The Truth About Racial Trauma and How Therapy Can Help.
For many people of color, trauma doesn’t always come from a single event.
Sometimes, it builds slowly, over time, through years of being talked over, looked past, expected to stay quiet or moments you’ve learned to downplay.
It’s in the microaggressions you brush off.
The rooms where you’re talked over.
The pressure to stay quiet, stay strong, stay composed.
This is racial trauma. And yes, it’s real.
What Is Racial Trauma?
Racial trauma is the emotional and psychological impact of experiencing racism, discrimination, or systemic injustice. In other words: Racial trauma is what happens when everyday racism starts messing with your mental health.
It’s that tight feeling in your chest when you walk into a room and feel out of place.
It’s constantly wondering if you're being too loud, too sensitive, too much.
It’s exhaustion that hits different, not just physical, but emotional and cultural too.
It can show up in ways you might not immediately connect to race:
-Hypervigilance (always waiting for something to go wrong)
-Low self-worth or internalized shame
-Numbness or emotional detachment
-Anxiety in academic, workplace, or public settings
-Anger or irritability that feels hard to explain
-Physical symptoms like fatigue, headaches, or insomnia
Racial trauma isn’t about one bad day, it’s about carrying the weight of being unseen, invalidated, or unsafe in your own skin.
Why It Often Goes Untreated
If you’re BIPOC, you’ve probably heard some version of:
“You’re overthinking it.”
“That’s just how the world is.”
“Keep your head down and work harder.”
And when you finally do speak up? You’re met with silence, dismissal, or pressure to let it go. So you keep moving through it even when it hurts. Over time, that silence can become part of you. Until it starts showing up in your mental health.
What Therapy Can Do
Therapy won’t erase racism. But it can help you process what you’ve carried and start healing in ways that are powerful and personal. At Haven Health Therapy, our therapists are trained to support clients navigating racial trauma. That means you won’t be asked to explain the impact of a lifetime of coded language, unsafe spaces, or invisibility. You’ll be met with understanding, not doubt.
In therapy, you can:
Talk openly about what you’ve experienced without shrinking it down
Set boundaries without guilt
Understand how racism has shaped your inner world without letting it define you
Learn how to protect your peace, set boundaries, and stay grounded
Talk honestly, without fear of being misunderstood. Let your emotions out, without fear of judgement.
You deserve a space where your identity isn’t just “acknowledged” it’s central to your care.
Therapy can be the space where that safety begins.
You Don’t Have to Minimize What You’ve Lived Through
Racial trauma is real.
So is the healing process.
You are not too sensitive.
You are not imagining things.
And you don’t have to carry this alone.
Whether you’re just beginning to name it or have been holding it in for years, therapy can offer support that sees the full picture.
We’re here when you’re ready. And we get it.
