DIGEST-Volume-10-Issue-2-FULL ISSUE

1 TPC Digest 1 | TPC Digest ollowing the outbreak of COVID-19, reports of discrimination and violence against Asians and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) have significantly increased across the globe and in the United States. AAPIs face COVID-19–related discrimination in media, on the internet, and from elected leaders. Specifically, AAPIs are enduring higher rates of physical attacks, verbal abuse, and other forms of harassment that may have deleterious effects on mental health and physical well-being. These experiences of sinophobia , or fear or hatred of China and Chinese people, may contribute to the presence of race-based trauma in AAPIs. Counselors must be prepared to use culturally sensitive strategies with AAPIs who present with race-based trauma related to COVID-19. Counselors must consider how intersectional identities—such as ethnicity, country of origin, affectional identity, gender identity, age, socioeconomic status, and other statuses—influence the social positioning, experiences, and worldview of their AAPI clients. When working with AAPIs, counselors must be prepared to address additional barriers related to language, undocumented status, and challenges related to health care access. As with all clients, counselors are called to reflect on how their own internalized biases and attitudes may compromise treatment effectiveness to avoid imposing their values onto clients. AAPIs may be less likely to seek mental health treatment in traditional settings, so counselors must consider providing treatment in non-traditional settings. A paucity of culturally sensitive trauma-based interventions exists. Counselors must therefore decolonize trauma-based interventions and consider whether trauma treatments are culturally sensitive and appropriate for AAPIs who present with COVID-19–related trauma symptoms or race-based trauma. Counselors can decolonize trauma-based interventions by employing interventions that promote mindfulness and self- compassion, teaching clients how to use microinterventions, and incorporating cultural proverbs and analogies to provide psychoeducation that resonates with AAPIs. When AAPIs present with race-based trauma, counselors can help cultivate self-compassion by encouraging them to focus on their immediate needs, without judgement, in the present. Additionally, clients can learn how to engage in microinterventions that make the “invisible” visible, disarm microaggressions, educate the offender, and seek external reinforcement. Counselors should discourage AAPIs from addressing microaggressions when doing so may threaten their physical safety or when a strong power differential exists. Although the present article outlines culturally relevant strategies for healing race-based trauma among AAPIs, other marginalized groups face unique challenges related to the unprecedented effects of COVID-19. Future areas of research may identify the ways in which AAPIs respond to instances of racial discrimination and examine the national and global effects of COVID-19 on the mental health of diverse groups. Stacey Diane Arañez Litam, PhD, NCC, CCMHC, LPCC, is an assistant professor of counselor education at Cleveland State University. Correspondence may be addressed to Stacey Litam, Cleveland State University, 2121 Euclid Avenue, Julka Hall 275, Cleveland, OH 44115, s.litam@csuohio.edu. F “Take Your Kung-Flu Back to Wuhan” Stacey Diane A. Litam Counseling Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders With Race-Based Trauma Related to COVID-19