Season 3, Ep. 5: Dr. Norma Ramírez on befriending our feelings while contending for justice

What you’re feeling makes sense.Dr. Norma Ramírez understands in her own body the psychological burdens her clients carry as they navigate systems of exclusion and dehumanization. As an immigrant and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, Ramírez has had to learn to navigate the many heavy and complex emotions imposed by an oppressive society, all while engaging in bold advocacy — including serving as a plaintiff in the 2017 case against the Trump Administration for illegally rescinding DACA.Our conversation was recorded during the first week of the new administration, as chaos was being unleashed on immigrant communities via Executive Order. Ramírez’s reflections are compassionate, courageous, and profoundly humanizing, and they come as an antidote and a call to action amidst escalating attacks on vulnerable groups.About Dr. Ramírez:Dr. Norma Ramirez, Ph.D (she/ her/ ella), is a bicultural-bilingual (Spanish-English) undocumented licensed psychologist in California and Nevada. She is the Clinical Director at an immigration non-profit where she provides free therapy and immigration mental health evaluations and maintains a small private practice. She is an advocate for the immigrant community, exemplified by her role as a plaintiff against the Trump Administration for illegally rescinding DACA in 2017 and recognition by the Biden and Harris Administration as a Latinx leader. Clinically, she provides direct services to clients, develops and implements behavioral health programming, provides mental health literacy workshops for minoritized populations, and provides workshops to educators, lawyers, and mental health professionals on improving services for undocumented communities. At the intersection of her spirituality, activism, and professional identities, her own marginalized identities inform how she approaches her work in all of these areas.Dr. Ramírez's website: https://allgoodthingsps.com/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit laurengrubaughthomas.substack.com/subscribe