FOCUS
Brianna’s research concerns the study and protection of Black mental health using community-level, clinical psychological science. As a Southern Black woman, she has watched anti-Black racism and gender-based violence become internalized by those who look like her. She is particularly concerned with how American colonialism continues to affect the mental well-being of the Black community. Sociopolitical determinants of mental health, including national history, policies, and social attitudes, can have devastating effects on the Black psyche, which manifest in various forms of mental illness. Given this, she is dedicated to the mental decolonization of Black people using intersectional and collectivistic approaches to holistic mental well-being. A passionate storyteller, Brianna seeks to mesh her passions for communications, public health, and psychology to bring Black mental health to the forefront of America’s social, moral, and political agendas and achieve mental health equity.
MORE ABOUT BRIANNA
A native of rural North Carolina, Brianna’s firsthand and vicarious experiences with various forms of oppression fuel her vision of an emotionally, cognitively, and mentally liberated world. She works to make holistic mental health a priority at the individual, community, and policy level in her relentless pursuit of health justice for Black folx.
DISSERTATION GRANT AWARDEE — SPRING 2023
A Mother’s Message: A Family Systems Investigation of Black Women and Girls’ Mental Well-Being, Hope, and Healing
The purpose of this study is to investigate the role and function of Black Mother-Daughter relationships in gendered racial socialization. Namely, this study focuses on gendered race-based message transmission surrounding notions of Black womanhood, mental well-being, and hope and healing. This study will use a phenomenology-designed multi-method qualitative inquiry, which will include thematic analysis and grounded theory to uncover the major aspects of Black women’s gendered socialization in the family unit as well as the process by which messages of hope and healing are communicated.
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