Regulating Racial Reactivity and Defensiveness in Work with Youth and Families- Kenneth V. Hardy

Presenter: Kenneth V. Hardy, PhD

2 Category 1 CEUs

During racial interactions, especially those that are cross-racial, racial reactivity and defensiveness are often major deterrents to having meaningful conversations and constructive interactions. Emotional explosiveness, distancing, disengagement, and toxic interactions laced with rigid expressions of (self) righteousness are merely a few examples of the types of racially based reactivity and defensiveness that often undermine the helping process and overall effectiveness.

This workshop will explore the anatomy of racial reactivity and defensiveness and its impact on effective racial engagement. Particular attention will be devoted to providing strategies that workers can use to address, overcome, and regulate racial reactivity and defensiveness as a conduit to facilitating more honest and productive racial conversations and interactions in work with youth and families, and beyond.

Learning Objectives:

1. Provide strategies for regulating racial reactivity and defensiveness.
2. Provide strategies for effectively addressing racial microaggressions in work with youth and families, as well as with colleagues.
3. Provide techniques for fostering meaningful and substantive race-related conversations with clients and colleagues.

Dr. Kenneth V. Hardy is a Clinical and Organizational Consultant at the Eikenberg Institute for Relationships, where he also serves as Director. He provides Racially Focused Trauma Informed training, executive coaching, and consultation to a diverse network of individuals and organizations both nationally and internationally. He is a former Professor of Family Therapy at both Drexel University in Philadelphia, and Syracuse University in New York, and has also served as the Director of Children, Families, and Trauma at the Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York, NY. He is the author of several books, including:

• On Becoming a Racially Sensitive Therapist
• Racial Trauma: Clinical Strategies and Techniques for Healing Invisible Wounds
• The Enduring, Invisible, and Ubiquitous Centrality of Whiteness
• Culturally Sensitive Supervision: Diverse Perspectives and Practical Applications
• Promoting Culturally Sensitive Supervision: A Manual for Practitioners
• Revisioning Family Therapy: Addressing Diversity in Clinical Practice
• Teens Who Hurt: Clinical Interventions to Break the Cycle of Adolescent Violence.

In addition to his publications and consultation work, Dr. Hardy is a frequent conference speaker and has also appeared on ABC’s 20/20, Dateline NBC, PBS, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.