Healing ethno-racial trauma in latinx immigrant communities: Cultivating hope, resistance, and action

Abstract

Latinx immigrants living in the United States often experience the negative effects of systemic oppression, which may lead to psychological distress, including ethno-racial trauma. We define ethno-racial trauma as the individual and/or collective psychological distress and fear of danger that results from experiencing or witnessing discrimination, threats of harm, violence, and intimidation directed at ethno-racial minority groups. This form of trauma stems from a legacy of oppressive laws, policies, and practices. Using an intersectionality framework, this article discusses the complex ways in which interlocking systems of oppression (e.g., racism, ethnocentrism, nativism, sexism) and anti-immigrant policies impact Latinxs individuals, families, and communities. The article also presents a framework to stimulate healing from ethno-racial trauma titled, HEART (Healing Ethno And Racial Trauma). Grounded in the principles of Liberation Psychology and trauma-informed care, the framework is composed of four phases. Each phase is accompanied by a goal to assist clinicians in helping individuals, families, and communities to achieve growth, wellness, and healing. The main objective of each phase is for Latinx immigrants to find relief, gain awareness, and cope with systemic oppression while encouraging resistance and protection from the external forces that cause ethno-racial trauma. Overall, our intention and hopeful expectation is that the content presented in this article serves as a call to action for psychologists to make psychology a Sanctuary Discipline by using and integrating intersectionality theory, traumainformed care, and Liberation Psychology into policy, research, and practice with Latinx immigrants.