Strengthen and Respect Each Thread

Abstract

Through a culturally grounded epistemology, this article provides mental health practitioners and researchers an overview of how generational trauma can impact the well-being of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other historically marginalized communities. Historically, deficit-based lenses frame the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC). Discussion of white supremacy as a factor that creates divisiveness, discontinuity, and othering is necessary to understand mental healthcare for marginalized communities. Research has shown that behaviors, identities, and expressions that are respected in indigenous cultures and communities are most often misrepresented, ignored, erased, and ultimately misidentified as requiring rehabilitation. In fact, researchers assert that the organizational culture of the mental health industry limits access for minoritized communities due to lack of practitioner relational capacity, and inclusive practices. This article illustrates examples of white supremist practices through Native American storytelling to trace generational trauma from its origins, when Eurocentric perspectives were imposed upon America’s original inhabitants, to trauma caused by placement of BIPOC children in the foster care and adoption system. While fully aware of the complexities of mental health care, the authors argue that diverse cultural representations of identity, knowledge, and collectivism should inform mental health practice, and research.