Understanding and Treating Ancestral Trauma: Echoes of the Past
Presented by
Dreya Blume, LCSWParticipants will explore the psychological, cultural, and systemic dimensions of ancestral trauma while considering how to engage with it respectfully and ethically.
Overview
Recorded: March, 2026 1.5 CEs
Trauma doesn’t begin and end with one lifetime - it can echo across generations, shaping how clients experience identity, relationships, and resilience. This training introduces clinicians to the concept of ancestral trauma and how legacies of suffering, displacement, or oppression may surface in the therapy room.
Participants will explore the psychological, cultural, and systemic dimensions of ancestral trauma while considering how to engage with it respectfully and ethically. Through discussion, case illustrations, and experiential reflection, attendees will learn how to help clients honor ancestral stories, differentiate what belongs to the past from what belongs to the present, and reclaim inherited strengths.
Therapists will leave with practical strategies for integrating awareness of ancestral trauma into assessment and treatment, while fostering healing that acknowledges both the burdens and the resilience carried forward through generations.
Workshop Objectives:
Develop an understanding of ancestral trauma and its impact on individual and collective identity. Learn therapeutic approaches to help clients explore, process, and integrate intergenerational experiences. Identify strategies for fostering resilience, cultural connection, and empowerment when working with ancestral trauma.
About the Presenter
Dreya Blume (she/her) is a licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist, author, and educator. Dreya began working in the mental health field in 2004 in southwest Virginia, where she spent almost two decades serving the local transgender community as a gender therapist. She recently moved to Durham, NC, where she focuses on offering continuing education training to therapists and coaching for private practice clinicians who want to expand their business uniquely. Dreya loves to write and is the author of several books, including, “The Tarot Activity Book: A Collection of Creative and Therapeutic Ideas for the Cards,” “Journaling the Tarot,” “Everyone Has a Story: Using the Hero’s Journey and Narrative Therapy to Reframe the Struggle of Mental Illness,” and “Tarot for Transformation: Using the Major Arcana to Discover Your Best Self and Create a Life Worth Living.” All of Dreya’s books (under her former name, Andy Matzner) are available here: https://dreyablume.com/books. Dreya is also passionate about teaching. Before becoming a mental health clinician, she spent many years teaching English as a Second Language in places such as Japan, Australia, Thailand, and Hawaii. Once in Virginia, Dreya worked as an adjunct professor for almost twenty years at Hollins University, teaching gender studies and sociology in their Master of Liberal Studies program. In addition, she spent twelve years teaching future social workers in the human services program at Virginia Western Community College. Learn more about Dreya on her website: https://dreyablume.com/.