Speaking of Racism

All the Pride with Nandi Kayyy

Nandi Kayyy is a Queer, southern-born, non-binary musician & activist with a passion for Black liberation, soul music, and fried chicken. Nandi is the frontman of Nandi Kayyy & The They Agenda, an Alternative R&B band as well as the host of the 'Black Friends Dinner' podcast. Nandi serves as project manager at Hope & Hard Pills, a media collective founded by Andre Henry providing practical insight on racial justice and on the advisory board of the Speaking of Racism Podcast. Nandi’s passion for equity spills over into their work in technology. Nandi is the Associate Product Manager at AboveBoard, a software technology company dedicated to increasing representation of underrepresented groups in executive leadership.

 

Juneteenth: Repair, Revelations and Reverence

June 19 marks Juneteenth, a day of remembrance for the Black community, specifically recognizing Emancipation Day. And while HIStory tells us on June 19, 1865, General Order No. 3 was read in Galveston, Texas there is so much more to be revealed. Historian, conflict mediator and podcast creator Lettie Shumate helps us impact the much deeper lessons and legacy of the sacred day.

Abolitionist Therapy: Possibilities for Transformation with Dr. Travis Heath & Gabes Torres

Travis is a licensed psychologist and has served as a professor of psychology at Metropolitan State University of Denver for the last 12 years. In July, he will become an Associate Professor at the University of Denver and assume co-directorship of the International Disaster Psychology: Trauma and Global Mental Health graduate program as well as serve as Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Graduate School of Professional Psychology.
 
Past work he’s been involved with looked at shifting from a multicultural approach to counseling to one of cultural democracy that invites people to heal in mediums that are culturally near. His most recent work involves incorporating the work of Black abolitionist scholars into psychotherapy, community healing, and uprising.  His writing has focused on the use of rap music in narrative therapy, working with persons entangled in the criminal injustice system in ways that maintain their dignity, narrative practice stories as pedagogy, a co-created questioning practice called reunion questions, and community healing strategies. He is currently co-authoring the first book on Contemporary Narrative Therapy with David Epston and Tom Carlson. He has been fortunate to run workshops and speak in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Norway, United Kingdom, and the United States.

 

Thank you to Tolu Mejolagbe and Michael Zuch for sharing their insights on how it is like to practice decolonized therapy.

The Science and Spirit of Collective Healing with Tanya Ranchigoda and Gabes Torres

Tanya Ranchigoda grew up surrounded by her Sri-Lankan community in Southern California. It is through her immigrant family upbringing that she learned about collective and inclusive communities.

 

She took this worldview and professionalized it by becoming a social worker. She now carries people and community stories and histories and collaborates with them to show up as they choose to even in the face of adversity.

 

Her 20-year career spans oncology social work, private-client grief and trauma counseling, supervision, coaching, corporate training, and a decade as an adjunct lecturer in the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Washington. 

Policing in the Mental Health Industry with Ji-Youn Kim & Gabes Torres

Ji-Youn (she/her) is a justice-oriented therapist of Corean ancestry, located in what is colonially known as Vancouver, Canada. With collective liberation as her vision, she aims to disrupt oppressive practices of the mental health industry and its complicities, and envision new ways of mental health care rooted in abolition and community. She also deeply believes in embodied joy, ease, and liberation while in the pursuit of collective liberation. 

 

Follow Ji-Youn on @itsjiyounkim

 

Thank you to Ellen Cline and Bryan Brown for offering their wisdom in sharing how they practice antiracism and decolonizing work in their clinical and healing practices.

 

RESOURCES

adrienne maree brown - Emergent Strategy

Travis Heath - Radicalizing Psychotherapy: From Multiculturalism to Abolition

If You’re New to Abolition: Study Group Guide

@SocialWorkersCanKissMyAss

Todd, N. & Wade, A. (1994). Parallel objectifying practices: Domination, deficiency and psychotherapy. Calgary: The Calgary Participator. 

https://decolonizeeverything.org/

 

Music in the episode by: https://www.bensound.com

 

Stories in the Pasifika: Ancestral Grief and Strength with Sage Ke’alohilani Quiamno & Gabes Torres

It is important to listen to the peoples of the Pasifika and Oceania during Asian Pacific Islander/Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and beyond.

 

Here, Gabes has a conversation with Sage Ke’alohilani Quiamno. Sage is an Indigenous Native Hawaiian award-winning entrepreneur, speaker, and changemaker. She is the CEO & co-founder of Future For Us, a platform dedicated to advancing women of color. Sage has galvanized a nationwide movement to build a future of work reaching new levels of growth through diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

 

After spending 7 years in Seattle, Washington, and now back home to her home in Hawai'i, Sage reflects on her time in having to contend racist and sexist spaces in the corporate world, while also reflecting on what it's like to process the present and ancestral grief and rage in light of her lived experiences of colonialism against her, her people, and the land.

De-centering Whiteness in Therapy with Gabes Torres and Melody Li

We are back for a new season! For the month of May, we will have the honor of hearing from Gabes Torres. Gabes is a Filipino/a/x psychotherapist, organizer, and member of the Speaking of Racism community + Advisory Board.

Melody Li joined Gabes for this episode to discuss de-centering whiteness in Therapy.

Melody Is a colony-born migrant & settler, therapist of Color, and mental health justice activist.

They created Inclusive Therapists (www.inclusivetherapists.com): a social justice-oriented mental health directory and community that celebrates the strengths & centers the needs of marginalized communities.

They also lead a mental health justice movement to decolonize, disrupt and dismantle oppressive mental health practices. In community, they restore, reimagine & reclaim our healing.

Melody believes that all people with all identities & abilities in all bodies deserve equal access to quality mental health care.

Fighting The Rise Of Xenophobia with Kathy Khang: Replay

We are replaying this episode with Kathy Kang from March 22nd, 2020.

 

We stand in solidarity with the AAPI community and commit to end white supremacist delusion.

Today's episode is with writer, speaker, yoga teacher, and social justice advocate Kathy Khang. Kathy joined Tina and Jen to talk about what life is like for the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the era of the coronavirus. They discuss the dangerous rhetoric coming from the president, the increase in anti-Asian hate crimes, and so much more.

Black History Month Reflections

On this week's episode of Speaking of Racism, you'll hear from 5 of our Board Members as they reflect on Black History Month.

 

Black History Moment with Tina Strawn

We are kicking off our Black History Month series with Speaking of Racism owner and co-host, Tina Strawn. Tune in and listen as Tina highlights two people who have impacted her: Alice Walker, and her debate and speech teacher- Electra Kitchin.

 

Stay tuned for more BHM moments from our board members this month!