-990-8585.
  • If you would like to report an incident of violence in your community you can visit either StandAgainstHate.Oregon.gov or ReportHatePDX.com or call 1-844-924-BIAS or 7-1-1

Citations: 

Ginwright, S. (2018, May 31). The future of healing: Shifting from trauma informed care to healing centered engagement. Medium. https://ginwright.medium.com/the-future-of-healing-shifting-from-trauma-informed-care-to-healing-centered-engagement-634f557ce69c

Hemmings, C., & Evans, A. M. (2018). Identifying and treating race-based trauma in counseling. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 46(1), 20-39. doi:http://dx.doi.org.tcsedsystem.idm.oclc.org/10.1002/jmcd.12090

Litam, S. D. A. (2020). “Take your kung-flu back to wuhan”: Counseling asians, asian americans, and pacific islanders with race-based trauma related to COVID-19. The Professional Counselor, 10(2), 144-156. doi:http://dx.doi.org.tcsedsystem.idm.oclc.org/10.15241/sdal.10.2.144 

Oluo, I. (2019). So you want to talk about race? Seal Press.

Photo credit: Savvas Stavrinos