Racial Trauma Therapy in Madison, Wisconsin, and Illinois

Healing the Constant Weight of Being Othered

Racial trauma is not always visible. It often shows up in the pauses, the cautious self-check before speaking, the invisible string that tightens in your body, and the exhaustion that comes from having to stay on all the time. It is the quiet anger that simmers after another microaggression, the heaviness of needing to prove yourself, and the grief of never fully belonging.

These experiences can build over time. The small slights and coded comments, the exclusion that is hard to name, create an ongoing sense of vigilance and disconnection. Racial trauma can live in your body as anxiety, irritability, or shutdown. It can make you feel invisible one day and enraged the next.

At Luma Via Mental Health, my mission is to create a space where those experiences can be named, processed, and understood. As a therapist of color and the founder of Luma Via, I know how deeply these wounds shape not only identity but also safety, relationships, and self-worth. My work is grounded in the belief that therapy can be both healing for the individual and transformative for the larger community.

I provide racial trauma therapy for clients across Madison, Wisconsin, and Illinois, using evidence-based approaches that draw from eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, internal family systems work, cognitive behavioral techniques, emotionally focused therapy, and solution-focused methods. My approach is trauma informed and culturally responsive, blending neuroscience, attachment, and cultural identity work to support real, sustainable healing. I often use eye movement desensitization and reprocessing to help the body release the stored impact of racial stress, discrimination, and internalized fear.My approach is trauma informed and culturally responsive, blending neuroscience, attachment, and cultural identity work to support real, sustainable healing.

Beyond individual therapy, I facilitate racial trauma support groups that offer community, validation, and shared healing. Even if you do not wish to focus directly on racial trauma, it remains a part of your lived experience, shaping how you see and move through the world. Knowing that it can be touched upon with humility, understanding, and cultural awareness is an essential part of safe, grounded therapy.

Beyond clinical work, I developed and implemented a countywide racial trauma curriculum and am expanding this effort by training future therapists to integrate cultural humility and social context into every layer of care. My goal is to help shift the mental health field itself, building systems where people of color no longer have to explain their pain before being believed.

Therapy is not about erasing what has happened. It is about reclaiming your sense of wholeness and remembering who you are beneath the layers of adaptation. Healing racial trauma means finally being able to exhale, to move freely, and to trust that your full self belongs here.

Begin Your Healing Journey

If you are seeking a therapist in Madison, Wisconsin, or Illinois who understands the emotional, relational, and systemic weight of racial trauma, you do not have to carry it alone. Sessions are offered in person in Madison and through telehealth across Wisconsin and Illinois.

Take the first step toward relief, reconnection, and restoration.
Schedule a free consultation today.