Unlearning Racism and Promoting Social Justice Among Therapists
Dr. Kevin Cokley and Dr. Germine ‘Gigi’ Awad
We are hosting a diversity awareness training for all therapists and mental health professionals in the city of Austin. Our co-host is Deep Eddy Psychotherapy. The workshop is free or by donation for all mental health professionals and conveys 6 diversity professional continuing education credits (CEUs). The description of the workshop and presenter bios are below.
Based on events this year, it is even more clear that we all need to do more to help dismantle anti-black sentiment and racism in society and to support the struggle of Black individuals and other people of color to experience equality. Educating yourself via this workshop is a valuable and important step to working on your own internalized biases and to aiding the collective effort to dissolve institutional racism. The workshop presenters are local, but nationally-known experts in the field.
Presence Wellness is a multidisciplinary clinic offering psychotherapy, integrative psychiatry, personalized primary care medicine, therapeutic yoga, medication instruction, and more. This workshop will meet via Zoom on Friday, June 26 from 4-7pm and continues on Saturday, June 27 from 9am-12pm. Registration is now closed, but you may reach out to us if you have an interest in continued learning in this area.
Kevin Cokley, Ph.D. holds the Oscar and Anne Mauzy Regents Professorship for Educational Research and Development in the College of Education at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a Fellow of both the University of Texas System and University of Texas Academy of Distinguished Teachers, Director of the Institute for Urban Policy Research & Analysis, and Professor of Counseling Psychology and African and African Diaspora Studies. Dr. Cokley’s research and teaching can be broadly categorized in the area of African American psychology, with a focus on racial and ethnic identity. Dr. Cokley studies the psychosocial experiences of students of color, and is currently exploring the impostor phenomenon and its relationship to mental health and academic outcomes. He has written several Op-Eds in major media outlets on topics such as Blacks’ rational mistrust of police, the aftermath of Ferguson, police and race relations, racism and White supremacy, the use of school vouchers, and racial disparities in school discipline. His research has been recognized in media outlets including the New York Times, USA Today, and Inside Higher Education.
Germine (Gigi) Awad, Ph.D., is an associate professor and program chair of the Human Development and Culture and Learning Science Program at the University of Texas at Austin. She is also affiliated with the Counseling Psychology Program in the Department of Educational Psychology. Her research interests include racism, prejudicial attitudes toward ethnic minorities and immigrants, ethnic/racial identity, and acculturation (with a focus on Arab and African Americans), affirmative action attitudes, and multicultural research methodology. She has also written several op-eds that have appeared in USA Today, Fortune, the Houston Chronicle, the Dallas Morning News, and Al Jazeera America.
