Overpolicing people with serious mental health conditions: Considering racialized trauma for trauma-informed psychiatric rehabilitation services.

OBJECTIVE

We call for the psychiatric rehabilitation field to assess overpolicing as racialized trauma via a targeted universal trauma screening to provide trauma-informed rehabilitation services.

METHODS

We examine the overpolicing of low-level, nonviolent activities and offenses through frequent stops, tickets, and arrests of disproportionately those who have mental health conditions and are Black, Indigenous, and people of color. These police interactions can produce traumatic responses and exacerbate symptoms. Assessing and responding to overpolicing is vital for psychiatric rehabilitation to provide trauma-informed services.

RESULTS

We present preliminary practice data using an expanded trauma exposure form with racialized trauma, such as police harassment and brutality, that is absent from validated screenings. From this expanded screening, the majority of participants reported undisclosed racialized trauma.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

We recommend the field devote practice and research to racialized trauma and policing and the lasting effects to support trauma-informed services. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).