@Emily Read Daniels posted:I LOVE this conversation and all the resources. Thank you, Michael. I will totally nerd out on them!
I would like to add to Michaels' comment that I really really really struggle, especially in light of the anti-racist consciousness, that our field is dominated by old white men. Let me name a few that I have great respect for: Dr. Bruce Perry, Dr. Gabor Mate, Dr. Peter Levine, Dr. Stephen Porges, Dr. Laurence Heller, Dr. Jack Shonkoff, Dr. Ross Greene, etc and they hold the reigns tight - in terms of power. Yes, we can point to a few women or people of color that garner international recognition (i.e. Nadine Burke Harris), but the fact remains that the aforementioned individuals and others like them still hold the most power in the field.
Again, this isn't to take away from their work or the ways in which they have helped to enlighten millions of us, but the fact remains that those with the "most say" "most credit" and "most visibility" is not a reflection of gender and race superiority. It's a reflection of patriarchal, white supremacy structures that mostly afforded these men the most opportunity. Additionally, when I first entered this work, I kept asking - literally asking people - why wasn't there more obvious collaboration among these distinguished voices in order to raise consciousness faster. "Why aren't we leveraging the whole for more change?" I actually asked this question directly to Dr. van der Kolk at one of his conferences (privately). He was immediately defense mobilized and dismissed my question by saying, "I have been bringing the best and brightest minds to my conference for 30 some years..." He didn't get what I was asking. I asked the same question in my training with Dr. Levine's institution. Why weren't "these men" working more collaboratively to puncture mass consciousness about this matter? I was told "egos get in the way." "Emily, there's a lot of ego in the field of traumatology." Really? S.H.I.T,...
I know that ACES Connection has really leveraged the whole; THANK YOU! Thank God you exist. Where would so many be if we didn't have this platform? Where would I be if I didn't have this platform?
I would be sitting in my bedroom, reading Bessel's work with tears streaming down my face, thinking, "How long must the suffering go on? How long?"
Emily!!! Yessss! So well expressed. Thank you 🙏🙏🙏🙏