Let’s Learn: What is Collective Trauma?

Explore collective trauma and transformation in this extraordinary panel discussion. Meet climate influencer Isaias Hernandez. Hear from Nancy Rosado, a social worker and retired NYPD sergeant who provided care at 9/11, supported families and friends during the aftermath of the Pulse nightclub massacre, and assisted with transitioning Puerto Rican refugees after Hurricane Maria. Gain knowledge from Manuel Zamarripa, co-founder of the Institute of Chicanx Psychology and president of the National Latinx Psychology Association. These guest speakers will draw on their professional expertise in mental health and from their personal experiences of grief and shared adversity. The session will include an introduction to studies of collective trauma, ways to manage it, and opportunities for creative and spiritual growth.

Isaias Hernandez

Isaias Hernandez is an environmental justice educator + activist from Los Angeles, CA. He’s passionate about making environmental education accessible and advocating for social justice in the environmental movement. Growing up, he lived in a community that faced environmental injustice, and it shaped the way he saw the world.

His experiences led him to create the Queer Brown Vegan platform, an environmental education page that focuses on social justice and intersectional topics not traditionally covered in environmental spaces.

He has a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and spent his college years working on a variety of diversity inclusion work in environmental spaces, academic research, and creative work. After graduating, he helped start the digital publication Alluvia Mag before becoming a full-time educator and creator. @queerbrownvegan

Nancy Rosado

Nancy Rosado, a retired NYPD sergeant and Clinical Social Worker, serves as the Outreach Consultant for UCF Restores, the University of Central Florida’s psychological trauma clinic. Ms. Rosado has an extensive history in law enforcement, including being among the first police officers to respond to the attack on 9/11. While Nancy was born and raised in The Bronx, NY, she has been living in Orlando for the past 10 years. Since her time in Orlando, Ms. Rosado has served as an advocate for many underrepresented populations, including the Latino, LGBTQ+, and first responder communities. Some of her focuses have been on providing culturally competent training for local officials following the Pulse shooting and assisting with the transitioning of Puerto Rican refugees after Hurricane Maria. She is on the front lines finding out community needs and how to most effectively deliver the required services.

Manuel X. Zamarripa

Manuel X. Zamarripa is the co-director and co-founder of the Institute of Chicana/o/x Psychology based in Austin, TX, where he conducts community workshop platicas as well as professional development training for educators and mental health professionals on issues related to Chicana/o/x wellness, cultural identity, and mental health from a Chicana/o/x framework. Dr. Zamarripa is a trained psychologist, clinician, college dean, and danzante. He has been a student and teacher of Chciana/o/x Psychology for 30 years. A previous academic program director and associate professor, he was awarded the University of Texas System Chancellor’s “Innovations in Education Award” (2007). Manuel has been featured on NPR and in the L.A. Times. He is also currently the president of the National Latinx Psychological Association. Manuel’s publications and presentations in psychology and education focus on Chicana/o/x well-being, racial responsiveness, cultural revitalization, social justice, and leadership.

Chicano Psychologist, Dr. Zamarripa, is a licensed professional counselor and supervisor (Texas) and received his doctorate in Counseling Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, his master’s in Counseling Psychology from Our Lady of the Lake University, and his bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Notre Dame. @xicanpsych

About Reimagine and “From Collective Trauma to Transformation” Series

Reimagine is a nonprofit organization catalyzing a uniquely powerful community–people of different backgrounds, ages, races, and faiths (and no faith) coming together in the hopes of healing ourselves and the world. We specifically support each other in facing adversity, loss, and mortality and–at our own pace– actively channeling life's biggest challenges into meaningful action and growth. www.letsreimagine.org

Through a relentless 24/7 news cycle, we are inundated and often left overwhelmed by harrowing collective traumas taking place across the globe: mass shootings, the pandemic, environmental injustice, racism, war, natural disasters, and so on. And all too often, many of us experience these traumas directly. What’s more, these events can also stir up transgenerational or ancestral pain stemming from historical events such as U.S. slavery, the Trail of Tears, the Holocaust, and 9/11. There is simply so much suffering in the world. So how do we cope with it all and resist emotional numbing? And perhaps more provocatively, how might we integrate these experiences into our lives in healthy ways? What can they teach us about ourselves and each other so that we might create a better present and future? In this three-part series, we’ll understand what seemingly disparate collective traumas have in common. And through the stories of mental health professionals, activists, and survivors, we’ll explore how creative expression, acts of service, and various forms of spirituality can help us navigate a pathway forward.

About Table Talk

We recognize that marginalized communities and cultures -- Black, Indigenous, Latino/a/x, Asian American, Disabled, LGBTQ+, etc. -- have their own unique perspectives and shared truths. All of these groups face tremendous challenges in dealing with serious illness, dying, grief, and discrimination. And there is a shared need for platforms to talk about these issues freely in order to connect, learn, heal, remember, and take action.

While individual Table Talks are developed by and for specific communities, we recognize that often these groupings are permeable. Many of us describe more than one group as “home,” and many of us have experienced oppression based on multiple aspects of our intersecting identities: race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability, and more.

Reimagine invites people of all backgrounds to join us to witness, listen and learn at Table Talk. Ultimately we are creating space rooted in the principles of Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion in order for everyone to thrive.