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UWT Huskies Caring for One Another Amid the Chauvin Trial and What is Next
Our nation and our UWT community continues to grapple with the ongoing trauma and pain of systemic racism. Many of us have been closely following the Chauvin Trial and feeling traumatized by watching testimony and rewatching videos of George Floyd’s death. This past year, students, staff, and faculty have voiced feelings of anxiety, sadness, anger, and frustration over a system that continues to allow this violence to happen — most recently resulting in the senseless deaths of Adam Toledo and Daunte Wright. There is no doubt that as difficult as this has been, it has been even more so for our African American and Latinx students, staff, faculty, neighbors, friends, and family.
Now that Derek Chauvin has been found guilty on all counts, many of us feel relief, but not celebration. We are reminded that we have not “reached our destination of racial reckoning” (Eugene Robinson) and that “justice is a practice, not an end” (Eddie S. Glaude Jr, Ph.D.). This will continue to be emotionally taxing for many.
To everyone affected by social injustices, especially the members of the Black, African, African-American, and Latinx communities: The UWT Counseling and Psychological Services will continue to work against racial injustice. We realize that our anger, fear, and sadness regarding the violence of racism, both recently, and throughout history, MUST be channeled into continuing to support the UWT community and our students. Our work welcomes all experiences and feelings in response to these repeated individual and societal traumas and we will collectively work to do better in supporting you with compassion and humility.
Self Care Resources
FamilyCare, CommunityCare and SelfCare Tool Kit: Healing in the Face of Cultural Trauma (Association for Black Psychologists)
https://www.abpsi.org/pdf/FamilyCommunitySelfCareToolKit.pdf
Coping with Grief After Community Violence (SAMHSA)
https://store.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/d7/priv/sma14-4888.pdf
Tips for Self-Care: When Police Brutality Has You Questioning Humanity and Social Media Is Enough (The Root)
https://www.theroot.com/tips-for-self-care-when-police-brutality-has-you-quest-1790855952
Emotionally Restorative Self Care: People of Color - Black People - African Americans
Self-Care Tips for Black People Who Are Really Going Through It Right Now
https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5pgmq/self-care-tips-for-black-people-struggling-from-painful-week
Black Lives Matter Meditation for Healing Racial Trauma
https://soundcloud.com/drcandicenicole/black-lives-matter-meditation-for-healing-racial-trauma
The Four Bodies: A Holistic Toolkit for Coping With Racial Trauma
Guided Ancestor Meditation | We Are The Revolution!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNnTnNEJYig
Coping with Racial Trauma
https://www.psychology.uga.edu/coping-racial-trauma
101 ways to take care of yourself when the world feels overwhelming.
https://www.upworthy.com/101-self-care-suggestions-for-when-it-all-feels-like-too-much
103 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/what-white-people-can-do-for-racial-justice-f2d18b0e0234
Standing in Solidarity and Supporting our AAPI Communities
We have seen a horrific rise in violence in the US against the Asian American/Pacific Island (AAPI) community fueled, at least in part, by some of our elected leaders who have blamed Asian countries for intentionally creating the Covid-19 pandemic, despite any evidence otherwise. While examples of this brutality and domestic terrorism have recently been in the news, it is a reminder that scapegoating, discrimination, racism, and violence directed at our AAPI friends, family members, neighbors, peers, communities, students, and others has always been a painful part of our history, both nationally and at the local level. Tacoma was incorporated as a city in the latter part of the 19th century. Since the beginning and similar to the rest of the U.S., AAPI communities were subjected to acts of xenophobia and hate, providing the foundation for institutional oppression and attempts of systematic erasure that occurred in Tacoma and continues to occur all over our country today.
Counseling & Psychological Services stands in solidarity and support of our AAPI communities. We acknowledge that acts of discrimination and hate impacts the safety, health, and wellbeing for people of AAPI descent. Concerns about harm towards oneself or family, bracing for the next microaggression, being subjected to the Myth of the Model Minority, as well as having direct and indirect exposure to race-based violence are all examples of discrimination and can be troubling and traumatizing. We are available to listen and provide support in a confidential setting. As professionals, we are also committed to furthering our knowledge about discrimination and violence directed at AAPI communities and how we can best provide mental health services and social justice efforts for the university community that we are privileged to serve.
In addition to the resources provided for Mental Health Services, Self Help Resources, How to report Harassment and Violence, and Taking Action, we also included information about AAPI Tacoma History. We believe that one way to work towards Social Justice and Equity for AAPI communities (and other BIPOC communities) is to understand our local history.
Mental Health Resources
- MultiCare Asian Counseling Services
https://www.multicare.org/behavioral-health-programs-adults-asian/
- Asian Counseling and Referral Service
- Asian Mental Health Collective
https://www.asianmhc.org/apisaa
Self Help Resources
- Racial Trauma is Real
https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/schools/lsoe_sites/isprc/pdf/racialtraumaisreal.pdf
- 101 Ways to Take Care of Yourself When the World Feels Overwhelming
https://www.upworthy.com/101-self-care-suggestions-for-when-it-all-feels-like-too-much
- How to Cope with Traumatic Events
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/ptsd-trauma/traumatic-stress.htm
Report Harassment and Violence
- UW Reporting Bias Incidents
https://www.washington.edu/bias/
- Stop AAPI Hate
- Asian Americans Advancing Justice
https://www.standagainsthatred.org/
- Washington State Stop the Hate Community
https://stopthehate.community/
- National Voice of the Asian Pacific American Legal Community
https://www.napaba.org/page/HateCrimeResources
Taking Action
- Bystander Intervention Training to Stop Anti-Asian/American and Xenophobic Harassment
https://www.ihollaback.org/bystanderintervention/
- Anti Asian Violence Resources
https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/
- Coronavirus/COVID-19 Resources to Stand Against Racism
https://advancingjustice-aajc.org/covid19
- The Coronavirus and the Long History of Using Diseases to Justify Xenophobia
AAPI Tacoma History
- How We Got Here: A Reckoning with U.S. and Tacoma history
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaK8Md-fVNQ
- The Chinese Community of Tacoma, Washington: A Story of Forced Migration
- Tacoma Chinese Reconciliation Park
https://www.tacomachinesepark.org/about-the-tacoma-chinese-garden-and-reconciliation-park/
- The Tacoma Method
- Becoming Nisei: Japanese American Urban Lives in Prewar Tacoma
https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295748221/becoming-nisei/
- Tacoma Japanese American History
Counseling & Psychological Services provides confidential mental health counseling and related services for currently enrolled UW Tacoma students at no additional costs. We also provide consultation to faculty, staff, and university student families.
It is common for students to sometimes feel overwhelmed by the responsibilities of academics, work, family, and other relationships. Counseling & Psychological Services is here to help students cope with stresses and personal issues that can interfere with their ability to perform in school.
We provide intentional, problem-focused mental health counseling, aimed at building better skills and exploring alternative ways of coping. Counseling & Psychological Services provides confidential crisis, individual, couples*, and group counseling; educational workshops and classroom presentations; consultation for students, faculty, staff, and student families; and referrals (when appropriate) to community mental health and social service providers and other UWT student services and resources.
*We are unable to provide couples counseling via teletherapy.
Need support at 2:00 am?
UW Tacoma has partnered with MySSP to give students access to real-time, confidential mental health support, 24/7 and in multiple languages: Simplified Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Spanish & French. MySSP counselors are licensed mental health therapists who are familiar with UWT resources. There are several ways to connect:
- Phone: Call 1.866.743.7732
- If calling from outside the U.S. or Canada, dial 001.416.380.6578.
- Online chat: Chat with a MySSP counselor on the MySSP website or on the MySSP app (Apple App Store | Google Play)
We highly recommend that you download the MySSP app (Apple App Store | Google Play) to have the full range of services at your fingertips any time.