Social and Racial Justice Working Group

In the summer of 2020, in response to the murder of George Floyd and the reckoning of police and state violence against people of color, the leadership and clinicians at Bloomgarden, Ostroff, & Associates decided to form a Social and Racial Justice work group to address issues of race and racial inequality that are present in both the therapy room and the wider mental health community. 

We have worked to identify how Eurocentric characteristics of mental health education and psychotherapeutic practices taught through a white cultural lens can be unintentionally harmful and retraumatizing to BIPOC clients, therapists, and educators by upholding norms set through white supremacy. Part of our work as clinicians is to de-center these beliefs and cultivate authentic, generative healing through a trauma-informed, strengths based perspective. 

Our work together as a group continues to evolve, keeping a pulse on changes in the field of mental health as well as what's happening in the community. We meet together monthly for ongoing discussions, learning, and growing. We also use this time to plan and coordinate ways to bring our knowledge to the practice as a whole, as well as engaging in volunteerism in the community.

Read more about our work group vision and guiding principles.