Marginalized peoples—excluded, minimized, shamed—are traumatized peoples, because as we’ve discussed, humans are fundamentally relational creatures. To be excluded or dehumanized in an organization, community, or society you are part of results in prolonged, uncontrollable stress that is sensitizing. Marginalization is a fundamental trauma. This is why I believe that a truly trauma-informed system is an anti-racist system. The destructive effects of racial marginalizing are pervasive and severe.
– Oprah Winfrey
What Happened To You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing
At Alexandria Place Therapy, we recognize that we live and practice in a society with roots deeply embedded in racism, capitalism, settler colonialism, sexism, heterosexism, transphobia, fatphobia, and other harmful systems of oppression that continue to impact peoples’ lives every day. We see how members of our community are regularly faced with interpersonal and structural violence, encounter prejudice and injustice on a daily basis, and feel generally unsafe in the world.
We are committed to deepening our understanding of these oppressive systems, to owning our roles in their perpetuation, and fighting for equity and collective healing. Our team of therapists have partnered with The Compassionate Anti-Racism Project to regularly engage in self-reflection and study, anti-racist consultation, and in our own healing processes so that we can continue to show up for our community. Alexandria Place Therapy strives to be an inclusive and equitable space for our team and clients, and welcomes folks of all races, gender identities and expressions, sexual and relational orientations, ethnicities, (dis)abilities, religions, and countries of origin.
Xanthia Johnson and Kristian Owens from The Compassionate Anti-Racism Project
