Liberation Now Ep 10: Approaching Therapy from an Anti-Oppressive & Anti-Racism Lens

In this episode, Cherese Waight and Helen Neville speak with award winning psychologists Dr. Candice Hargons and Dr. Nikki Coleman about practicing therapy and professional work from an anti-oppressive and anti-racist lens. They share stories about their training and practice, and they talk about what it means to be authentic in and outside of the therapy room. Learn more about specific ways mental health settings and the field of counseling psychology can decolonize their training efforts.

ABOUT THE GUESTS

Dr. Candice Nicole Hargons is an award-winning associate professor of counseling psychology at the University of Kentucky, where she studies sexual wellness and healing racial trauma – all with a love ethic. Dr. Hargons is the creator of the Ally + Accomplice Meditation for Cultivating an Anti-Racist Mindset and the Black Lives Matter Meditation for Healing Racial Trauma, which has been featured in the Huffington Post and Blavity and used by universities and private practices across the US. She has been quoted or featured in the New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Women's Health, and other media. She serves on the Board of Directors for the American Psychological Association and is a Fellow of the Society of Counseling Psychology. Additionally, Dr. Hargons is the founder of the Center for Healing Racial Trauma.

You can follow Dr. Candice Nicole on IG @dr.candicenicole and learn more at www.drcandicenicole.com. 

Dr. Nikki Coleman is a PsyPact credentialed licensed psychologist and Sex Self Confidence Coach. Her expertise includes a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant and trainer, writer, podcaster, public speaker, and therapist. She received her Ph. D. in Counseling Psychology from the APA-accredited top-ranked program at the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2002. For over 15 years she was a professor of Counseling Psychology with over 7 years as a tenured professor. During that time, she published peer-reviewed articles on identity and cultural factors impacting young Black adults. Her business Dr. Nikki Knows is a practice that focuses on the relational and sexual wellness of Black folx and racial equity consultation and training for small to mid-size organizations. Dr. Nikki’s mantra is: “Pleasure is my birthright” and she works to imbue that to her clients.

You can follow Dr. Nikki on IG and Twitter @DrNikkiKnows and learn more at www.DrNikkiKnows.com and https://linktr.ee/drnikkiknows.

GUESTS SELECT PUBLICATIONS

Dr. Candice Hargons Select Publications 

• Hargons, C. N., Malone, N., Montique, C., Dogan, J., Stuck, J., Meiller, C., Sanchez, A., Sullivan, Q.-A., Bohmer, C., Curvey, R., Woods, I., Jr., Tyler, K., Oluokun, J., & Stevens-Watkins, D. (2022). “White people stress me out all the time”: Black students define racial trauma.Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 28(1), 49–57. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000351
• Hargons, C. (2022). Mindfulness and matter: The Black Lives Matter Meditation for Healing Racial Trauma. In Beyond White Mindfulness(pp. 98-109). Routledge.
• Hargons, C., Malone, N. J., Montique, C. S., Dogan, J., Stuck, J., Meiller, C., ... & Stevens-Watkins, D. (2021). Race-based stress reactions and recovery: Pilot testing a racial trauma meditation. Journal of Black Psychology, 00957984211034281.
• Hargons, C. N., Dogan, J., Malone, N., Thorpe, S., Mosley, D. V., & Stevens-Watkins, D. (2021). Balancing the sexology scales: A content analysis of Black women’s sexuality research. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 23(9), 1287-1301.
• Mosley, D. V., Hargons, C. N., Meiller, C., Angyal, B., Wheeler, P., Davis, C., & Stevens-Watkins, D. (2021). Critical consciousness of anti-Black racism: A practical model to prevent and resist racial trauma.Journal of Counseling Psychology, 68(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000430
• Hargons, C. N., Mosley, D. V., Meiller, C., Stuck, J., Kirkpatrick, B., Adams, C., & Angyal, B. (2018). “It feels so good”: Pleasure in last sexual encounter narratives of black university students. Journal of Black Psychology, 44(2), 103-127. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798417749400
• Hargons, C., Mosley, D. V., & Stevens-Watkins, D. (2017). Studying sex: A content analysis of sexuality research in counseling psychology. The Counseling Psychologist, 45(4), 528-546. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000017713756
• Hargons, C., Mosley, D., Falconer, J., Faloughi, R., Singh, A., Stevens-Watkins, D., & Cokley, K. (2017). Black lives matter: A call to action for counseling psychology leaders. The Counseling Psychologist, 45(6), 873-901. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000017733048

Dr. Nikki Coleman Select Publications

• Paquin, J. D., & Coleman, M. N. (2021). Introduction to the special issue on women and group work. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 71(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207284.2020.1798667
• Raque, T. L., Mitchell, A. M., Coleman, M. N., Coleman, J. J., & Owen, J. (2021). Addressing racial equity in health psychology research: An application of the multicultural orientation framework.American Psychologist, 76(8), 1266–1279. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000888
• Coleman, M. N., Reynolds, A. A., & Torbati, A. (2020). The relation of Black-oriented reality television consumption and perceived realism to the endorsement of stereotypes of Black women.Psychology of Popular Media, 9(2), 184–193. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000223
• Coleman, M. N., Butler, E. O., Long, A. M., & Fisher, F. D. (2016). In and out of love with hip-hop: Saliency of sexual scripts for young adult African American women in hip-hop and Black-oriented television. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 18(10), 1165-1179. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2016.1175029
• Coleman, M. N., Chapman, S., & Wang, D. C. (2013). An examination of color-blind racism and race-related stress among African American undergraduate students. Journal of Black Psychology, 39(5), 486-504. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798412469226
• Coleman, M. N. (2006). Critical incidents in multicultural training: An examination of student experiences. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 34(3), 168-182. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-1912.2006.tb00036.x

CULTURALLY INFORMED THERAPY RESOURCES

• Sista Afya
• BIPOC Mental Health Resources
• Directory for Therapy for Black Girls
• HealHaus
• INNOPSYCH 
• National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network
• National Alliance on Mental Health/ Identity and Cultural Dimensions
• Therapy for Black Men

STAY IN TOUCH!

#LiberationNowPodcast

Email: [email protected] | Instagram & Twitter: @liberationlab_   

EPISODE CREDITS

• Music: Amir Maghsoodi and Briana Williams 
• Podcast Artwork: B. Andi Lee & Amir Maghsoodi
• Episode Intro/Outro: Mahogany Monette
• Episode Editing: Cherese Waight and Helen Neville

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

bit.ly/LibNowE10