Treating racial trauma: Racial trauma dislodges brains and makes sick... with Dr. Jude Mary Cénat

PSYC Public Colloquium with Dr. Jude Mary Cénat (Associate Professor in the School of Psychology, Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Black Health and of the Vulnerability, Trauma, Resilience & Culture Research Laboratory (V-TRaC Lab) at the University of Ottawa)

VIDEO

The video for the public colloquium is provided above. These materials are available for non-commercial use only. If you use of these materials for non-commercial purposes, please make sure to give proper attribution: 

Cénat, Jude Mary. (2023, September 29). Racial trauma dislodges brains and makes sick... Anti-racist principles and practices SFU Psychology JEDAI Workgroup Invited Public Colloquium, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxC2MYax-DY&t=354s

The events and recording are offered free to attendees and others. If you would like to make a donation in appreciation of these materials, you may wish to consider some of the following options:
- the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, visit: https://www.irsss.ca/
Indspire, visit: https://indspire.ca/ways-to-give/donate/

About the event

Time: 1:00pm to 2:30pm PST
Date: Friday Sept 29, 2023
Location: Zoom
Register now at: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/public-colloquium-with-dr-jude-mary-cenat-tickets-718611685897?aff=oddtdtcreator

The Psychology Department's Public Colloquium featured Dr. Jude Mary Cénat on Sept. 29, where he will spoke about anti-racist principles and practices. This event is being organized with the Clinical Science Area of the Department of Psychology; we thank them for inviting us to work with them in organizing this event.

The Psychology Department JEDAI Workgoup is working with Dr. Cénat for a possible small group meeting with invited/selected BIPOC students/scholars at later date and time. More details to come! 

Registration is required to attend our events. Please note, there are registration caps for the events. We asked people to keep their registration status up-to-date - and if not able to attend, to please kindly cancel their registration for any event(s) as soon as possible.

About the speaker:  Dr. Jude Mary Cénat

Jude Mary Cénat, Ph.D., M.Sc., C.Psych., is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology, Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Black Health and of the Vulnerability, Trauma, Resilience & Culture Research Laboratory (V-TRaC Lab) at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Cénat also holds the University of Ottawa Research Chair on Black health. His research program explores factors associated with vulnerability, trauma, and resilience, with a particular interest in the role of cultural factors; racial disparities in health and social services; and global mental health. He leads major projects on the mental health of Black communities in Canada that documented for the first-time prevalence and factors related to depression, anxiety, PTSD, psychosomatic symptoms, substance use, and other mental health issues among Black individuals in Canada. With his team, he co-developed with the communities, innovative and interdisciplinary projects that influence public policies, help reduce racial disparities in mental health and social services, and build collective resilience. They also developed online trainings (via the bilingual platform mentalhealthforeveryone) which aim to equip mental health professionals to provide culturally appropriate and antiracist care. Dr. Cénat is also a member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada.

Related resources

Dr. Cénat's webpage: Resources | Vulnerability, Trauma, Resilience and Culture Research Laboratory | University of Ottawa (uottawa.ca) provides many important resources including fact sheets, links to informative. Below are some links to these factsheets from their website.

Fact Sheets:

Recommendation Booklet:

which also have relevance outside of Ontario and more broadly. These include:

  • Recommendation 1. Colleges and universitiesin Ontario and Canada must offer a course on antiracist and anti-oppressive practices to social workstudents. 
  • Recommendation 2 All Ontario and Canadian colleges and universities must offer a course for students in elementary and secondaryschools on antiracist and anti-oppressive practices and racial issues.
  • Recommendation 3 CASs must ensure that all workers who interact with youth or families, or who are part of the decision-making chain, have completed antiracism, anti-oppression, and cross-cultural training.
  • ...
  • Recommendation 6 The impact and effectiveness of multicultural, antiracist, and anti-oppressive training should be continuously evaluated.
  • Recommendation 7 CASs should hire more caseworkers from diverse ethnocultural backgrounds. 
  • ...
  • Recommendation 13 Measures must address structural risk factors faced by Black families, such as poverty, racial bias and discrimination, accessto health services, and access to education. 

Some Readings that may be of interest include

Jarvis, G. E., Andermann, L., Ayonrinde, O. A., Beder, M., Cénat, J. M., Ben-Cheikh, I., ... & Kirmayer, L. J. (2023). Taking action on racism and structural violence in psychiatric training and clinical practice. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 07067437231166985.

Cénat, J. M. (2022). Complex racial trauma: evidence, theory, assessment, and treatment. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17456916221120428.

Sarr, F., Knight, S., Strauss., Ouimet, A., Cénat, J.M., Williams, M., & Shaughnessy, K (2022).Increasing the representation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour as students in psychology doctoral programmes. (2022). Canadian Psychology = Psychologie Canadienne. https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000339

Rousseau, C.,  Gomez-Carrillo, A., & Cénat, J. M. (2022). Safe enough? Rethinking the concept of cultural safety in healthcare and training. British Journal of Psychiatry, 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2022.102

Cenat, J.M. (2022). Who is Black? The urgency of accurately defining the Black population when conducting health research in Canada. Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), 194(27), E948–E949. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.220274

Cénat, J.M. (2022). A Letter from… Ottawa, Canada on Black Mental Health. The Lancet Psychiatry, 9(1), 19.

Cénat, J. M., Darius, W. P., Dalexis, R. D., Kogan, C. S., Guerrier, M., & Ndengeyingoma, A. (2022). Perceived racial discrimination, internalized racism, social support, and self-esteem among Black individuals in Canada: A moderated mediation model. Cultural diversity and ethnic minority psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000542

Kogan, C., Noorishad, P. G., Ndengeyingoma, A., Guerrier, M., & Cénat, J. M. (2022). Prevalence and correlates of anxiety symptoms among Black people in Canada: A significant role for everyday racial discrimination and racial microaggressions. Journal of Affective Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.04.110

Noorishad, P-G, Mukunzi, J.N., McIntee, S-E., Kokou-Kpolou, C.K., Czechowski & Cénat, J.M. (2021).  Let’s Talk About Racism in Child Welfare: A Qualitative Study on the Overrepresentation of Black Youth in Child Welfare with Caseworkers and Community Facilitators. Child Maltreatment.

More readings can be found at Dr Cénat's website: Publications | Vulnerability, Trauma, Resilience and Culture Research Laboratory | University of Ottawa (uottawa.ca)

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If you are interested in additional resources on topics around Reconciliation/Decolonization/EDI, you may also interested in visiting the SFU Psyc IRC Resources page and links. They are continually being updated: https://www.sfu.ca/psychology/about/indigenous-reconciliation/resources.html