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The Red Dirt Mentality: A Psychology of Oklahoma (non-member)
Saturday, May 9, 2026 9:00am - 12:00pm
Title: "The Red Dirt Mentality: A Psychology of Oklahoma "
Speaker: Liz Fletcher, LCSW
Format: In-person
Cost:
$20 for Non-Members
$0 for Members - Log into the Member Area to purchase
$0 for *Students - Click here to request a student discount
$0 for current Foundation 1 Students
*Full-Time Undergraduate, Graduate, Doctoral students, and LMFT, LADC, LPC, Social Work, Psychology, and Psychoanalytic licensure/certification candidates
Credit: 3 CEUs approved for Psychologists, Social Workers, LPCs/LMFTs and LADCs
Description:
According to 2020 statistics from the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS), Oklahoma ranks 5th in the nation (pre-COVID) in prevalence of mental illnesses (ODMHSAS, 2020). We lead the nation in the percentage of children who report 2 or more Adverse Childhood Experiences, according to a 2021 survey (NIH, 2021). In February 2021, nearly half of Oklahoma adults reported anxiety and/or depression (NAMI Oklahoma, 2021). That same report states that 132,000 Oklahoma adults had thoughts of suicide in the last year, and 790 adults’ deaths were ruled suicides in the 12 months that report covered.
But these data, as disturbing as they are, don’t tell the whole story. This workshop, led by Liz Fletcher, an experienced psychotherapist and multi-generational Oklahoman, delves into what she refers to as the “Red Dirt Mentality,” an organization of characteristics and defenses particular to Oklahomans.
Each feature of the Red Dirt Mentality is accompanied by a protective defensive structure, which tends to be what is shown on the surface: a pride in never asking for help (the so-called “bootstrap mentality”) that defensively protects a bone-deep conviction that no help is coming; an entrenched sense of tragically low expectations (e.g., “life sucks and then you die”), often defensively protected with grandiosity and excessive entitlement claims; and others that will be elaborated in this session.
Using the tools of intersubjective self psychology, as well as a historical and intergenerational trauma perspective, Liz will explore how Oklahoma’s history as the destination of a forced, genocidal march, followed by colonization by European and African-American settlers (many of whom fled starvation or persecution), followed by terrorist violence, the Great Depression, and the Dust Bowl, all contributed to plunging Oklahoma into a destitution so complete that by the early 20th century, practically anyone with either hope or resources left the state.
What impact does this have on those of us who are the descendants of those hopeless, resource-less people? How does shame function in the cultural character formed by this history of trauma? What presenting issues and treatment challenges are connected to this Red Dirt Mentality, and how can we as mental health professionals best respond to them?
• 8:30am-9:00am: Registration & Coffee Social (pastries, coffee, and tea provided)
• 9:00am-12:00pm: Presentation
Learning objectives:
1. Participants will be able to describe formative traumas in Oklahoma’s history and how those traumas may be shaping contemporary mental health and other health outcomes. 2. Participants will be able to identify the characteristics of the Red Dirt Mentality and their accompanying defensive structures.
3. Participants will be able to summarize ways to respond to the treatment issues and challenges posed by these characteristics within a therapeutic context.
Speaker’s bio: