Counseling Individuals of Color Who Have Experienced Race Based Trauma: Counselors’ Experiences with Identifying, Training, Treating, Policy, and Perceived Competency

Abstract

This study examined counselors’ professional experiences with race based trauma and investigated an emerging and under researched category of multicultural competency, working with Individuals of Color who have experienced race based trauma. The Race Based Trauma Survey was developed by Dr. Amanda Evans and Carrie Hemmings to examine professional counselors’ experiences with the following related to race based trauma; contributing factors, personal training and experience, experiences with identification and treatment, professional policy, and self-reported competency in identifying and providing treatment. Additionally, this study examined the relationship between (a) self-reported competencies and (b) training to identify race based trauma, training to treat race based trauma, and the existence of professional policy on race based trauma that includes treatment recommendations.