We don’t just have bodies, we are bodies.  Our bodies are not inserted into a particular culture.  Our culture is embedded in our DNA.  We embody our culture. We embody our generational trauma. As such, culture is not just a consideration or a lens, it is the way we participate in being human.

I came to work with BIPOC and embodied and transgenerational trauma by accident. In working with Veterans and the embodiment of combat trauma, I began to see there were differences in the typical and predictable patterns and responses in the body. I was aware of the subtext that didn’t have a way of entering the room. Just as Veteran’s bodies respond differently that civilians, black bodies respond differently as well. 

I was the only female in my class to complete fire school and the first female Marine to serve on my duty station. I never liked the specifier female Marine. Once, after a training exercise, our Warrant officer praised me, referring to me as “the female Marine.” I was amazed by the deep pride I experienced for doing the same thing each of the men around me did. I had not done something better, just equally well. I became acutely aware of normativity as I determined where to embrace standards and be “like a woman” and where to deviate and be “like a man.” After all, I was not celebrated for being strong for a woman, I was commended for being strong like a man.

I was not only interested in what was normative, I was intrigued by diversity. Bootcamp strips individuality from recruits of all backgrounds and creates a new collective system unlike the dominantly individualistic American culture. Still, I was impressed by how this uniform environment did not stop the different backgrounds from informing the diverse manner in which individuals experienced, expressed, and processed powerful emotions like rage, terror, and grief. Most interesting was observing the culturally-informed permissions people received, or didn’t receive, to express these emotions and the ways these emotions were demonstrated. This interest led to completing a Master’s degree in Intercultural Studies, but my diversity awareness stems more so from my intentional close relationships with people who are different from me. Wisdom and insight gained through these relationships offered me critical insights into my work with BIPOC. This is critical as someone raised, trained, and educated with in a white hetero-normative system. 

A large portion of my clients are clinicians, academics and other professional men and women of color acutely aware of the difficulties negotiating this system. Chances are if you are reading this you were referred to me by a current client.  We can talk and see if my work and your needs are a fit.

Vanessa

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