Stress and Self-Care In Tumultuous Times

We're all feeling it. Between the Coronavirus pandemic, skyrocketing unemployment and outrage following the murder of George Floyd, stress and depression are on the rise. African Americans and Asian Americans are at greatest risk these days, but we are by no means alone. How do we all take care of ourselves when it seems like every bit of news keeps going from bad to worse? This week's guest is Margaret Benson Thompson,B.A., M.A., M.A.*, a therapist and family counselor who specializes in working with people of color and others who care about what is happening in and beyond their own communities. Margaret has gained an outstanding reputation by focusing on the trauma caused by racism and oppression in addition to our internal personal struggles. She's got some great advice for all of us including some simple steps that can make a world of difference in managing our stress everyday.

*Margaret Benson Thompson, B.A., M.A., M.A., was raised in a multi-generational, mixed class African American family in a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. She has been a licensed psychotherapist since 1994; informed by multicultural feminism's, socially just theories, queer activism, relational theories, Qigong, and Zen Buddhism. She has a private practice, teaches at Palo Alto University, and supervises with Albany Unified School District. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her most precious endeavor (and passion) has been raising a free Black young person in the current climate of the United States.