Black Lives Matter-HFC Statement
Heights Family Counseling is addressing the conversations that are long overdue in this country. We want to be mindful not to be a distraction to the voices of the BIPOC, yet also find it necessary to present our stance as a strong ally as this is not the time for silence. The killing of George Floyd by white police officers in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, and the subsequent movements going on in the nation have placed these conversations where they need to be in order to incite change: squarely in the forefront. These events, plus a myriad of other recent filmed examples of racism, white privilege, and killings (Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and unfortunately this list goes on and on), have brought the long overdue conversation of whiteness, white privilege, and systematic black trauma to the front lines in this country and even in our own place of business.
As a counseling practice, we felt it was necessary to share resources to find a Black therapist in our community. Please know we do everything we can to ensure we are culturally competent and want to be a safe place. If you are searching for a Black therapist, please feel free to read this blog that lists things to look for in a therapist and online directories that include therapists in the Black & Latinx/Hispanic communities. https://www.melaninandmentalhealth.com/how-do-i-find-a-therapist/ While we will continue to be a safe space to process recent events and ongoing racial trauma with all of our clients, we also must to validate the importance of finding a therapist you feel most comfortable with.
As therapists, we wish to be culturally competent, yet realize our humanness allows us to fail at times. Our practice pledges to continue to take actions to better understand our clients, better understand Black trauma, gain cultural awareness, and work to dismantle systemic racism. We do not claim to be authorities of these issues and so we look to resources and literature from BIPOC. We also continue to put our money where our values are and donate silently to the places that lift up our community, in particular marginalized groups. Our practice is working to exemplify the words of Maya Angelou, "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better."
We wish to place emphasis and the spotlight on the organizations that have been lifting up the BIPOC community and offer resources to those who are also wanting to do some of their own ally work.
Places to Donate:
https://www.reclaimtheblock.org/
Resources for Adult Education:
Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander’s
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Resources to Educate Children:
The Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi
The Colors of Us by Karen Katz
We’re Different, We’re the Same (sesame Street) by Bobbi Kates and Joe Mathieu