[njamc] Re: Fwd: One therapist's annual contribution to racism

From: Jennifer Chiaramonti <jchiaramonti@xxxxxxx>
To: "njamc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <njamc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2018 20:29:31 +0000

Hi Sherritta and Roberto,

Please ignore my last email.  I was thinking "NJCA" not "TCNJ" so of course
Roberto's email was to Sherritta. Read too fast!

Jennie

_______________________________
Jennifer Chiaramonti, MSEd, NCC, LPC

Assistant Professor of Counseling

Community College of Philadelphia
Northeast Regional Center - Room 102M
12901 Townsend Road
Philadelphia, PA 19154

Phone: 215-972-6241
Email: jchiaramonti@xxxxxxx
Web: www.myccp.online/counseling<http://www.myccp.online/counseling>
YouTube:
www.youtube.com/channel/UCTEp63PCdWJgm1nRWQrG0EQ/featured<http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTEp63PCdWJgm1nRWQrG0EQ/featured>
[1500486274511_PastedImage]

________________________________
From: njamc-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <njamc-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of
Sherritta Hughes, LPC, ACS <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 4:27:29 PM
To: njamc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [njamc] Re: Fwd: One therapist's annual contribution to racism

Hi Roberto,

Thanks a lot. The campus has some high racial tension right now so the
conference/summit was right on time. I geared it towards staff, students, and
faculty.... How to address cultural needs among a diverse student body.

Be well
Sherritta

On Apr 10, 2018 4:08 PM, Jennifer Chiaramonti <jchiaramonti@xxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi Roberto,

I don't think anyone knows which "Dear One" your sweet email was addressed to,
since several of us participated in the conference. hee hee

I'll be at the April meeting just long enough to take minutes for the business
portion. I have to leave for work at by noon and will miss the training
portion.  See you soon!

Jennie

_______________________________
Jennifer Chiaramonti, MSEd, NCC, LPC

Assistant Professor of Counseling

Community College of Philadelphia
Northeast Regional Center - Room 102M
12901 Townsend Road
Philadelphia, PA 19154

Phone: 215-972-6241
Email: jchiaramonti@xxxxxxx
Web: www.myccp.online/counseling<http://www.myccp.online/counseling>
YouTube:
www.youtube.com/channel/UCTEp63PCdWJgm1nRWQrG0EQ/featured<http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTEp63PCdWJgm1nRWQrG0EQ/featured>
[1500486274511_PastedImage]

________________________________
From: njamc-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <njamc-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of
Roberto Schiraldi <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 2:29:40 PM
To: njamc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [njamc] Re: Fwd: One therapist's annual contribution to racism

Hi Dear One,

Spoke with Don Trahan yesterday and he was all aglow with the conference at
TCNJ and said you were great....sooo congrats big time, and I hope you feel
good about your part of it..and hopefully that the day was impactful for the
TCNJ community.
Hope to see you at the next meeting.
Sending hugs and love,
Roberto

________________________________
From: hughes sherritta <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: njamc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; CarolEvangelisto <cevangel@xxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 1:08 PM
Subject: [njamc] Re: Fwd: One therapist's annual contribution to racism

I signed it, sent it to a friend who is an active member of another state
division for multicultural counseling, and called PT out on Twitter.

Be well,
Sherritta
--------------------------------------------
On Tue, 4/10/18, zavel philip
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:

Subject: [njamc] Re: Fwd: One therapist's annual contribution to racism
To: "njamc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:njamc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>"
<njamc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:njamc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>, "Evangelisto, Carol"
<cevangel@xxxxxxxx<mailto:cevangel@xxxxxxxx>>,
"njamc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:njamc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>"
<njamc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:njamc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
Date: Tuesday, April 10, 2018, 12:33 PM

I
signed it and sent it to friends as well.

Sent
from Yahoo Mail on Android

  On Tue, Apr 10, 2018 at
12:06 PM, Evangelisto,
Carol<cevangel@xxxxxxxx<mailto:cevangel@xxxxxxxx>> wrote:
  I signed, too.  I never got this
magazine, but I do use their web site to find referral
sources.I had no idea, either. Thanks for sharing this,
Aida!

On Tuesday, April 10,
2018, Couto, Joana <coutoj1@xxxxxxxx<mailto:coutoj1@xxxxxxxx>>
wrote:
I also signed the petition. Had no
idea!
On Tue,
Apr 10, 2018 at 10:04 AM, Jennifer Chiaramonti
<jchiaramonti@xxxxxxx<mailto:jchiaramonti@xxxxxxx>>
wrote:

Thank you, Aida.
I am generally fairly critical of images in the mainstream
media, and yet the issue of imagery used by Psychology Today
completely flew under my radar.  Interestingly, I never
connected with that publication
  but couldn't put my finger on why - perhaps this is
why.  I signed the petition.

Also wanted to
share this website with all - free continuing education from
the VA:

https://www.ptsd.va.gov/profes sional/continuing_ed/find_a_
course.asp

Continuing
Education - PTSD: National Center for PTSD

www.ptsd.va.gov

This section brings together free in-depth Continuing
Education resources for the Professional community concerned
with trauma.

Jennie

______________________________ _

Jennifer Chiaramonti, MSEd, NCC, LPC

Assistant Professor of Counseling

Community College of Philadelphia

Northeast Regional Center - Room 102M

12901
Townsend Road

Philadelphia, PA 19154

Phone: 215-972-6241

Email: jchiaramonti@xxxxxxx<mailto:jchiaramonti@xxxxxxx>

Web: www.myccp.online/counseli
ng

YouTube: www.youtube.com/chann
el/UCTEp63PCdWJgm1nRWQrG0EQ/fe atured

From: njamc-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:njamc-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<njamc-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:njamc-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
on behalf of Aida Hernandez
<aidahernandez25@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:aidahernandez25@xxxxxxxxx>>

Sent: Monday, April 9, 2018 4:52 PM

To: njamc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:njamc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Subject: [njamc] Fwd: One therapist's annual
contribution to racism

Hello friends,

I received the following email in my inbox this
afternoon from a private practice resource and thought I
would share because I feel this is worth some thought,
conversation and action. As someone who is listed in the
Psychology Today, I have to admit that
  I did not give much thought to the magazine and materials
that I share in my waiting room, and I am still coming into
my awareness after reading it, and doing my own
reflection.

I hope everyone is having a great week,

Aida

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Aida Hernandez
<aidahernandezlpc@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:aidahernandezlpc@xxxxxxxxxx>>

Date: Mon, Apr 9, 2018 at 4:45 PM

Subject: Fwd: One therapist's annual contribution to
racism

To: Aida Hernandez <aidahernandez25@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:aidahernandez25@xxxxxxxxx>>

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Dr.
Maelisa Hall" <drhall@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:drhall@xxxxxxxxxx>>

Date: April
09, 2018 5:04:55 AM

To: aidahernandezlpc@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:aidahernandezlpc@xxxxxxxxxx>

Subject:
One therapist's annual contribution
to racism

This week my message to you is
a bit different. There have been some heavy political topics
discussed recently and one thing I've noticed as a White
person is that I am able to choose whether or not I would
like to pay attention.
It can be uncomfortable to
keep conversations about racism and sexism going but I feel
very strongly that my role as a White mental health
practitioner includes keeping my eyes and ears open and
proactively discussing these things.
But most of all, my
role is to listen to my colleagues of Color and provide
support in whatever way I can. For that reason, I have made
these commitments:
I choose to continue these conversations even
when racism is not a trending topic in the news.
I choose to discuss racism with other
White colleagues and to call them out on their
privilege.I choose to acknowledge my own
privilege and be open to feedback on how I personally
contribute to racism and marginalization.
Below is a
letter written by an anonymous therapist of Color about her
own "annual contribution to racism." I
encourage you to read
  it without judgement or blame. Take in the
information and reflect on the small ways in which
you may be contributing to racism.
Then, take action. Share
this email, sign the petition, write a blog post on your
website.... whatever is most appropriate for you. And if you
are
  also a White mental health practitioner, please know that
racism is very much alive today and continues to impact us
all.

My Annual
Contribution to Racism- Anonymous
I’ve unwittingly
been funding racism. Yikes!
I’m a therapist, a woman of
Color, an immigrant, a social activist, a
counselor-educator, and I’ve also been paying a few
hundred dollars annually towards an institution that not
only does not value diversity, but actually may be
  insidiously undermining it.
It all started out quite
innocently. As a therapist making the transition from
community mental health to private practice, I decided to
buy a regular subscription to be listed on a popular online
referral source. It wasn’t until
  recently that I woke up to pay attention to where
my money really goes and what I’m funding with
this contribution. Quite honestly, I’m a bit
ashamed at how blind I’ve been, and hoping that
my coming clean may help us all
  to look at our own complicity in supporting
institutions that devalue people of Color.

Over the last few years, I
have paid $30 per month, amounting to an annual budget
closer to $400 towards a subscription that also comes with a
magazine. I’ve always been skeptical of the articles in
the magazine; some pseudo-science
  essays and a LOT of sensationalist headlines. But over
time, I also became aware that the covers featured
skinny, White models who are often rather skimpily dressed
in provocative poses. I no longer felt comfortable
leaving this magazine in
  my office waiting room. How could this be
supportive for the mental well-being of clients with sexual
trauma or eating disorders or even self esteem
issues? Furthermore, as one of the few therapists
of Color in this area, a majority of my
  clients are racially and culturally diverse and already
suffer from the ways in which they feel consistently
bombarded by dominant (and unhealthy) photoshopped ideas of
beauty. How could I further assault their psyches with this
kind of bias where the only
  images of people of Color hidden in the bowels of this
magazine correspond with articles about Bipolar Disorder or
Anger or the darker side of life?
I emailed and called them to
complain about this, and
my complaints fell on deaf ears, so I asked
them to stop sending me their magazine and opted to adorn my
office waiting room with

images of beauty that felt more inclusive and
nourishing. (Click
this link for an amazing
  glimpse of beauty around the world!)
Still more months passed and
as we launched into more
social activism as a community, speaking
more openly about racism and discrimination, sexism and
misogyny, I began to question myself about subscribing to
an institution that clearly practices racist,
discriminatory, sexist and misogynistic policies, at least
in the magazine that it prints each month.
Would I willingly
write a check for $2000 to an organization that preaches or
practices hate and intolerance? If my monthly
contributions were added up over time, I had done exactly
that. While I couldn’t
  get my money back, at least I could stop giving them more
of my hard earned money, I figured.
Here’s where you
come in.
I want to trust that
as a community, we are resourced enough to protest
injustice. In the past 25 years, this magazine has
not once featured a person of Color on their cover. Could
that just be an accident? Nope!
  Come to find out, this magazine once published an article
disguised as scientific that actually proclaimed that
Black women are less attractive than other
women. No, I didn’t just make that up. You can
search online to read about the article, the retraction and
the lukewarm apology in response to a petition signed by
over 40,000 people.
Inside sources confirm this to
be an institutional policy, meaning that no small amount of
effort has gone into an insidious form of marketing
where seductive, skinny White women are the default, the
norm, the beauty standard,
  while people of Color are either invisible, or problematic
because of how they are represented. And that
doesn’t even begin to touch the issue of size and the harm
that it causes to women everywhere or issues of ableism and
more.
I know me and I know I
wouldn’t willingly subscribe to such an ideology if
someone laid it out in speech or print. And yet, I
unwittingly paid into it for the past few years, simply
because it wasn’t so blatantly spelled out.
Do I have a conclusion?

Do I have a plea?

Am I asking you to quit this directory?

Am I asking you to devote yourself to this cause?
Nope!
You’re absolutely free to make your own choices.
For months, I’ve had to sit with my own dilemma of
balancing my financial bottomline, my fear of losing
precious income and my desire for social justice.
As a lover of process, how could I deny you the
opportunity to be in your own process and come to your own
decisions!
I have no moral judgment or
scathing indictment to offer, because I have been complicit
in this dynamic for several years. To be honest, I’m not
even indignant. In fact, what I am, is a bit chastened and
ashamed that I was so naïve,
  and didn’t look closely enough. It feels a bit like
admitting to having been in an abusive relationship for
several years! It also helps me feel closer to my own
humanity to be reminded that even when I know what the right
thing to do is, it may not always
  be the easiest step to take. What I do know is that social
activism does not pay my bills, and my sense of what is
right can conflict with my logical sense of what will help
me meet my financial obligations. Ultimately, I simply woke
up one morning and said
  “bye!” to that subscription.
It hasn’t been long, but so
far, I only feel the relief of finally having taken a step
that I kept putting off. I’m hoping though, that when I
feel the familiar onset of the “what if…” fears, I can
come home to rest in this community
  of therapists who are committed to dialoging about social
activism. In addition, we're actively trying to compile
a list of online directories with woke practices.

It starts with talk, and
it's good to learn what it means to stay woke! And then
someone

starts a petition, and who knows where we might go from
there…The choice is in our hands!

You
  can find the petition here.
*End of Letter*
Thank you for reading this and
I hope this letter provides you a reflective tool. I
encourage you to listen to your intuition about how to
proceed and to seize the moment if you feel compelled toward
any specific action.
-Maelisa

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References:
- [njamc] Re: Fwd: One therapist's annual contribution to racism
  - From: Jennifer Chiaramonti
- [njamc] Re: Fwd: One therapist's annual contribution to racism
  - From: Sherritta Hughes, LPC, ACS

[njamc] Re: Fwd: One therapist's annual contribution to racism

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