As far-right and anti-immigration influences take hold across the globe, people of colour are often struggling to know where they might feel safe. Encountering occasional racism has long been a fact of life for people of colour in most Western countries. However, emboldened by far-right movements, racist voices are now becoming louder and moving into the mainstream.
One of the emergent themes within the therapy room has involved a resurgence of racial trauma, especially for those who have previously experienced significant harm of this nature. Every migrant or person of colour has a different relationship with race and the surrounding culture, but certain themes predominate when navigating life as a cultural minority. These include seemingly innocuous othering (“Oh, how is your English so good?”), unspoken discrimination in employment, stereotypical beliefs (“All South Asians are truck drivers”), deliberate ignorance, scapegoating (“House prices are rising because of immigrants”), and outright hatred (“Go back to where you came from”).
Many people of colour have also experienced frank and outright abuse and violence because of racism.
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### Aisha’s Story
Aisha* is a young woman of Pakistani origin who had been seeing me for therapy to manage some difficulties with her family. She shared that she had experienced an assault in adolescence by Caucasian peers from school, which she believed to be racially charged—though the school denied this at the time.
Initially, Aisha saw a psychoanalytic practitioner but stopped when they tried to interpret her reaction to a racist comment by her manager as a transference reaction deriving from childhood. Her experiences with therapy had been mixed, and she struggled with the quick injunction to put up boundaries she received from Caucasian therapists, which offered limited recognition of the cultural context she lived in.
While therapists from any background can work successfully with people of colour, it requires a level of sensitivity and willingness to learn. It is essential to incorporate an understanding of structural issues such as colonialism and discrimination into therapy.
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### Therapy in the Context of Rising Racism
Within the context of increasing anti-migrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric, Aisha found herself hyper-vigilant and anxious about the possibility of another assault. She reported nightmares about the attack and was starting to perceive danger in her daily life.
Working as a nurse, she was subject to a lot of racism from clients and much subtler racism from colleagues and management. Her typical manner of smiling and ignoring the behaviour was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. She found herself so angry that she was clenching her teeth at night and was diagnosed with temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ).
My first therapy task was to understand Aisha’s culture instead of making assumptions. I also needed to reflect the reality of what she had experienced and to sit with her distress, rather than moving quickly into glib interventions such as reframing her thinking.
Exploring the disempowerment and fear she felt—and normalising these feelings in the context of global changes—was important before moving on to more active therapeutic interventions.
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### Therapeutic Approach and Interventions
I noticed that Aisha’s threat perception was heightened, a typical response for those who have experienced trauma. I had to carefully help her see this without dismissing her understandable fear.
We worked on some basic psychological techniques, such as controlling what she could and letting go of what she couldn’t. However, I made a point—one I emphasize to all my clients experiencing structural harms—that describing such techniques might feel like “slapping a Band-Aid on a broken leg.”
We utilised eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR), a trauma treatment, to reduce her anxiety about the assault. Additionally, we worked on basic lifestyle interventions to ensure she had the building blocks of mental health in place.
Learning to respond assertively to racist comments and behaviour was another essential part of our work. Aisha identified that racism from colleagues was much worse than that from patients, though the latter was more overt.
Together, we built interpersonal effectiveness skills and rehearsed self-talk strategies to help Aisha combat these difficulties.
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### Outcome
While therapy was just one part of the puzzle, feeling understood and supported in her experience of disempowerment was crucial for Aisha. She was able to externalise the racism and see it as a reflection of the people engaging in such behaviour, rather than a personal failing.
She acknowledged that this harsh reality affects many migrants, but she now felt more empowered to make positive changes for herself and for other people of colour in her workplace.
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*All clients are fictional amalgams.
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**About the Author**
Dr Ahona Guha is a clinical and forensic psychologist, trauma expert, and author based in Melbourne. She wrote *Reclaim: Understanding complex trauma and those who abuse*, and *Life skills for a broken world*.
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### Support Resources
**In Australia:**
– Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
– Lifeline: 13 11 14
– MensLine: 1300 789 978
**In the UK:**
– Mind: 0300 123 3393
– Childline: 0800 1111
**In the US:**
– Mental Health America (call or text): 988
– Chat: 988lifeline.org
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/29/racist-voices-are-becoming-louder-and-moving-into-the-mainstream-how-can-i-help-my-client-feel-safe
