[4:18] Dina’s Background and Upbringing in Los Angeles

• Growing up in communities of color 
• Experiencing loved ones being killed
• Developing passion for supporting youth in high risk environments
• Choosing to become a clinical psychologist

[6:47] Defining “Trauma” and Dina’s Specialization in Trauma Therapy 

• Observing trauma in her own community
• Wanting to help youth in her community from the bottom up
• Differentiating “trauma” from “PTSD”
• Defining “trauma”
• Understanding “toxic stress”
• Trauma symptoms

[10:19] The Psychological Trauma of Systemic Racism 

• Declaration of racism as a Public Health Crisis
• Repeated exposure to toxic stress through institutionalized racism
• Racism as an ongoing individual and collective injury
• Racism as dehumanization and emotional abuse

[13:20] Racial Trauma in the Educational System and Its Impact on Black Youth

• How racial trauma impacts the developing brain
• Pairing the fear system with the memory system
• Impaired learning and relationship development
• Pathologizing Black children
• The impact of replacing school counselors and social workers with police
• Teaching discipline and punishment instead of conflict resolution
• Re-traumatizing children with a police presence in schools
• The need for a restorative justice approach

[22:30] The Traumatic Effects of Police Interactions with the Black Community 

• Collective racial trauma from the historical abuse of Black communities by the police
• Dina’s traumatic experience getting pulled over by cops with guns drawn
• Trauma triggers and stress responses to police encounters
• Understanding the brain’s “Fight or flight” (or “Freeze”) survival mode

[35:32] Inter-Generational Trauma from Systemic Racism

• Explaining inter-generational trauma
• How Dina experienced inter-generational trauma
• Understanding “Epigenitics” in the case of Holocaust survivors

[43:04] Adverse Childhood Experiences and the “Cradle to Prison Pipeline”

• The racial disparity of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)
• The physical health consequences of ACEs
• The racial disparity of incarceration
• The need for institutional transition towards a more trauma-informed lens

[48:35] Transformative Changes That Dina Recommends

• Understanding and acknowledging white privilege 
• Stop saying “All Lives Matter” and invalidating Black experiences
• Re-allocate resources into social services, education, music and art
• Using trauma-sensitive lenses for supporting students
• Having more professors of color at Universities and more diverse student bodies
• Providing much better police training around mental illness and trauma

[56:42] Dina’s Location Independent Therapy Practice 

[58:17] The Lightning Round 

• Dina’s #1 Top Book Recommendation 
• Dina’s #1 App Recommendation
• The people with whom Dina would most like to have dinner
• Dina’s top 3 favorite travel destinations
• Dina’s top 3 bucket list destinations
• What hip hop means to Dina
• Dina’s Top 5 Hip Hop MC’s of all time

[1:02:34] How to Follow Dina and Learn More About Her Therapy Services

• The types of clients with whom Dina works
• How to learn more about Dina’s therapy services
• How to follow Dina on Instagram