Mission Statement
To decentralize whiteness as the focal point of healing.
Core Beliefs
In order to decentralize whiteness and improve outcomes for all Americans, we believe it all starts with re-evaluating our values. The four pillars of our work:
01. Real Empathy
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Empathy starts with believing and acknowledging. When you stand in solidarity with someone else, their risks become your risks, and their success becomes your success.
02. Real Integrity
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Giving credit where credit is due. We recognize and honor those who have paved our way and we elevate and return honor in all that we do.
03.Real Service
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There is no opting out. Those who have the power to create change are obligated to use their power. We work to teach people their power and how to wield it.
04.Real Patriotism
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Rising up. Our country was founded by people who challenged the norms and envisioned what was thought to be impossible. We believe in radical American impossibility.
“I love America more than any other…for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”
James Baldwin | author and Activist
Why we do what we do…
Professionals and organizations across social services and healthcare desire to provide “trauma-informed care” (TIC) as the new “gold standard” of service/treatment. The essence of being “trauma-informed” is first, an acknowledgement that what happens to us in our lifetimes impact our needs and our sense of safety in the world. Second, there must be some awareness of how trauma impacts our ability to access and receive services.
Most TIC models attempts to be “individualized” while also painting “trauma” with broad strokes. Rebecca and Shea have been trained in multiple trauma-informed care models including: The Sanctuary Model, Attachment-Regulation-and Competency (ARC), Pressley Ridge, and ASSIST.
What we’ve found lacking in every model is that intergenerational, intragenerational, ancestral, and racial traumas are barely addressed, and are never the focus of the work. These models inadvertently perpetuate White values by creating standards of care that are catered to white folks, with Black Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) expected to conform and/or be treated as an addendum.
artic aims to pull apart this paradigm and rebuild it with BI-POC folks as the center and standard.