Ep 51: Fear, Trauma and Racism with Dr. Alisha Moreland Capuia

Fear is something we have all experienced in our lives, an elevated heart rate, tears, sweaty palms, a heightened sense of awareness, but most of us have no idea what it’s like to live with constant fear. Today’s guest, Dr. Alisha Moreland-Capuia, believes that chronic fear is trauma and that there is a relationship between fear and trauma and fear and racism.

Like COVID-19, Racism is very much a pandemic. Dr. Moreland-Capuia believes the same systemic action we have taken to address the pandemic can also be used to address systemic racism. She believes that we cannot just be allies in the fight against racism, we must be accomplices and today she is helping us all better understand what we can do individually, with your families and within our communities to be a part of the solution. 

About Dr. Moreland-Capuia 

Alisha Moreland-Capuia, MD, is a community psychiatrist who works at the intersection of trauma, addiction, and mental health. Her core mission in life is to do good, serve others, and reduce human suffering. At McLean, Dr. Moreland-Capuia is the director of Trauma-Informed Treatment, Consultation, and Outreach for the Division of Depression and Anxiety Disorders and the associate medical director at the Hill Center for Women.

Through her research, Dr. Moreland-Capuia explores how systems recognize, manage, and move away from trauma. Drawing on her expertise in global health, trauma, addiction, and system development and change, Dr. Moreland-Capuia’s research seeks to reduce unnecessary human suffering. She also hopes to contribute to an increased understanding of the impact of trauma on brain development and the overall risk for mental illness and how trauma shows up in systems.

Dr. Moreland-Capuia’s work builds on her experience training organizations, educators, government officials, and others in trauma-informed organizational change. This training explains the impact of trauma on individuals, populations, and systems. It also instructs organizations on ways they can change to best serve those who have been affected by trauma. Her approach is presented in her book, “Training for Change: Transforming Systems to be Trauma-Informed, Culturally Responsive, and Neuroscientifically Focused.”