Anti-Racism & Your Mental Health
Wellness Center Statement of Solidarity and Support
The Wellness Center joins the SAIC community, our city, and our nation in grieving the lives lost due to violence aimed at Black people and Black communities. In keeping with SAIC’s commitment to creating and nurturing an environment in which different perspectives and backgrounds can be heard, valued, and utilized, Wellness Center staff firmly condemn structural racism and believe that Black Lives Matter.
In our current moment, race-based structural inequalities are glaringly apparent in the disproportionate COVID-19 infection rates among other health disparities, incarceration rates, dearth of educational and employment opportunities, and racialized violence experienced by Black communities. We remember George Floyd, whose public death on May 25, 2020 set into action a call for change. We remember Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Laquan McDonald, Trayvon Martin, Ma’khia Bryant, and too many others.
As we advocate for change, many of us are noticing amplified feelings of anxiety, sadness, anger, and fear that are often associated with experiencing grief and trauma. We recognize the need for preservation of self, mentally and physically, so that we might continue to work together toward a more just society.
We are here for you. Your emotions are valid, and they matter.
You are not alone.
For more resources please visit:
Learn and Unlearn: Anti-Racism Resource Guide
The John M. Flaxman Library
Reflecting and Revising: Anti-Racism and Black Lives Matter Re-release
The John M. Flaxman Library’s virtual pop-up library
Resources for Learning and Unlearning Racism
Multicultural Affairs webpage
Reporting Instances of Racism on Campus
If you believe you have experienced racism or any instance of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation on campus, we encourage you to report it. Students and faculty may reach out to Title IX Coordinator Luma Akiti, lakiti@saic.edu or Deputy Title IX Coordinator Darryl Lockett, dlockett@saic.edu. Staff may reach out to Employee Relations and Training Managers Timeka Young, tyoung6@saic.edu, or Alan Hooker, ahooker@saic.edu. The policies prohibiting discrimination, harassment, and retaliation can be found at these links: students, faculty, staff.
Coping with Stress Related to Racism
- Coping with Violence, Trauma & Tragedy from JED Campus Foundation
- Coping with Racism-Related Stress from University of Illinois
Self-Care for People of Color after Psychological Trauma
- Radical Self-Care in the Face of Mounting Racial Stress
- Support Resources for People of Color & Native Folks from Simmons University
Social Media and Virtual Online Public Spaces
- Sista Afya Community Mental Wellness
- Therapy for Black Girls
- Ethel’s Club
- Asian Mental Health Project
- Chicago Black Mental Health Directory
- POC Online Classroom: Self-Care
- 15 Mental Health Podcasts for People of Color
Surviving & Resisting Hate: A Toolkit for People of Color
- The Association of Black Psychologists - Family-Care, Community-Care and Self-Care Tool Kit: Healing in the Face of Cultural Trauma
- Black Lives Matter Meditation for Healing Racial Trauma and Ally + Accomplice Meditation for Cultivating an Anti-Racist Mindset by Dr. Candice Nicole Hargons
- APA Society for the Psychological Study Of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race Healing Through Social Justice Resources
- National Latinx Psychological Association (NLPA) Advocacy in Actions
