Resist and Rise: A Trauma-Informed Womanist Model for Group Therapy

Abstract

Black, Indigenous, and other Women of Color (BIWOC) are at increased risk for interpersonal trauma, including racial trauma. Interpersonal trauma has potentially deleterious emotional, cognitive, physical, social, and spiritual consequences. European models of trauma recovery often end their process with coping strategies and meaning-making; womanist psychology, which emerges from the cultural traditions of Black women’s experiences and wisdom, incorporates survivors’ adoption of resistance strategies to combat trauma and oppression. The authors present the Resist and Rise model for womanist trauma recovery groups, which frames each component as an act of resistance. Clinical, research, and policy implications are identified.

Keywords:

• Trauma
• womanist
• therapy
• recovery
• racism
• interpersonal trauma
• black women
• women of color
• resistance
• oppression
• group therapy