Black Perinatal Mental Health Training

You will explore your own self-awareness as a practitioner and receive expert training in symptom presentation, physiology and epigenetics, treatment considerations, screening tools, resources, statistics and the impact of stigma. You’ll also walk away with a greater understanding of the systems which perpetuate trauma in the Black community through the Black birthing experience in particular, and the tools to advocate for your client as they navigate the perinatal period, their own mental health and a healthcare system that has contributed to inequities and negative birth and health outcomes for Black women and families.

Please note that this training is focused on the perinatal experience of the Black birthing community in the United States. However, there are many aspects of the experience that are shared across the diaspora due to the far-reaching arm of racism and implicit bias and also due to a shared culture of origin which runs through the veins of the Black community despite our separation.

L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S

• Discuss the ways that the medicalization of birth uniquely harms Black birthing people
• Discuss the ways that the current healthcare system perpetuates harmful myths about Black bodies and relies on or creates stigma, oppressive practices, implicit bias, and racializedtrauma
• Define “birth equity” and explain why it is critically important for mental health clinicians to understand when working with Black birthing clients
• Discuss “weathering,” the epigenetic and ancestral expression of trauma, and allostatic load in the context of how the exceptional stressors experienced by the Black community can harm Black birthing people
• Discuss ways that medical racism has manifested itself in the past and present and why this is relevant to higher levels of distrust, anxiety and avoidance of medical care in the Black community
• Discuss how the collective experience of grief of Black folks (both historical, ancestral grief, and the violence constantly portrayed in the media) can overshadow the immediate grief of a Black individual, or portray Black grief as monolithic
• Explain how traditional research psychology has colonized mental healthcare and what it means to approach mental health treatment for Black birthing clients with a decolonized lens
• Describe how approaching CBT without an antiracist lens can actually harm Black birthing clients and describe how a clinician might administer CBT from a decolonized and antiracist perspective Black Perinatal Mental Health Training
• Explain important considerations when it comes to making referrals for Black birthing clients and discuss examples of how mental health clinicians can advocate for Black birthing clients when making referrals
• Analyze the specific social, emotional and mental factors that play a role in PMAD development in Black birthing clients
• Describe barriers to treatment that Black birthing people with PMADs might encounter and describe strategies to remove these barriers
• List the three core tenets of cultural humility and discuss how mental health clinicians
• can apply it in practice with Black birthing clients
• Understand that the treatment options provided in Western medicine might not be
• appropriate for Black birthing clients and describe ways that community, spirituality, and
• kindness can be incorporated into treatment plans for Black birthing people
• Describe various community approaches that practitioners can turn to when treating
• Black birthing clients
• Discuss why Black birthing people might benefit from working with birth workers such
• as midwives and doulas instead of or in addition to traditional Western medical
• providers
• Describe how rituals and ceremonies can be protective factors for Black birthing people
• on their perinatal journey
• Explain what the Birthing Justice Bill of Rights is and how to incorporate it as a resource
• when working with Black birthing clients
• Describe how online articles and podcasts can be utilized as resources for Black birthing
• clients
• Discuss how online communities and support networks can be helpful resources for
• Black birthing people and how clinicians can identify groups to recommend to their
• clients
• Discuss how a clinician’s own self-awareness and willingness to extend grace to oneself
• are important aspects of lifelong learning

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

CIC Providence, 225 Dyer Street, Providence, United States