Youth Justice: Towards a Socially Just, Trauma Sensitive Mental Health System of Care for Young People

When: Thursday, May 12 - 12:00 PM

Duration: 1 hours 30 minutes

Location: Zoom

Event Details:

Promoting social justice has always been important to members of historically marginalized and oppressed groups because of a long history of systemic racism and discrimination in our country. However, recent events have prompted increasing rates of white supremacy, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia. These forms of exclusion disempower youth, particularly those with histories of mental health challenges. One of the core principles of trauma sensitive care is to resist re-traumatization. In this presentation we bring together key concepts from various perspectives such as, culturally responsive care, anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices, and cultural humility to highlight the ways in which our mental health systems of care cannot only avoid traumatizing youth, but empower and lift up young people. As practitioners, if we are not practicing socially just trauma informed care we are missing the full story of youth and families and risk doing more harm than good. Participants will gain an understanding of the connection between various social justice frameworks and trauma informed care, and be exposed to effective approaches to healing.