Black, Indigenous, and People of Color living in the United States face unique and complex challenges stemming from a racist, capitalist, patriarchal society that has perpetuated harm and violence over generations. This violence shows up in systemic erasure of Indigenous wisdom and cultures in history books and mainstream discourse, in medical gaslighting and neglect of Black women, in the fetishization and orientalism of the “Other” and the “Foreigner,” in anti-immigration rhetoric and separation of families, among many other harmful ways.

Many BI&POC shift between hypervigilant and frozen states of being and take on shapes that promote survival, often concerned about their safety, dignity, belonging. This functional shaping also gets passed on from generation to generation, as both a demonstration of generational resilience and generational trauma. More notably, this harm also shows up in the therapy room, making the search for therapists much harder for BI&POC clients.