A Healing Justice Framework for Behavioral Health Treatment with BIPOC/LGBTQIA+ Pediatric Client Systems

Course overview

This training offers a view of healing justice practices as defined by Cara Page, "Healing justice...identifies how we can holistically respond to and intervene on generational trauma and violence, and to bring collective practices that can impact and transform the consequences of oppression on our bodies, hearts and minds" https://www.healingbychoicedetroit.com/what-is-healing-justice . This training promotes a healing justice framework for personal and collective transformative healing. While centering the needs of minoritized people, this training will seek to connect the dots between indigenous healing methods with the principles of restorative justice, and political action designed to disrupt and dismantle systems of oppression. Behavioral Health staff often work within a medical model system where the needs of the body are bifurcated from the needs of the mind and soul. Traditional mental health treatment has demonized, criminalized, and pathologized minoritized population' expressions of being that have been in conflict with majority perspectives of mental wellness. This training will support a wholistic view of mental health treatment that will challenge the status quo ways of working with and on behalf of client systems. Training participants will leave this training with a clearer understanding of the ways in which a healing justice approach can support wholistic healing while offering practical means of engaging whole heartedly in sustainable social justice work within the behavioral health context. Objectives: 1) Participants will be able to describe and share with others the concept of healing justice. (2) Participants will be able to evaluate the ways that traditional behavioral health treatment has oppressed minoritized client systems. (3) Participants will be able to analyze and synthesize strategies to center the needs of minoritized client systems within the behavioral health system that support service users in identifying and working to dismantle systems of oppression within that system. (4) Participants will be able to identify collective, indigenous, culturally informed practices that support wholistic health, healing, and the wellbeing of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ service users and colleagues.