After the Violence and Videos, Therapists Learn to Treat Racial Trauma

Healing Hurt People (HHP), the program that helped save his life, now employs men like Jermaine McCorey - men who used to be a part of a violent life on the streets of Philadelphia - to reach out to boys and young men in the emergency department and help get them through empathy and personalized support. HHP's goal is to help young people recognize the role trauma has played in shaping their lives, to respect and honor their experience and to help them avoid fueling the cycle of violence.

Sometimes just having someone to talk to can help those who are suffering from depression. The Friendship Bench program in NYC borrows an idea from Harare, Zimbabwe, where healthcare workers—affectionately called Grannies—sit and consult with patients on benches outside of healthcare clinics. The Grannies help people discuss their issues and have had a measurably positive impact on those they’ve reached. In New York, the Friendship Benches connect individuals to peer mentors willing to listen across the city.

In order to provide a means for people who have experienced trauma to find support and begin to heal, Reverend Liz Walker founded a counseling group for her Roxbury neighbors. Rev. Walker’s post-traumatic healing group differs from others in that the group is run by the participants’ peers, the group is located in Roxbury, and participation is free.

The Healing Hurt People program, or HHP, is an ER-based violence intervention program that works on the public health-based notion that violence - like other diseases that spread - can be prevented. It targets services to those at highest risk, patients like those in Philadelphia, who are being treated for violent injuries in the city's emergency rooms. Unlike other programs, it recognizes and attempts to heal the underlying emotional trauma that results from, and often predates, violent injury.

Child First is a program in Connecticut, where staff members deliver home-based parent guidance and child-parent psychotherapy to help prevent the detrimental physical and mental effects of toxic stress on children. The engagement is guided by an evidence-based methodology called Child-Parent Psychotherapy, which is grounded in collaborative problem solving.

Building resilience and self-care into daily life promotes long-term wellbeing. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Catalyst Initiative works to support the emotional and mental wellbeing of underserved groups by promoting culturally relevant approaches to self-care. Catalyst funds organizations that serve Indigenous communities, communities of color, as well as other programs that encourage people to practice mindfulness and self-care as a way to heal from trauma and stress associated with economic, personal, or social issues.

In Nigeria, a psychologist and a small group of medical students aimed to change the perception around mental health care by launching an online campaign inviting people to attend a fair. The turnout was so successful, that the group began hosting monthly workshops that have now spread to 13 states across Nigeria.

Climate change is impacting not just the environment but the way in which humans are able to exist within the altered landscape. As ecosystems shift, storms worsen and loss of homes continues to rise, the mental health industry is looking towards changing traditional practices in order to account for clients presenting with "eco-anxiety and climate grief."

Across the United States, the use of administrative segregation is being rethought and reduced, as study after study shows it’s link to higher rates of violence and recidivism. At Maine State Prison, over the course of six years, the number of people in solitary went from 100 to 8, while also seeing a decline in fights, use of weapons, and emergency room transportation in the prison’s general population. The prison has instead started implementing individualized mental health programming and structured living units – opting to implement rehabilitation over punitive measures.

Turnaround for Children, an organization founded to address mental health issues and their repercussions in the classroom, focuses on preparing teachers and schools to structure classroom environments in a constructive way. They create opportunities for learning in rigorous ways with high expectations so that children thrive and are well cared for, helping them to thrive both academically and emotionally.