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Understanding Historical and Intergenerational Trauma

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About Course

This course explores how the historical traumas of slavery, colonialism, racism and migration continue to shape the lives, relationships, mental health and wellbeing of Black and Global Majority children and families today — and what practitioners can do to break generational cycles of harm.

Developed and written by Marcia Rice, speaker, mental health trainer and wellbeing coach with over 25 years’ international experience in research, academia and developing mental health services, the course is based on her training for safeguarding partnerships and professionals.

What the course covers

  • The historical context: slavery and colonialism as emotional and psychological trauma, and why that trauma did not end with emancipation.
  • Historical and intergenerational trauma: what they are, how trauma is passed down through families, communities and possibly biology, and the impact of migration and separation.
  • Victimisation and oppression: the personal, cultural, professional, institutional and structural spheres of oppression, and internalised oppression.
  • The wider impact: silence, stigma, beliefs about strength, distrust of services and family coping patterns.
  • Children, families and services: adultification, school exclusion, mental health, and the impact on social care and health services.
  • Practice: trauma-informed and culturally competent practice, therapeutic approaches, the THRIVE model and case study analysis.
  • Breaking the cycle: strategies for holistic engagement and wellbeing.

Who it’s for

Social workers, safeguarding practitioners, teachers and education staff, health and mental health professionals, youth and community workers, family support workers, foster carers, and anyone who wants to understand generational trauma in Black and Global Majority families. No prior knowledge is needed.

How it works

Seven self-paced modules with reflective tasks, a case study and a practice knowledge check at the end of each module. A final assessment (pass mark 70%, up to three attempts) leads to an IIFAL CPD certificate of completion.

Please note: this course discusses slavery, racism, abuse and trauma. Please look after yourself as you work through it.

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What Will You Learn?

  • Explain how slavery and colonialism caused emotional and psychological trauma, and why its effects did not end with emancipation.
  • Define historical and intergenerational trauma and describe how trauma can be passed between generations.
  • Recognise internalised oppression and the personal, cultural, institutional and structural spheres of oppression.
  • Identify how silence, stigma and distrust affect help-seeking in Black and Global Majority families.
  • Describe the impact of generational trauma on children, young people, mental health and service responses.
  • Apply trauma-informed, culturally competent practice and the THRIVE case-analysis framework.
  • Use strategies that support holistic engagement and help break generational cycles of harm.

Course Content

Module 1 — Slavery and Colonialism as Emotional and Psychological Trauma
This module sets out the aims of the course and the historical context. Learners explore how slavery used the idea of "race" to justify dehumanisation, how slave codes controlled every part of life, how families were separated and emotions suppressed for survival, how medicine was used as a tool of control, and why the trauma did not end with emancipation.

  • Lesson 1.1: Welcome, Course Aims and Looking After Yourself
  • Lesson 1.2: Race, Dehumanisation and the Slave Codes
  • Lesson 1.3: Family Separation, Fear and the Suppression of Emotion
  • Lesson 1.4: Drapetomania — When Medicine Became a Tool of Control
  • Lesson 1.5: Trauma Did Not End with Emancipation
  • Lesson 1.6: Reflective Task — Connecting History and the Present
  • Module 1 Practice Quiz

Module 2 — Understanding Historical and Intergenerational Trauma
This module defines historical and intergenerational trauma, explains the three main ways trauma can be passed between generations — collective, familial and epigenetic — and explores how migration, separation and family dynamics carry trauma forward.

Module 3 — Victimisation, Oppression and Internalised Oppression
This module examines the interconnected spheres in which victimisation and oppression operate — personal, cultural, professional, institutional and structural — and explores internalised oppression and how these forces combine into a cycle of generational trauma.

Module 4 — The Wider Impact: Silence, Stigma and Family Patterns
This module explores how generational trauma shapes the way families understand and respond to mental distress — through silence and avoidance, beliefs about strength, distrust of services, cultural interpretations of mental illness, family honour and coping patterns passed between generations.

Module 5 — Impact on Children, Young People and Services
This module examines how historical and intergenerational trauma, combined with present-day bias, affects Black children and young people, their mental health, and the way social care, health and mental health services respond.

Module 6 — Trauma-Informed, Culturally Competent Practice
This module defines trauma-informed, culturally competent practice, introduces therapeutic approaches to generational trauma, and applies Marcia Rice’s THRIVE model and case-analysis framework to a detailed case study.

Module 7 — Breaking the Generational Cycle
This final module brings the learning together into practical strategies for holistic engagement and wellbeing, looking after yourself as a practitioner, and where to find further support and reading.

Final Assessment
Complete all seven modules to unlock the final assessment. You need 70% to pass and you have up to three attempts. Passing completes the course.

Earn a certificate

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