Resmaa Menakem is a New York Times best-selling, artist, and psychotherapist specializing in the effects of trauma on the human body and relationships in Black families and Black society. His important book , was published in September 2017 and his most recent book, was published in 2022.

is a writer, liturgist, speaker seeking a deeply contemplative life marked by embodiment and emotion. She is the creator of , a space that integrates spiritual practice with Black emotion, Black literature, and the Black body; and a project of The Center for Dignity and Contemplation where she serves as Curator. In her work, she produces and curates content to guide others into deeper musings and embodiment of the faith. She was also a for Advent in 2020.

is a contemporary theologian associated with process theology and womanist theology. She is John and Patricia Cochran Scholar for Inclusive Excellence and Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Delaware. Her memoir reflects on her experience and process around faith, race, and mental health. Her second book, , is included in syllabi in theological schools around the country.

is a dynamic speaker, teacher, author, and reconciliation leader. Her mission is to inspire and empower emerging Christian leaders to be practitioners of reconciliation in their various spheres of influence. Her book, , offers a distinctly Christian framework for addressing systemic injustice. In her most recent book, Dr. McNeil looks to the biblical story of Nehemiah for action-based model for repairing and rebuilding our communities and transforming broken systems. Listen to Rev. Dr. McNeil on The Allender Center podcast.

Jemar Tisby (BA, University of Notre Dame; MDiv, Reformed Theological Seminary) is聽a co-host of the and the author of the New York Times bestseller, 聽and several .

is an African-American Episcopal priest, womanist theologian, and the inaugural Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary. She is also the Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral. She wrote which Dr. Ron Ruthruff uses in his course Word on the Street.

is a New York Times best-selling author, speaker, and media producer providing inspired leadership on racial justice in America. She is the author of and the Executive Producer of web series

Willie James Jennings teaches systematic theology and Africana studies at Yale Divinity School and is known for his award-winning book .

has 30 years of experience working with grassroots organizations, helping them unleash possibilities and reach their deeper potential. He has a PhD in Clinical and Community Psychology from Boston University, and Med in Counseling from Cleveland University. He is an executive coach, Professor of Practice, and the Associate Director of the Leadership Institute at the University of San Diego.

is a womanist theologian and activist, ordained United Methodist elder, and national and international lecturer. She currently serves as Vice President for Academic Affairs at Meadville Lombard Theological School and Associate Professor of Constructive Theology. Dr. Lightsey is also the author of . You can watch Dr. Lightsey engage with a panel of speakers at our .

is the Neil F. and Ila A. Fisher Chair of Theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and the author of . Dr. Brian Bantum was also our keynote speaker at the annual Stanley Grenz Lecture in 2020, .

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I graduated from the 天美视频, known as Mars Hill at the time, back in 2005. Seeking to be closer to family, I returned to Ohio. I had hoped to sit for my license in Ohio shortly after my return, but soon found out that state requirements would require me to take additional coursework to do so, and I was heartbroken. As a result, I worked for a few years as both a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor and a Case Manager for a local Psychiatrist. I also began to volunteer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and became a Group Instructor and eventually a National Facilitator training new instructors. Serving and working with clients and their families in a teaching and mentoring role reminded me how I truly wanted to utilize my Counseling degree.聽 As a result, I enrolled in a Ph.D. program at the University of Akron to earn my Doctorate in Counselor Education and Supervision.

Recognizing the competitive nature of gaining a Graduate Assistantship within the Counseling Program. I knew I would need to think outside the box. As a Case Manager, I recalled attending a meeting in support of one of my clients who required accommodations in college based on a diagnosis he was managing.聽 This meeting happened to be in the Office of Accessibility at the same college I鈥檇 been accepted for the doctoral program. Remembering how kind and attentive the person conducting the intake was, I thought to myself, it would be great to serve students in the same manner. So, I wrote a letter of interest and submitted it with a resume to the office to see if they accepted graduate assistants.聽 After gaining an interview with the Director, I was asked, if offered the GA position, would I be open to managing a caseload? That began my journey.聽 During my time with the college, I began as a graduate assistant, but was later promoted to Disability Specialist and ultimately Director. I truly felt honored to have been given the opportunity to work not only at the institution but also with NAMI because it allowed me to work with students, veterans, parents, faculty, and staff.聽 It also gave me the opportunity to not only counsel, but to teach which is something I absolutely love and am extremely passionate about.

I have always had a love of learning and education.聽 It is something I鈥檝e always felt is a tool and an answer to almost every concern.聽 Yet I realize you have to be open to enlarge your territory and to recognize that you can always learn something new.聽 Upon graduation from my Ph.D. program, I sought out and applied for a fellowship opportunity and was accepted at Ursuline College.聽 There I was given the opportunity to teach a number of classes including a class on Diversity and Community. This course rekindled yet another passion, which was to create spaces for candid conversations on race, equity, inclusion, and social justice. It also supported a desire to address two very important topics: domestic violence and racism.聽 You see, while at 天美视频, I not only completed a degree in counseling, but I also obtained a certificate in domestic violence advocacy.聽 During my time at the 天美视频, two individuals that I was most inspired by were Dr. Nancy Murphy who taught the Domestic Violence course and Dr. Caprice Hollins who taught the Multicultural Counseling course. I continue to be inspired by them to this day and will forever consider them to be mentors.聽 They both genuinely cared and helped guide and encourage me while in my graduate studies and beyond.聽 I also feel in some way that God placed them in my path to not only guide me toward my career, but to help heal some of my brokenness as they modeled genuine love and compassion even in difficult times and spaces.

I believe it is for this reason that I ultimately came to a place where I now teach about the issues of power and control which is the root of both domestic violence and racism. I feel blessed to be able to engage individuals in teaching and learning opportunities that support diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. I have been able to continue to do this within my full-time role as faculty at Walden University in the Clinical Mental Health Department as well as in an affiliate role at Northwest Family Life Learning and Counseling Center.

With that stated, If I could offer any advice to students now, it would be to seek out mentors.聽 It is wonderful to be connected to those that support and encourage us. It is also invaluable when we have mentors that have gifted us with words of wisdom when we need it.聽 Still, there are those times when we have to trust God and the voice that He has placed inside of us.聽 That鈥檚 the voice of wisdom and discernment that even in those times when it looks as if we are moving against the grain, we continue on.聽 You know that voice, the one that when the world would have you place limits, it tells you to expand, to explore and to take a leap.聽 That’s the voice that despite all odds knows that you can go further, do more and trust that there is a plan and it is greater than you know, think or could imagine. I don鈥檛 know about you, but that was the very voice that got me to Seattle in the first place. That was the voice that began my journey and led me to where I now am, still trusting and believing in God鈥檚 great love for me and the vocation and life he has called me to.

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The Relational Perspectives Series was founded by Dr. Roy Barsness in 2008 with the vision of creating an intimate, accessible environment to engage with relational and analytic theorists and clinicians who are contributing innovative, compelling work to the fields of psychology and psychotherapy.

The two-part event will focus on psychoanalytic perspectives on the roots of racism and xenophobia, and psychoanalytic understandings of sociocultural context in psychotherapy.聽

In her Friday evening public lecture at 天美视频, on September 20, Dr. Usha Tummala-Narra will speak on Why the Hate?: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Immigrants, Race, and Caste in Contemporary U.S. Recent policies in the U.S., such as those resulting in heightened policing of Black and Brown people and deportation of undocumented immigrants and separation of children from parents have made explicit the connection between racism and xenophobia. These policies and the broader xenophobic and racist sociopolitical climate in which they are implemented have important implications for intrapsychic life and interpersonal relationships. 天美视频 is proud to partner with the Northwest Alliance for Psychoanalytic Study to offer this public lecture as part of the Relational Perspectives Series. The Alliance is a non-profit interdisciplinary organization dedicated to making psychoanalytic knowledge available and useful to interested professionals and the larger community in the Pacific Northwest.聽

Dr. Usha Tummala-Narra will return on Saturday, September 21 for a workshop titled Culturally Informed Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Saturday鈥檚 workshop will have a particular focus on indigenous narrative and the complexity of cultural identity formation within the context of choice and constraint. This workshop is reserved for 天美视频 alumni and current students. The general public is warmly invited to learn with us as we hear from Dr. Tummala-Narra at the public lecture on Friday, September 20, 7:30-9:00pm.聽

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