A Lexington based organization is working to help heal racial trauma. Dr. Candice Nicole Hargons is associate professor in the Counseling Psychology Department at the University of Kentucky, and Director of the Center for Healing Racial Trauma.
In an interview with WEKU’s Eastern Standard, Hargons said the research shows that racism doesn’t just cause hurt feelings, it also has physiological consequences.
“When you see higher rates of high blood pressure and diabetes and reproductive health issues and all of these health markers, oftentimes in black people, and people with other racially marginalized identities, some of that can be attributed to living in systems or experiencing interpersonal racism,” said Hargons.
Hargons said the Center for Healing Racial Trauma hosts individual and group therapy for people who have experienced racism. On the prevention side, Hargons said they work with organizations and companies to help them create an anti-racist mindset among their staff.
Last year, Hargons helped launch the Neighborhood Healers project. Hargons explained that the program trained 20 black community members in mental health first aid.
“And today, they have worked with over 1,000 people in our community. I couldn't do that as a psychologist alone. And so that type of community initiative, that type of collaboration, that's what I love seeing in Lexington.”
Hargons said the volunteers made a yearlong commitment to help impact mental health promotion for black people in Lexington.
