Supporting Counselor Trainees and Practitioners in the Wake of Racial Trauma

Komekia PetersonRacial trauma — also called race-based traumatic stress — is a lasting psychological burden that stems from experiences of racism, discrimination, and systemic inequity (Comas-Díaz et al., 2019). Unlike traditional trauma, which often results from a single event, racial trauma typically builds over time through repeated exposure to microaggressions, exclusion, and structural violence. It can manifest as anxiety, depression, hypervigilance, or a persistent sense of threat, affecting both individuals and communities.

In counseling, racial trauma shapes not only the emotional lives of clients but also the clinical and personal responses of counselors. Despite the profession's growing emphasis on multicultural competence, many counselor education programs and ongoing professional development systems still fall short in preparing trainees and counselors to recognize, process, and effectively address racial stress and trauma. This gap impacts all counselors working with BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) clients, but is particularly acute for those who share in the racialized pain their clients express.

For instance, one Mexican American graduate student I mentored was supporting a Spanish-speaking client who had experienced trauma from an immigration raid that separated him from his family. The counselor felt emotionally overwhelmed, as the client's story reflected her own family's fears of detention due to shifting U.S. immigration policy. Lacking structured support to process this vicarious trauma or to reflect on her dual role as a cultural mediator and clinician, she faced emotional exhaustion and increasing self-doubt.

The emotional labor of racial trauma in counseling

CACREP (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs) sets national standards for counseling training across the U.S. Although it encourages cultural competence and requires coursework on diversity, it lacks specific mandates for training in racial trauma or emotional labor. This oversight results in significant gaps in equipping students for clinical practice related to race. These higher education programs strive to maintain professional standards in ethics, assessment, and cultural awareness. However, programs do not adequately address the psychological effects of racial trauma, which impacts both clients and counselors.

BIPOC trainees and practitioners often manage their reactions to microaggressions, institutional inequities, or race-related dynamics during sessions while also supporting clients facing similar challenges. This emotional toll, when unacknowledged, contributes to racial battle fatigue — a term coined by William Smith to describe the cumulative effects of racism-related stress — and may lead to burnout (Smith et al., 2011). Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged exposure to intense stress, often characterized by detachment, diminished efficacy, and emotional depletion.

I also supervised a mid-career Black clinician in a community mental health setting who supported an adolescent recently released from juvenile detention. The counselor, despite years of experience, found himself retraumatized by the case, recalling how he was criminalized and surveilled as a teen. His agency lacked race-informed clinical supervision, and the emotional labor of appearing strong while feeling unseen led to growing exhaustion and disconnection from the work.