ART + LIT COLLECTIVE
presented by
SoCalATA's Multicultural Committee
The Art + Lit Collective is a series of art, reading, and creative experimentation curated by SoCalATA’s Multicultural Committee. The intention of the collective is to use different media and entry points to engage our curiosity, increase empathy, build connection, and promote lifelong learning and reflection.
You are invited to a gathering of our members and colleagues to actively explore themes of humanity, including topics related to intersectionality, and social justice through art making.
Periodically we’ll choose a book, article, art piece, or community activity for inspiration and create an art response.
JOIN US
FEATURED BOOK
My Grandmother's Hands by Resmaa Menakem
APRIL 9TH, 10 AM TO 12 PM
via ZOOM (RSVP FOR LINK)
Summary
The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze, and it endures the trauma inflicted by the ills that plague society. In this groundbreaking work, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of body-centered psychology. He argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies. Our collective agony doesn't just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans—our police.
My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.
This book paves the way for a new, body-centered understanding of white supremacy—how it is literally in our blood and our nervous system. It offers a step-by-step solution—a healing process—in addition to incisive social commentary.
From Resmaa.com
The Author
Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW, SEP, identifies as an artist, healer, author, master coach, and trauma specialist. In addition to his clinical work and research, he is a popular speaker on the topic of conflict and violence. Resmaa studied and trained at Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute as well as with Dr. David Schnarch (author of Passionate Marriage) and Bessel Van der Kolk, MD (author of The Body Keeps Score). He has served as a certified Military and Family Life Consultant for the U.S. Armed Forces, trauma consultant for Minneapolis Public Schools, and as a Cultural Somatics consultant for the Minneapolis Police Department and other organizations. In addition to My Grand Mother’s Hands, he has authored three books, The Quaking of America, Rock the Boat (How to Use Conflict to Heal and Deepen Your Relationship), and Life, Leadership & Legacy. He also hosts his own podcast, Guerilla Muse. He currently teaches workshops on Cultural Somatics for audiences of African Americans, European Americans, and police officers. He is also a therapist in private practice.
In this book, Resmaa explores how the body responds to experiencing racialized trauma in America and shares Body-Centered Practices and other strategies to aid the reader in healing the body. Resmaa states he has written this book in the hope of helping people heal "to be free of racialized trauma, to feel safe and secure in our own bodies and in the world, and to pass on that safety and security to future generations."
From Menakem, R. (2017). My grandmother's hands. Central Recovery Press.
Clinical Applications
- race-related trauma
- intergenerational trauma
- body-centered psychology
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Your Facilitators
Terri Slade, MA, AMFT has worked as a therapist in school-based settings and provided case management and therapeutic services for families or individuals affected by domestic violence or living in transitional shelters. She is currently working as a registered associate marriage and family therapist with an art therapy specialty providing mental health services to adults, teens, children, and families. She volunteers with the SoCalATA multicultural committee.
Genia Young, LMFT, ATR-BC, ATCS, has volunteered with SoCalATA as a member of the Board of Directors, Membership and Honors Committees, and is now liaison to the Multicultural Committee. She has worked in the field as an art therapist for preschool day treatment intensive, addiction rehab residential treatment, and school-based and intensive outpatient programs. She also supervises students and new professionals gaining hours towards art therapy registration.