Dealing with trauma

Sept 22, 2022
By Mike Costanza
From the Rochester Beacon
full article here

As a Black woman and a therapist who has practiced for 17 years, Jackman recognizes the impact of society on minorities.

“When they have pressured speech and (are) speaking animatedly and loudly, I know they’re not angry at me,” she says. “They’re angry at the trauma which they’ve had to experience.”

The pandemic increased that trauma, as did the deaths of two Black men who were in police custody in 2020—George Floyd in Minneapolis and Daniel Prude in Rochester. Their deaths sparked days of protest in Rochester, some of which turned violent.

“It was a collective degree of trauma, because we all know an African American male that could’ve been Mr. Prude (and) could’ve been Mr. Floyd,” Jackman says.

The multiple traumas doubled Jackman’s roster of clients, forcing her to hire more staff. She now has three clinicians working under her, one of whom is Black. About 75 percent of the practice’s approximately 80 clients are Black.

Cummins is one of them. When she and her husband, who is white, lived in Silver Springs, a small village in Wyoming County, their small children had to endure scrutiny because they are mixed-race. After the family moved to the Rochester area roughly a year ago, Cummins feared they might be mistreated in the Penfield school in which they were enrolled, which is almost all white.

In addition, the deaths of Floyd, Prude and other Black people at the hands of police left Cummins feeling nervous whenever she saw a police car in her rearview mirror. She found herself struggling with depression, and turned to a white therapist for help.

Cummins found the therapist to be a nice person, but the woman couldn’t understand why she was so disturbed by the deaths of Black people she didn’t know.

“These are people who look like me, who could be my son, my daughter,” Cummins says. “I was trying to explain that to her, and I don’t think she got it.”

The therapist also encouraged Cummins to see the local police as being there for her safety, and that her odds of being mistreated by them were low.

“Those kinds of words are triggering for me, because it doesn’t matter, I feel, if I’m a law-abiding citizen or not,” she says.

Cummins gave up trying to make her white therapist understand her feelings and began looking for someone who is Black. After a great deal of searching, she found Jackman.

“It’s so much of a relief,” Cummins says, “having someone who gets, like, ‘I know why you’re upset, I understand the fear, and these are things that you can do (that) can help you feel less fear.’” Cummins says.