Description:

This BIPOC Wellness Group uses the book “Empower Yourself Against Racial and Cultural Stress” to create a virtual community where BIPOC teens can learn skills for coping, healing, and thriving. Based on the REACH Program (Racial, Ethnic and Cultural Healing), groups occur in 6-session cycles with the opportunity for new members to join every 6 weeks. Within each group cycle, you would have an opportunity to strengthen the following skills: 

• Noticing how racial & cultural stress impacts your Body sensations, Emotions, Action urges, and Thoughts (aka your BEAT)
• Coping with uncomfortable emotions
• Using your voice and relationships to stand up to injustices
• Activism and Social Action
• Growing self-confidence and cultural pride  

You may benefit from this group if you are experiencing:

Community Stresses, such as uncertainty of how to respond to or cope with limited access to:

• fair, equal, or quality education
• safety within your school or neighborhood environment
• fair and equal policing within your community
• activities within your school, workplace, or community that affirm your racial/ethnic identity

Relationship Stresses, such as uncertainty of how to respond to:

• feeling mistreated by peers or teachers due to your identity
• feeling as if authority figures (parents, teachers, or others) do not take your experiences of cultural stress seriously when reported
• conflict with family related to balancing personal independence with honoring/respecting cultural traditions within your family
• feeling a lack of connection to peers of a similar racial/ethnic identity
• witnessing someone of a similar identity experiencing mistreatment around you or online

Emotional Distress, such as struggling with:

• Knowing what you are feeling in response to cultural stress within your home, friendships, school, or workplace
• Being critical of your emotional responses to cultural stress
• Feeling your emotions intensely and possibly over a long time
• Knowing how to cope with emotional reactions to cultural stress

Identity Distress, such as struggling to:

• Have or maintain pride in your racial/ethnic identity
• Manage self-doubt or low confidence due to cultural stress within your home, friendships, school, or workplace
• Manage thoughts of being an imposter or feeling as if you do not belong in your home, friendships, school, or workplace

What can you expect to gain? 

Group participants can expect growth in feeling empowered to achieve personal goals, self-acceptance towards one’s cultural background, and overall emotional healing. Additionally, participants will gain skills in

• Mindfulness
• Self-compassion
• Values and strengths clarification
• Emotional coping
• Problem solving
• Community building
• Identity exploration

GROUP DETAILS

• DATE/TIME: 6 Week Sessions – Tuesdays, 6 – 7:15pm.  Beginning June 24, 2025.
• LOCATION: Virtual Group, however, participants must be located in New York, Washington, DC, Maryland, or Virginia during the group sessions (based on licensing requirements)
• LENGTH: Group length is 75 min. One group cycle is 6 sessions.
• FEES and INSURANCE: The Ross Center is an out-of-network provider, and does not accept insurance. However, many clients are able to submit receipts for out-of-network services to their insurance company for reimbursement. If you are in need of financial assistance to participate in the REACH program, please let us know. Inquiries about financial assistance or questions about insurance should be sent to us at [email protected].