LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A virtual town hall will be held this week to open up a discussion about race-related stress and trauma.
The conversation will serve as a space for participants to "develop an understanding and an awareness of the impact race-based stress and trauma can have," according to a news release from Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer's office on Tuesday.
"Race-based trauma and stress are the results of chronic experiences of racism and discrimination that contribute to a constant state of hypervigilance for racially-based slights and microaggressions," associate director of the Center for Behavioral Health at Spalding University, Dr. Steven Kniffley, said in a news release. "Over time, individual coping techniques are exhausted, leading to negative health outcomes caused by race-related stresses."
Kniffley added that it is "vital" to provide spaces for racial healing, to be open in discussions about racial trauma and give individuals the devices to cope with race-based stress.
Co-founder and senior director of the Center for Trauma Resilient Communities, Beatriz Vides, said understanding racial trauma and the impact it has on ourselves and others is one of the first steps to healing.
The town hall is open to the public and will be held on Thursday, Aug. 13 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the mayor's Facebook page. It's being sponsored by the mayor's office and metro government's Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods.
Kniffley and Vides will lead the discussion, which is being held as part of the Louisville Trauma Resilient Community Project.
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