Abstract

This theoretical clinical intervention program research paper was designed to fill the gaps between art therapy, drama therapy, sexual trauma therapy groups and black women who have been sexually assaulted in early adulthood. By creating a program specifically catered to a group of marginalized oppressed peoples, I hope to demonstrate that the thought and detail put into ones clients healing and growth process is valuable and essential. The irony of doing research about institutionalized racism in a patriarchal white supremacist society is that although I know my own and countless other black women’s’ traumas to be true, the system is inherently rigged so as to limit my ability to cite and validate my truth, so to speak, in papers such as this. The following research aims to combine and summarize to the best of my ability, the studies that have been done to date which branch my particular niche of study into one cohesive project. I feel it is important to note that this research is made possible despite reduced accessibility to resources such as the university’s library on-campus and a global pandemic or COVID-19. The abrupt end to my almost two year program in March of 2020 and the heavy wave of emotions following the eruption of the Black Lives Matter movement after the murder of innocent black man George Floyd at the hands of two Minneapolis police officers (CBC News, 2020) made for a subsequently painful yet powerful push start to the work I will be dedicating my entire career to. I hope to inspire the next generation to carry the torch until black lives, black mental health, and black futures more than matter.