Race-based trauma often hides in plain sight—embedded in daily microaggressions, systemic inequities, and historical oppression that continue to impact the mental health of BIPOC clients. As clinicians, failing to address these issues directly can undermine trust, silence lived experience, and limit the healing potential of therapy.
This course provides behavioral health professionals with the frameworks, language, and personal insight needed to better support clients navigating the ongoing effects of racial trauma. Through practical strategies and reflective guidance, participants will gain tools to open conversations, acknowledge difficult truths, and foster a truly inclusive and healing clinical relationship.
Dr. Sonja Sutherland, PhD, LPC, ACS, BC-TMH, brings more than two decades of experience to this course. She is a licensed clinician, professor, and nationally recognized trainer in racial trauma and cultural competence. Dr. Sutherland’s work is rooted in her leadership at Legacy Changers Worldwide and her research in culturally informed intervention and supervision practices.
Dr. Sutherland's approach combines research-informed insights, case examples, and deep reflection to guide clinicians through the internal and external work required to engage in anti-racist clinical practice. Participants are encouraged to assess their own readiness, recognize implicit bias, and develop actionable strategies for allyship in the therapeutic space.
Topics covered include the socio-political context of race-based trauma, the mental health effects of racial battle fatigue and microaggressions, strategies for broaching racial trauma in therapy sessions, and ethical responsibilities across behavioral health codes. The course also explores personal readiness for addressing racial equity, including self-care, vulnerability, and allyship in clinical settings.
Key Takeaways:
Understand the race-trauma connection: Learn how racism impacts mental health and contributes to trauma-related symptoms in BIPOC clients.
Open effective dialogue: Gain skills to initiate and sustain safe, healing conversations around racial trauma in therapy.
Foster cultural humility and growth: Evaluate your own role in racial equity and implement strategies for lifelong personal and professional change.
Why This Course?
Clinically essential training: This course equips you with the insight and strategies needed to ethically and effectively serve clients impacted by racial trauma.
Expert-led and research-informed: Dr. Sutherland is a respected leader in cultural competence and trauma work, making this training both authoritative and practical.
A safe, structured format for learning: Engage with the material at your own pace through a self-study model designed to promote self-reflection and deep learning.
Learning Objectives:
Describe the connection between race-based traumatic stress injury and chronic psychological distress experienced by BIPOC individuals.
List 2 key steps/processes involved in successfully & therapeutically talking with clients about discrimination, racial stress, and racial trauma.
Identify 2 ways to evaluate the extent of, and move the needle on, one’s own involvement in promoting racial equity.
This course offers a meaningful opportunity to deepen your cultural responsiveness and clinical integrity. Let this training support your commitment to ethical, effective, and equity-centered care—one client conversation at a time.
Add this course to your cart to develop your skills, boost your confidence, and enhance your impact as a behavioral health professional.
This is a non-interactive self-study course that consists of 1 hour of video instruction and a post-test.
Availability: From the time of registration, you have six months to access the coursework.
Who Should Attend: This course is intended for clinicians who provide behavioral health services.
Teaching Methods: This is a non-interactive, self-study course. Teaching methods for this course include recorded lectures, videos, a post-test, and a course evaluation.
How to Attend: Instructions for attending and completing a course can be found here.
Dr. Sonja Sutherland, PhD, LPC, ACS, BC-TMH
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Sutherland is the founder and CEO of Legacy Changers Worldwide, an organization dedicated to providing family education and mental and emotional wellness resources. The Legacy Changers Worldwide umbrella has provided support through the Legacy Changers Counseling Center, The Family Healing Room, VASAYO, and previously as host of a local Atlanta talk-radio show focusing on family relationships and mental wellness. In addition, Dr. Sutherland provides intermediate and advanced continuing education workshops for licensed clinicians, and post-masters supervision for associate licensed clinicians through Legacy Professional Development & Training. More information on services and programs offered by Dr. Sutherland can be found here.
In the mental health field since 1998, and licensed since 2001, Dr. Sutherland has provided therapeutic services in the private practice, psychiatric residential, in-home, and outpatient mental health settings, for adolescents and adults, through individual, group, couples, and family therapy. She has specialized in working with adolescents, couples and families for the last 22 years. One of Dr. Sutherland’s historical research interests has been evidence-based treatment within residential settings for commercially sexually exploited youth, which was a primary focus of her dissertation and clinical expertise during her years as a clinician in the psychiatric residential setting. Her ongoing research interests include clinician-in-training cultural competence development and clinical supervision. Within the last 5 years, Dr. Sutherland has provided training, researched, and published in the areas of racial trauma, cultural competence development and training, the provision of culturally-informed clinical intervention and supervision, and social justice advocacy.
Dr. Sutherland's CV can be found here.
Disclosure Statement: The instructor(s) for this course receive compensation for their services. There are no reported conflicts of interest to disclose.
Credit Hours: This course consists of 1 ethics continuing education hour of credit.
Counselors:
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Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No, 6693. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Mental Health Counselors. #MHC-0048.
Marriage and Family Therapists: Many MFT licensing boards accept our courses or one of the approvals which we have from professional associations. You can check with your board to determine if your licensing board would accept this course.
Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0135, effective May 8, 2025.
Social Workers:
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Telehealth Certification Institute LLC, #1609, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 05/02/2024 – 05/02/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 1 ethics continuing education credit.
Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Social Workers #SW-0435.
Addiction Professionals:
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This course has been approved by Telehealth Certification Institute LLC, as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for educational credits. NAADAC Provider #193104, Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is responsible for all aspects of the programming.
Psychologists:
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Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Telehealth Certification Institute LLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Psychologists #PSY-0128.
Art Therapists: Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Creative Arts Therapists #CAT-0093.
Other Professionals: This course qualifies for 60 minutes of instructional content as required by many national, state and local licensing boards and professional organizations. Retain your certificate of completion and contact your board or organization for specific filing requirements.
This is a non-interactive, self-study course.
