Online Book Launch: Black Men, Trauma & Therapy

Saturday 2 May 2026

Black Men, Trauma & Therapy:

Revolutionising Therapeutic Thought & Practice

This online launch celebrates the release of Black Men, Trauma & Therapy: Revolutionising Therapeutic Thought & Practice.

Edited by our founder, Helen P George, alongside, Dr Dwight Turner and published by PCCS BOOKS LTD – and inspired by our 2023 Community Trauma conference, Black Men, Trauma and Mental Health

Book summary

This unique book is the first UK-published text to showcase the pioneering work of Black male therapists with Black male clients today. The leading Black male practitioners gathered here describe the thinking, theories and conceptualisations of Blackness and masculinity that underpin their practice and how they apply these in their meetings with clients: cishet, trans, gay and straight. 

Black Men, Trauma and Therapy is the companion text to the top-selling book Black Women, Trauma and Therapy, edited by Helen P. George and also published by PCCS Books.

Contents

Foreword – Eugene Ellis

Introduction: When therapy challenges the social construction of black men – Helen P. George and Dwight Turner

1. My history is in my skin: Understanding the mental health needs of black men in the UK over the past 45 years – Rotimi Akinsete

2. Black men in academia: A dialogue – Divine Charura and Dwight Turner

3. Coming out: The trials, tribulations and transformations – Wayne Michael Mertins-Brown

4. When professionals get it wrong: Understanding trauma and PTSD among black men who experience community violence – Ron Dodzro

5. Twelve tales: African diasporan men, sexual violations and the redemption of soulful potency – Joel Simpson

6. Trauma and resistance: Black men in Britain through an Afropessimist lens – Baffour Ababio

7. Black men and psychosis: Race, sexualisation and the failures of psychoanalysis – Charles Brown

8. On being black, trans and embodied – Ellis J. Johnson

9. Why SIZE matters: Working with black men’s narratives of trauma and mental health – Divine Charura, Delroy Hall and Talent Charura

10. From silence to empowerment: Decolonising trauma-informed therapeutic support for black queer men – Anthony Jay Davis

11. Black therapist(s) rising: Exploring the emergent intersectional psychotherapist in the therapeutic space – Dwight Turner

Revolutionising Therapeutic Thought & Practice for Black Communities

This conference will bring together contributors from both the Black Women, Trauma & Therapy and Black Men, Trauma & Therapy volumes. 

Full details, registration links, and speaker announcements will be added here as plans develop.

Online Book Launch: Black Women, Trauma & Therapy

Saturday, 21 June 2025

Black Women, Trauma & Therapy:
Revolutionising Therapeutic Thought & Practice

This online launch celebrated the release of Black Women, Trauma & Therapy: Revolutionising Therapeutic Thought & Practice, an edited book inspired by our 2022 Community Trauma Conference, Black Women, Trauma and Mental Health.

The leading theorists and practitioners who contributed shared insights from their chapters, which explore themes including Black feminist and African-centred approaches, identity, infertility, group work, ancestral healing, maternal mental health and self-care.

Together, their reflections brought to life and illuminated the book’s revolutionary, Black women-centred approach for therapeutic practice.

Community Trauma Conference 2023: Black men, trauma and mental health

Saturday 28^th October 2023

Sponsored by Juvenis and The British Psychological Society – Division of Counselling Psychology.

Supported by PCCS Books, Nafsiyat, the Black, African & Asian Therapist Network (BAATN) and the Counsellors Staffroom.

Speakers:

• Sharon Prince, Consultant Clinical & Forensic Psychologist, Deputy Director Psychological Professions and Co Lead, Synergi Leeds Partnership
• Joy Francis, Executive Director Words of Colour – The Immersive Change Agency
• Dr Yvette Brown, Assistant Professor in Mental Health Nursing, University of Birmingham
• Alphonso Archer, Music Psychotherapist
• Ron Dodzro, Community Psychologist
• Mary Atitio, Psychotherapist, Spiritual Coach & PhD Researcher
• Anthony Davis, Integrative Psychotherapist & Coach
• Dennis L. Carney, Activist, Trainer, Therapist & member of the BAATN Leadership Team
• Wayne Mertins-Brown, Counsellor and Group-Work Facilitator
• Rotimi Akinsete, Founder and Creator of Black Men on the Couch, Psychotherapist, Supervisor and Community Activist
• Dr Dwight Turner, Senior Lecture, University of Brighton, PhD Supervisor, Psychotherapist & Supervisor in Private Practice
• Baffour Ababio, Psychotherapist & Clinical Supervisor
• Charles Brown, Psychotherapist in Independent Practice
• Nicholas Frealand, Child & Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherpist, and founder member of the Sankofa Therapy Worker Coperative’

Community Minded Research Award

Saturday 19^th September 2023

Community Trauma Conference UK are excited to announce that we have partnered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) to offer this new Award.

The award winner must present their research at BACP’s annual international research conference in May 2024. They will receive £500 from Community Trauma Conference UK and a free place at the conference where they will be presented with the award.

Eligibility

Are you a PhD or doctoral researcher from a racialised background? Does your research address the mental health concerns or psychological trauma that directly affects people from racialised communities? Does it focus on the role of counselling and psychotherapy provision in supporting the psychological and mental health needs of people from racialised communities?

Racialised refers to minority ethnic, racial and cultural communities where white-majority systems have categorised them according to the colour of their skin or other cultural or religious features, and in doing so have othered and marginalised them.

How to apply

All relevant abstracts submitted to and accepted by the BACP conference peer review panel, are considered.

The deadline for applications for the 2024 community minded research award is midnight, Wednesday 1 November 2023.

Submission guidelines

BACP Annual International Research Conference submission process

Community Trauma Conference 2022: Black women, trauma and mental health

Saturday 29^th October 2022

Sponsored by Juvenis, Milk Honey Bees, and The British Psychological Society – Division of Counselling Psychology

Supported by Ubele, Black, African & Asian Therapist Network (BAATN), Counsellors Staffroom

Speakers:

• Dr Jenny Douglas, Senior Lecturer in Health Promotion, The Open University and Chair of the Black Women’s Health & Wellbeing Research Network
• Sandra Igwe, Founder of The Motherhood Group and Author 
• Jahnine Davis, PhD Researcher, Director at Listen Up & National Panel Member Child Safeguarding Reviews
• Natalie A. Russell, Doctoral Resercher
• Dr Ruth Mintah, Clinical Psychologist
• Dr Anne Aiyegbusi, Group Analyst and Forensic Psychotherapist
• Dawn Edge, Professor of Mental Health & Inclusivity, Academic Lead for equality, Diversity & Inclusion
• Karen Carberry, Consultant Family & Systemic Psychotherapist and Accredited Systemic Supervisor
• Anjula Mutanda, President of Relate, Broadcaster, Author and Relationship Psychotherapist
• Dr Yetunde Ade-Serrano, Counselling Psychologist & Outgoing Chair of The British Psychological Society – Division of Counselling Psychology

Black Women, Trauma and Mental Health

Saturday 29^th October 2022, Online

This year, Community Trauma Conference UK is adopting a Black feminist, womanist and intersectional lens to shine a spotlight on Black Women, Trauma and Mental Health.

Join us for the first of its kind conference in the UK focussing on Black women and Black girls.

This event is open to ALL counsellors, psychotherapists, psychologists, and mental health practitioners, including researchers, students/trainees and other professionals with an interest in Black women, trauma and mental health.

Includes a recording of the event with on-demand access for 6 months (14-21 days post the event)