What About Social Justice? Confronting Race-Based Trauma

(Editor's Note: What About Social Justice? is a new quarterly column in which Dr. Veronica Hardy will explore various aspects of social justice in social work practice. Welcome back, Dr. Hardy!)

by Dr. Veronica L. Hardy, LCSW

     Over the past several years, social media and various news venues have televised devastating experiences of diverse groups, including, but not limited to, persons of Asian, Latinx and African American descent. These examples include mass shootings in a Taiwanese church in California, a grocery store in New York primarily frequented by African Americans, and a Walmart in Texas where Latino populations were targeted. These recent events compound upon historical trauma, defined as “a complex and collective trauma experienced over time and across generations by a group of people who share an identity, affiliation, or circumstance” and experienced by diverse racial groups (Mohatt et al., 2014). In addition, the deepening of historical trauma and current experiences may contribute to vicarious trauma, which is the exposure to harmful events through methods including seeing, hearing, or reading about, but no direct involvement. The exposure can:

• compromise a person’s perceived sense of safety,
• result in persistent worry,
• lead to the development of strategies to decrease chances of being victimized, and
• cause psychological injury. (Carter, 2007)

     Because of the link between race and traumatic events, the outcomes are often referred to as racial trauma, race-based trauma, or race-based traumatic stress.

     Throughout my years as a social worker, I have noticed my understanding evolve in how to promote social justice, especially with a focus on race-based trauma and the ethical responsibility of social justice. The NASW Code of Ethics (2021) identifies “social justice” as a core value, and the Preamble guides us to be “sensitive to cultural and ethnic diversity and strive to end discrimination, oppression, poverty, and other forms of social injustice.” Furthermore, according to the 2015 NASW Standards and Indicators for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice, Standard 6, “Social workers should also participate in the development and implementation of policies and practices that empower and advocate for marginalized and oppressed populations” (2015, p. 5). However, while we have these guidelines in place, what would social justice strategies look like when confronting acts resulting in race-based trauma? The following are a few ways I have taken action that may be helpful as you plan your strategies.

Study the Guiding Documents

     As social workers, we have several documents penned to guide us during our careers that can support us in confronting race-based discrimination. Many of these highlight the importance of cultural humility, empowerment, social advocacy, and methods of intervention. For example, the NASW Code of Ethics (2021) Standard 6.04, Social and Political Action, guides us to develop and implement strategies to create policy change, build access to opportunities across populations, and devise methods to eliminate forms of discrimination. The NASW Foundation and its Social Work Policy Institute developed a 2014 report titled Achieving Racial Equity: Calling the Social Work Profession to Action. This report provides definitions for key terms related to race-based injustices and discusses activities to address color-blind racism, microaggressions, and internalized racial oppression.

     Further, there is the 2021 NASW Report to the Profession on Racial Justice Priorities and Action, titled Undoing Racism Through Social Work. A key component of this report is the Apology Statement issued by NASW identifying specific acts of social workers that perpetuated racial injustices. What can we learn from the Apology Statement? The realization that our profession has contributed to race-based trauma, the importance of cultural humility, and the development of strategies to no longer repeat practices that result in psychological and generational injury, such as race-based trauma. This implores our continued growth to recognize ways to provide services in an inclusive manner.

     I have studied each of these writings to build my understanding of professional terminology, learn strategies currently in place that I can replicate in practice, and to enhance my self-awareness of how to recognize whether I am imposing traditional practice methods that perpetuate race-based trauma. For example, imposing Westernized methods of helping as the “standard” leads to the neglect of diverse healing and helping strategies that honor the practices of diverse groups.

Understand Social Justice Practice

     Throughout social work education, we have been taught that there are three levels of practice: micro, mezzo, and macro. This may have led to the assumption that social workers at the micro level do not engage in social justice activities. On the contrary, the NASW Code of Ethics Preamble notes, “Social workers promote social justice and social change with and on behalf of clients. ‘Clients’ is used inclusively to refer to individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.” As a result, it is critical that social work educators integrate social justice and race-based trauma training into curricula, conferences, and other continuing education opportunities to enhance understanding of social justice activities across levels of practice.

     Imagine the type of change that could take place if all social workers engaged in social justice activities. A great starting point is transforming social work curricula to promote social justice consciousness, racial-trauma awareness, and targeted interventions throughout courses so students can gain an understanding of what social justice efforts “look like” across all levels of practice.

Create and Implement

     Social workers are change agents. Change comes through creating and implementing strategies to eliminate policies, practices, and behaviors that sustain discrimination resulting in race-based trauma. What steps can you take to promote change in relation to race-based trauma?

     First, develop insight about race-based trauma through research, discussions with key persons, education, participation in advocacy groups, and other opportunities for growth. This is the first step I took. Although I identify as African American and carry personal knowledge about discrimination and effects of race-based trauma, I realize my experiences do not generalize to others. As a result, it was critical that I enhanced my professional knowledge and insights about the personal experiences of others so I could craft services relevant to the populations of focus.

     Second, assess your current career setting and functions to determine how you can integrate social justice activities that confront race-based discrimination. As an educator, I had the opportunity to integrate race-based trauma and social justice learning opportunities into my courses, develop conference presentations, develop podcast interviews, and write articles to inform broader populations. How can you use your work setting and functions to confront racial discrimination?

    Third, advocate and empower. As social workers, we have a diverse toolkit of skills, including program development, grant writing, research, and educating. Why not tap into your toolkit to see how you can advocate for those susceptible to race-based trauma? A step I have taken involved grant writing to confront racial health disparities – another factor contributing to race-based trauma. The goal of our multidisciplinary grant team is to target providers of health services to diverse groups. The intention is to enhance awareness of biased and harmful practices with the goal that providers will deliver racially equitable health services across groups.

     Remember, as a social worker, you have a powerful toolkit of skills to confront practices leading to race-based trauma. Take an inventory of your self-awareness, workplace, and geographic location to determine what steps you can take to promote social justice. I hope these tips that work for me can be helpful to you as we continue to consider and answer the question, What about social justice?

References

Carter, R. T. (2007). Racism and psychological and emotional injury: Recognizing and assessing race-based traumatic stress. The Counseling Psychologist, 35(1), 13–105. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000006292033

Mohatt, N. V., Thompson, A. B., Thai, N. D., & Tebes, J. K. (2014). Historical trauma as public narrative: A conceptual review of how history impacts present-day health. Social Science & Medicine (1982), 106, 128–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.01.043

National Association of Social Workers. (2021). Code of ethics of the National Association of Social Workers. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English

National Association of Social Workers. (2015). NASW standards and indicators for cultural competence in social work practice. https://www.socialworkers.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=7dVckZAYUmk%3d&portalid=0

Dr. Veronica L. Hardy has a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision, a Master of Social Work degree, Bachelor of Arts in Social Welfare, and clinical social work license in North Carolina. She is currently a professor of social work at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke and adjunct faculty member within the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Hardy stresses engagement within the community and serves as an anti-child sex trafficking advocate and has co-authored peer-reviewed journal articles such as Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: Practice Implications for Mental Health Professionals and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Adolescents: Gender-Specific and Trauma-Informed Care Implications. She also focuses her efforts toward promoting racial equity in K-12 schools by training school support personnel. She is facilitating a grant focusing on racial health equity and has provided multiple keynote presentations focusing on race-based trauma.

She embraces opportunities to mentor fellow social workers and academic professionals. She serves as a mentor to junior faculty, focusing on the tenure and promotion process. Furthermore, she created and facilitates a mentorship group via Facebook titled The Social Work Lounge. To learn more about Dr. Hardy, please visit www.drveronicahardy.com.