In March 2023, Jude Bergkamp, Chair of the PsyD in Clinical Psychology at Antioch Seattle, was appointed by the current American Psychological Association (APA) president, Thema Bryant, to serve on the APA Presidential Task Force on Culturally Informed Trauma and Grief Recovery. He was selected for his expertise in decolonial and Buddhist psychology.
The main goal of the culturally informed trauma and grief recovery task force is to make information about trauma and grief recovery readily accessible to the public using language free of jargon. We want to offer knowledge both about the effects of trauma and grief and the ways cultural identity groups (emphasizing ethnic and religious/spiritual identities) can leverage their inherent strengths to heal.
Bergkamp will contribute to specific toolkits addressing trauma recovery from an Asian and Buddhist perspective. In addition, he will begin the process of conceptualizing trauma from a decolonial lens. He is honored to be selected for this committee and hopes to involve current research students as appropriate.