Dr. Jameca CooperForensic Psychology Consultant, Emergence Psychological Services · Board Certified Counseling Psychologist and Forensic Psychology Consultant

am I wrong? #trauma #blacktrauma #mentalhealth #clinicalpsychologist

10 Feb 2025 · 1 min

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In this video, Dr. Jameca Cooper explains that many Black individuals experience trauma stemming from socioeconomic hardship, high‑crime neighborhoods, and the very fact of being Black. She reflects on her own past—assault charges, gun possession, school suspension, and being expelled from a debutante program—while noting she maintained good grades. This personal history led her to a career as a criminal psychologist, initially working in juvenile court. Today, she uses that experience to investigate the underlying reasons people end up in the criminal justice system and works to prevent them from receiving life sentences. Her narrative ties together the systemic nature of Black trauma with her professional mission to intervene early and change outcomes.

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What I know about Black people is a lot of us have experienced trauma. Sometimes it's trauma from, um, socioeconomic status. Sometimes it's trauma from growing up in a high-crime environment. It's a lot of that. Sometimes it's just trauma from being Black. Tell the truth, that's what it is. Being Black comes with a lot of stuff, downsides. So I see people in, in my role as a criminal psychologist, and I'm trying to figure out what the angle is. What is it that the other people are not going to try to find out? How did they land in this, in this position? That's what I do now. So what's funny is I started off in juvenile court. Remember, I had assault charges, I had gun possessions, I got kicked out of the debutantes, I was suspended from school. I still had good grades, but I was damn sure kicked out from school. So fast forward, look at what I do now. I go in and try to help people not get life in prison.