Honoring the Impact of Racial Trauma and Marginalization Stress in Trauma-Informed Ethical Decision Making

Black and Brown people continue to experience high rates of violence and micro/macro aggressions, which leads to marginalization stress (Cokely et al., 2013; Moody et al., 2022). Experiences of discrimination have been linked to serious psychological distress, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use (Britt-Spells et al., 2018). At the same time, many individuals living in the United States believe that we are living in a “post-racial society” with the election of the first Black president for two terms (Love & Tosolt, Race Gender Class J 17:19–37, 2010). However, society continues to perpetuate racial trauma against Black, indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) subgroups that continue to be marginalized. The authors of this chapter provide concrete steps to guide ethical considerations to support helping professionals to honor the experience of BIPOC communities. This consists of integrating: a) the use of trauma-informed principles in addressing the impact of micro/macro aggressions and hate violence towards different minority groups within the United States, b) how the American Counseling Association ([ACA]; 2014) Code of Ethics and the Counselors’ for Social Justice ([CSJ]; 2016) Code of Ethics can be utilized to support minoritized groups in theUnited States. Implications for other helping professionals are also discussed.