2015 Association for Women in Psychology Conference

Peer education is an approach to psychoeducational learning through which students learn from and interact with their peers rather than faculty or staff. Peer educators may solidify their own learning through facilitating workshops and presentations with their peers on topics related to health and mental health (Boud, Cohen, & Sampson, 2011). Additionally, Williams reported, “Learning done in the context of community creates rich opportunities for complex interactions with students different from one another” (Williams, 2011). Interactive learning “in the context of community” lends itself well to focusing a peer education program on the intersections of mental health and social and restorative justice. Although students involved in social and restorative justice based peer education programs have reported profound and transformative learning experiences in terms of insights about others as well as themselves, these programs are rare on college campuses (Voorhees & Petkas, 2011). The Multicultural Immersion Program (MIP) at UC-Davis is celebrating its 18th year as a peer education program sponsored by the Counseling Center that focuses on social and restorative justice work and the intersections of mental health and oppression. This structured discussion will feature past and current MIP peer educators along with their Counseling Center staff coordinators, who will discuss the evolution of their feminist, social and restorative justice work on campus. In the first part of this discussion facilitators will share their experiences in the MIP program, the development of their multicultural dialogue skills through their collaborations with community partners on campus, and the impact the program has had on them both personally and professionally. The facilitators will then engage the participants in discussion and in generating ideas for bringing peer-led social and restorative justice programming to campuses and organizations in which participants are involved.

To become culturally competent (APA, 2002), graduate psychology students must reflect on themselves and others in a cultural context. Toward this end, taking risks that involve authentic exploration of complex multicultural dynamics often invokes discomfort, fear, and, at times, conflict. In multicultural training, conflicts may involve intersections of multiple identities and dynamics around privilege, oppression, and power. Oftentimes unconscious biases, stereotypes, and internalized oppression are the undercurrents of these challenging dynamics. These classroom conflicts, ruptures, and microaggressions (Sue, 2010) may provide rich examples of the lived experiences of historical and systemic oppression - a microcosm of the larger society. Restorative practices can be used to address conflicts, ruptures and microaggressions that occur in the classroom. Restorative pedagogy helps to inform responses to difficult classroom situations through the teaching of the restorative mindset and values, as well as restorative modeling by the instructors (Hopkins, 2012). Restorative values involve a commitment to community, connection, transformation, and power-sharing (Gavrielides, 2014), which may represent a superordinate goal (Ridley, 2006) that helps students come together to address injustice, not solely from an individual interaction level but from a more interdependent and collective level. Additionally, conflict resolution and shame management within restorative models (Morrison & Ahmed, 2006) are critical to navigate challenging classroom situations. The presenters have many years of collective experience training, presenting, and publishing in multicultural psychology and have worked collaboratively to consider how best to interrupt classroom conflicts and microaggressions. The aim of this structured discussion is to bring educators together to discuss and explore the ways in which restorative practices can facilitate connection and community in the classroom even after ruptures, resistance, and microaggressions have taken place. Practical strategies for applications of restorative practices into curriculum design and group facilitation will be explored through the use of vignettes and structured questions. References American Psychological Association, Joint Task Force of APA Divisions 17 (Counseling Psychology) and 45 (The Society of the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues)(2002). Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/policy/multicultural-guidelines.aspx Gavrielides, T. (2014). Bringing race relations into the restorative justice debate: An alternative and personalized vision of “the other.” Journal of Black Studies, 45, 216-246. Doi: 10.1177/0021934714526042. Hopkins, B. (2012, Annual). Restorative justice as social justice. Nottingham Law Journal, 21, 121+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA327955043&v=2.1&u=nu_main&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=bf02a1c794152edc60972aa4cca07215 Morrison, B. & Ahmed, E. (2006). Restorative justice and civil society: Emerging practice, theory, and evidence. Journal of Social Issues, 62(2), 209-215. Ridley, C.R. (2006). Surmounting resistance to multicultural training. Presented at the Convention of the American Psychological Association, New Orleans, LA. Sue, D. W. (2010). Microaggressions, marginality, and oppression: An introduction. D.W. Sue (Ed.), Microaggressions and marginality: Manifestation, dynamics, and impact. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.

There are intersections of identities that may appear to be a contradiction. Occasionally these intersections lead to cognitive dissonance whereby accepting one identity indicates the denial of another. This structured discussion will focus on two specific identities, identifying as a feminist and identifying with a culture that is patriarchal. Patriarchal cultures typically have values that are viewed as oppressive to women. Take for example the Hmong culture where daughters are traditionally raised under the notion that they will one day marry and no longer belong with their birth family. Upon marriage, Hmong daughters will be a part of their husband’s family instead. This belief traditionally privileges Hmong sons and men over Hmong daughter or women. Another example is when Hmong women get out of abusive marriages and experience shaming and rejection from their own community. Some Hmong women believe their culture or even their birth parents have betrayed them. Feeling rejected by other Hmong people, divorced Hmong women often feel as though they cannot go back to their cultural community. The current structured discussion will provide some cultural contexts to the examples provided above. The goal of the discussion is to compile ideas for women who feel like they have been wronged by their culture so they may have restorative justice. This discussion gives women in psychology a chance to voice stories, opinions, and ideas on how to be a feminist within a patriarchal culture.

Media coverage of Michael Brown’s murder and Ferguson protests have brought into the national spotlight issues that have affected communities of color, particularly black communities, for decades. Although various activist organizations have joined in solidarity with this movement (Bosman, 2014), mainstream media attention is waning and the U.S. government has taken a passive approach (Horwitz & Kindy, 2014; Trott, 2014). As students in counseling psychology, we have found ourselves wondering what the role of psychologists (and future psychologists) can and should be in this movement. Within our own graduate program, a discussion group has evolved out of these events, but deciding how to take action beyond discussion has proven more difficult to accomplish. Racial justice is long overdue--over 150 years since the abolition of slavery, and we are still waiting. Considering the conference theme, we seek to explore what restorative justice might look like in in the case of communities like Ferguson. In areas with a long history of institutional power being used to exploit and oppress, where might the community even begin to restore justice? How can psychologists be most helpful to the social movements already in progress to combat these injustices? What about graduate students? Certainly, research on white privilege and racial prejudice has been one major contribution of the field and should not be discounted. For example, Eberhardt, Goff, Purdie and Davies (2004) found that white males processed weapon imagery faster when primed with black male faces compared to the no-prime control and processed these same images slower when primed with white faces compared to the no-prime control. Although published in 2004, the research remains pertinent today and has clear implications for legislation surrounding events like Michael Brown’s murder. But what is our responsibility to more immediate action when innocent people are dying?

Feminist multicultural therapists assert that contextual factors, such as oppression and discrimination, contribute to psychological distress, limit access to resources and information, and isolate individuals from sustaining communities (e.g., Brown, 2010). They suggest that participation in social justice activism contributes to psychological wellbeing, such as increased empowerment, social connectedness, and resilience (e.g., Arczynski, 2014; Worell & Remer, 2003). Activism is also a way people may nurture and care for themselves as well as others in their community(s) while reducing oppression, harassment, and marginalization. Hagen (2013) demonstrated that individuals with diverse circumstances, with varied social identities, and from various social contexts may prefer different types of social justice activism. Further, the different activisms people reported preferring and engaging in held different socio-cultural-political meaning and relevance based on their beliefs, values, and experiences of oppression and privilege (Hagen, 2013). The purpose of this structured discussion is to cultivate participants’ empowerment to create positive social change in their varied communities. We will encourage a broad conceptualization of activism in order to include behaviors and strategies on micro, meso/community, and macro levels. We will give attention and sensitivity to different socio-cultural perspectives on oppression, power, and privilege. First, we focus on discussing specific concerns and experiences of oppression and marginalization relevant to participants’ communities (e.g., home, work, churches, families, friend networks). Then, we anticipate dialoguing about specific social justice activisms that participants presently engage in or have interest in doing in order to target oppression observed in participants’ local and national communities. Last, we will encourage participants to brainstorm strategies for collaborating with other people to increase social support; challenge discrimination, and increase access to opportunities, information, and resources. In this structured discussion, we will address challenges and benefits associated with engaging in activism.

The purpose of this structured discussion is to address the issue of sexual exploitation and trafficking among young women in the Bay Area, and explore potential ideas for creating opportunities for healing, restorative justice, and social change that meet this population’s unique needs. “Every day of the year, thousands of America’s children are coerced into performing sex for hire. Some of these children are brutally beaten and raped into submission. Others are literally stolen off the streets, then isolated, drugged, and starved until they become “willing” participants” (California Child Welfare Council (CCWC), 2013, p.5). The presenter will discuss her experience working with these young women and the therapeutic benefits she has observed when incorporating art therapy with the feminist approach and survivor-informed practices to facilitate empowerment and healthy expression. According to Riley (1990), art therapy is helpful with adolescents because the problem becomes externalized within the art image, which shows that the problem is the problem and not the client (p. 249). This discussion will focus on the systems of oppression related to the victims and survivors of sex trafficking in response to race, gender, age, socio-economic status, and psychological resources. Victims whom are forced into captivity and continually abused after previously being abused, induce more harm and trauma to the body, mind, and soul (Herman, 1997, p. 18). Many of them return back to the streets because specialized services are not in place and majority of victims do not have supportive families to return to (CCW, 2013). Participants will explore ideas of community-based interventions and incorporating art as part of the healing process. The goal of this structured discussion is to collaborate with women in the field of psychology and explore therapeutic practices that will aid this unique population in restorative justice, healing, and community change.

This open-hearted invitation for Jewish women will consider: “It was not enough to take the Jews out of Egypt; it was also necessary to take Egypt out of the Jews.” We will compassionately challenge ourselves to confront fears, face discomfort, and envision just, peaceful and secure futures for Palestinian-and-Israeli peoples.

Mandated reporting in psychotherapy is a frequently used intervention. Though the intent of the practice is to be therapeutic in its aim to protect children from inadequate or harmful care, the consequences of its execution can contradict its intent. This presentation will examine these contradictions and the ways in which dynamics of oppression, re-traumatization, and colonization are being expressed through mandated reporting laws. Using post colonial race theory, along with relational and social justice perspectives I will discuss the perpetuation and maintenance of a pervasive culture of oppression, where families of color are intruded upon, separated, and demeaned, in a disabling dynamic of powerlessness. The relationships between corporal punishment and discipline, and between families of color and institutional intervention will be observed through a historical lens. The instillation of fear and exhibition of power for purposes of control and capital are tactics that are still preserved in more subtle and nuanced way. This has been observed in my work in school-based and outpatient community mental health settings with primarily African American children and their mothers. Fear and distrust of the “system” (i.e. Therapists power/privilege to report abuse, threat of removal of children form home, the) in the context of therapy displayed by child clients and their mothers often complicates and slows an already vulnerable process of entering and remaining open through treatment. Consideration of the entire family system receives little attention or clinical thought, when reporting situations arise. Emphasis will be given to finding space to think about the impacts of this practice, while considering alternatives and/or modifications to approaching and implementing this intervention, with an interest in portraying and offering a less threatening, more therapeutic stance for families.

Forced sterilization of women of color, including women with disabilities, has been an ongoing—though seldomly discussed—practice within the United States from the late 1800s through the present day (Lawrence, 2014). As recently as September 2014 , Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill banning California prisons from forcibly sterilizing women (Bhattarcharjee, 2014). The forced sterilization of women with disabilities is part of a larger historical trend within the U.S. that has used social policies, such as institutionalization and termination of parental rights, to regulate the mothering of women with disabilities (Lightfoot & LaLiberte, 2010). Additionally, women with disabilities contend with norms of femininity including idealized motherhood (Malacrida, 2009). In such a sociocultural atmosphere that condones the forced sterilization of women with disabilities, how do women cope with the psychological repercussions of sterilization and how do institutions that have been responsible for violating the reproductive rights of women begin to repair damage they have caused? How does this history of oppression influence the maternal identity development (Meighan, 2006) and reproductive story development (Jaffe & Diamond, 2010) of women with disabilities? The purpose of this purposed structured discussion is to examine restorative practices such as community, restorative circles, conflict management, and shame management (Wachtel, 2013) that will bring healing to the community of women with disabilities given the history of forced sterilization (Cohen & Bohifield, 2012; Nicholson, 2014) and facilitate a more positive maternal identity development. Two of the three presenters are mothers with disabilities. Through case studies of women who have experienced forced sterilization and mothers with disabilities, participants will explore and discuss issues of sexuality, maternal identity development, and the development of the reproductive story in the context of health disparities, especially with regard to obstetric/gynecological health of women with disabilities. References Bhattarcharjee, R. (2014, September 26). California bill bans forced sterilization of female inmates. September 26, 2014. NBC Bay Area. Retrieved from: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Gov--Jerry-Brown-Signs-bill-to-End-Forced-Prison-Sterilization--277229702.html Cohen, E. & Bonifield, J. (2012, March 15). California’s dark legacy of forced sterilizations. CNN Health. Retrieved from: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/15/health/california-forced-sterilizations/ Jaffe, J. & Diamond, M.O. (2010). Reproductive trauma: Psychotherapy with infertility and pregnancy loss clients. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Lawrence, M. (2014). Reproductive rights and state institutions: The forced sterilization of minority women in the United States (Senior Thesis). Retrieved from: http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses/390 Lightfoot, E. & LaLiberte, T. (2010). The inclusion of disability as a condition for termination of parental rights. Child Abuse and Neglect, 34, 927-934. Malacrida, C. (2009). Performing motherhood in a disablist world: Dilemmas of motherhood, femininity, and disability. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 22(1), 99-117. Doi: 10.1080/09518390802581927 Meighan, M. (2006). Ramona T. Mercer: Maternal role attainment – becoming a mother. In A.M. Tomey & M.R. Alligood (Eds.), Nursing theorists and their work (pp. 605-622). St. Lous, MO: Mosby Elsevier. Nicholson, L. (2014, June 22). Confirmed: 39 women illegally sterilized in California prisons. Reuters. Retrieved from: http://rt.com/usa/167660-california-illegal-sterilization-women/ Wachtel, T. (2013). Defining restorative. International Institute of Restorative Practices. Retrieved from: http://www.iirp.edu/pdf/Defining-Restorative.pdf

Current Research highlights the discrepancy of treatment programs offered for incarcerated domestic violence and sexually exploited victims. New data on traumatic brain injury has highlighted the commonalities between victims and perpetrators in trauma history and social and emotional functioning. Social Justice measures of treatment propose the importance of treating and healing both the victim and the perpetrator through honesty and investigation of the ways in which society fails victims of intimate partner violence and sexual assault. This societal systemic failure leads the researcher advocate to the importance of early intervention and the inability to reach victims within the multilayered systems of education, legal, and foster care. The facilitators of this structured discussion will present case studies from the Margaret J. Kemp Girls Camp in San Mateo, CA, offering gender responsive programs to encourage rehabilitation for incarcerated adolescent girls and girls who are on probation. Young girls in this program hold current and historical dual roles of both perpetrator and victim. Current research shows young girls who suffer from traumatic histories find themselves vulnerable to becoming further victimized or becoming perpetrators in an effort to gain control and manage the environments they find themselves in. This experience ultimately increases the possibilities for violence, increasing the chances of extreme injury and acquired disability. The presenters will discuss how working with this culturally diverse and socially and economically disadvantaged population informs more appropriate treatment guidelines and intervention strategies. The discussion will open a space for dialogue around the provision of ethical client centered, feminist treatment interventions. Strategies for increasing educational programs in multilayered systems will also be explored.

Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, Trayvon Martin, and Jordan Davis are all Black men who were murdered unjustly either by the police or by a racially motivated white male. There names have made national headlines, and many Black communities and individuals have mobilized to call for justice in their honor, and in the honor and protection of all Black boys and men. The many protest and communal actions that have ensued are evidence of great acts of resistance and social justice mobilizing that proudly state “Black lives matter!”, however, when Black women—especially Black trans women—are slaughtered daily and by the dozens, these same acts of communal mobilizing and vigils of honor are non-existent. President Obama and many other political officials and scholars have righteously given support and condolences in the murders of the aforementioned slain men, yet, little to no consolation, acknowledgement, nor support have been given to Tarika Wilson, Aiyana Jones, Shantel Davis, Rekia Boyd, Islan Nettles, Chanelle Pickett, Nireah Johnson, Erica Keels, Dana A. Larkin, Duana Johnson, Brandy Martell, and Yazmin Sanchez, all Black females—both cis and transgender—who have been unjustly murdered and forgotten. This structured discussion is guided by a Black feminist framework (Collins, 1991) and also by W.E.B. DuBois’ double consciousness (1903). As Black feminist thought seeks to move the stories and experiences of Black women from margin to center, and Black women are simultaneously doubly conscious of the plights of Black men. Thus, our goal is not to create a hierarchy of oppression, but instead, to restore justice and equality to Black women. Moreover, the aim of this talk is to begin to think about how we as feminist psychologist can assist in restoration of justice and voice to Black women.

Restorative justice approaches to sexual assault and intimate partner violence move us away from a primarily punitive criminal justice model toward a more holistic focus on survivors, the community, and society. This structured discussion seeks to engage participants in conversations about the many ways that a restorative justice model could be applied to sexual assault and intimate partner violence in the US and abroad. Four guiding questions will be used to promote discussion: 1) What does restorative justice mean in the context of sexual assault and intimate partner violence?; 2) How do restorative justice approaches align with survivor-centric, trauma-informed models of intervention?; 3) What are the implications of a restorative justice approach for prevention efforts?; and 4) How can we ensure that prevention and intervention efforts are culturally informed and appropriate? Three speakers will lead the discussion by sharing lessons learned from their own work in the field. The first speaker will describe culturally responsive approaches to therapy and intervention for survivors of sexual assault and sex trafficking. The second speaker will consider the benefits of a public health perspective for framing prevention and intervention efforts for sexual assault and intimate partner violence. The third speaker will offer insights into community-based intervention, prevention, and research models to address sexual assault and intimate partner violence. Throughout the discussion, participants will be encouraged to address the root causes of violence; consider survivor-centric, trauma-informed, and culturally appropriate models of prevention and intervention; and discuss the myriad ways that we, as feminists, can be involved in restoring justice for those affected by sexual assault and intimate partner violence both at home and abroad.

The incarceration of women and girls has shifted in our society. According to the CDCR (2014), Female incarceration rates have increased dramatically in the last 10 years. Working in the county jail and juvenile hall systems within California for the past few months has exposed me to the different needs that men and women demonstrate while incarcerated. For many women, being locked up provides safety and protection from the sexual and physical violence they have experienced throughout their lives (Bradley & Davino, 2002). The safety that is felt by some women while incarcerated is very different than the expressed experience for men regarding safety. This is not to minimize the trauma and violence experienced by men in these settings, however through my early experience in incarceration, I have noticed different needs and ways of being protected and provided safety for women and girls compared to men and boys. The culture of a female correctional unit feels very different than that of a male correctional unit, which represents nothing novel or groundbreaking. Carol Gilligan’s (1982) characterization of male and female differences is very evident in the environment of incarceration. The male standard of treatment found within the walls of juvenile halls, jails and prisons, serve to disregard the gender-specific needs for women if the aim is for rehabilitation. Even the ways in which genders are tried in court is conflicted: “A distinction was drawn between male’s emphasis on autonomy and an ethics of right and justice in resolving a case and women’s subscribing to an ethics of care with an emphasis on the social impact of a decision.” (Von Wormer, 2010). Furthermore, restorative justice from the perspective of Barton (2001) recognizes multiple ways of enacting justice for the offender and the victim, however the victimization of women in the male-dominant correctional environments hinders that corrective process.

The New Yorker (August, 2014) recently published a scathing article in which many second wave and radical feminist were virulently attacking trans women and stating they were not women. While the article made some erroneous assertions, and misquoted a few of the radical feminist such as Michelle Wallace, many radical feminist and non-feminist transphobic women do feel that trans women are not women. However, many transsexual women, particularly African American transsexual women, indicate that their experiences are more closely related to their cis-gender counterparts than to their gender queer and gender variant transgender cohorts (Brown, 2015), which begs the questions what defines being a woman and are radical feminists really attempting to protect womanhood or are they creating more oppression and hatred by suggesting that only those women who were assigned female at birth are women? This structured discussion is guided by an intersectionality framework (Combahee River Collective, 1982; Crenshaw, 1993) and loosely investigates gender schema theory (Bem, 1981). Bem’s pioneering work on gender schema and sex typing helped to pave the way for how we investigate gender in psychology today, and how we have come to understand how individuals make meaning of their gender identity; however, Bem admits herself that her work was limited in it scope, thus, in combining an intersectionality framework with a Bem's social psychological theorizing on gender, we are hoping to expand on the notions of gender identity and what defines a woman.

“Graduate school in psychology was worst than rape! Because at least when I was raped, there were services and support groups. I had to endure the pain of being Black and female in graduate school alone…”—Dr. Aaronette White Before her passing, Dr. White was an associate professor of social psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is perhaps better known for her work on rape and feminism, and the above quote was something that she maintained fiercely about some of her experiences in academia as a Black female psychologist. In using Dr. White’s quote as a springboard to undertake this discussion, we realize that there is much that we do not know about the often painful experiences of Black female psychologists in the academy. The discipline of psychology is still largely seen as predominantly White and male with rigid constructs and frameworks that often exclude African Americans in general, but particularly, Black female researchers. This becomes a social justice issue because Black women are being eliminated and excluded in psychology. However, we as feminist psychologists can assist in improving conditions for Black women in psychology by giving voice to these problems and working to end racism and sexism in psychology as a discipline. This project evolved out a Black feminist framework (Collins, 1991) and employs the theoretical frameworks of intersectionality (Combahee River Collective, 1982; Crenshaw, 1993), and critical psychology (Parker, 1999). This structured discussion aims to explore the experiences of Black women—and all women of color in the academy—from doctoral candidacy through professor emeritus.