So many of us are sitting with clients who carry racism in their bodies. There's the client who stopped sleeping after the raids started in her neighborhood. There's the one who smiles through every meeting at work and then comes to session unable to say why he's so tired. Or like my neighbor's compadre, the one who is undocumented and is no longer able to do meet ups for pizza in the neighborhood -- for fear that he might get deported. Most of our training never gave us language for this, and it definitely didn't give us tools.

Race-based traumatic stress is real. It's structural, and it shows up in the nervous system, the body and the spirit. It isn't a personal failing, and it won't be fixed with more self-care. When we treat it as an individual problem, we end up asking people to adjust to the very conditions that are harming them.

That belief is behind two things I'm bringing into the world the same week.

November 2: Stand Up, Speak Up, and Heal is released

I co-wrote Stand Up, Speak Up, and Heal: Overcome Race-Based Traumatic Stress, Self-Advocate, and Stay Grounded (New Harbinger) with Dr. Lisa Bolden and Dr. Lizbeth Gaona. We wrote it for anyone who has been told they're "too sensitive" about racism, and for the people who walk alongside them. It names what racism does to us, and then it offers practical tools for grounding, speaking up and healing that don't ask you to shrink.

Preordering before November 2 makes a real difference. Early orders influence bookstore placement, how much marketing support the publisher gives the book, and whether it reaches the people who need it.

Preorder on Amazon | Preorder at Barnes & Noble | Preorder through our publisher New Harbinger (and download free tools)​

November 5: Healing is Resistance, a live online CE training

Three days after the book comes out, I'm teaching (2) 3-hour trainings for clinicians: Healing is Resistance: DBT-Informed Clinical Skills for Race-Based Traumatic Stress.

One Virtual

One In-Person in Long Beach, Ca

We'll look at how racism functions as an extreme invalidating environment for BIPOC clients, and what it means to decolonize the evidence-based practices we were taught. Together we'll work through:

• Core symptoms of race-based traumatic stress
• Discuss ways racism affects physical, mental and spiritual health
• Share DBT-informed interventions adapted for BIPOC clients impacted by racism
• Offer Holistic practices you can bring into session right away (including sound bowl meditation you will get to experience)

You'll also get reproducible worksheets from Stand Up, Speak Up, and Heal (and some that didn't make it into the book) to use with your clients.

Thursday, November 5, 2026

Virtual through Zoom

9:00am to 12:00pm PT (11am CT / 12pm ET), live online
3 CE hours for LCSWs, LMFTs, LPCCs and LEPs (CA BBS) | $140
CEUs sponsored by Latinx Therapy (pending approval

Live In-Person in Long Beach, Ca

Thursday, Nov 5, 2026

1:00 to 4:00 pm PST
3 CE hours for LCSWs, LMFTs, LPCCs and LEPs (CA BBS) | $140
CEUs sponsored by Latinx Therapy (pending approval)

Celebratory cake will be involved here!

If you're not a therapist, the book is for you. Preorder it for yourself, or for the person in your life who is always holding it together.

If you are a therapist, come to the training and bring the book into your practice. Our clients deserve care that sees the whole picture.

Healing is resistance. I hope to see you there.

With care,
Sofia

P.S. Know a clinician who keeps saying they want more tools for racial stress and trauma? Forward this to them. And if your agency or program would like me to speak about the book, just reply to this email and we'll get the conversation started!

Can't make it to the training, but want to support and donate the training to a therapist in need? Reply and I'll set it up.