Welcome to the Mental Health Equity Lab!

The Mental Health Equity Lab at The New School aims to improve access to quality mental health services for racially and ethnically minoritized youth. This will be achieved by investigating the sociocultural context of developmental psychopathology and by promoting mental well-being among racially/ethnically minoritized and immigrant youth. Such information is critical to improving the cultural responsiveness of mental health care.

One major goal of the lab is to examine the mental health consequences of experiences of racism in its various forms including racial and ethnic discrimination. Using a racial trauma framework, our research tests whether racism-related experiences elicit traumatic stress reactions to help explain some of the mental health disparities observed in youth, and whether culture-specific processes may buffer the harmful effects of racism.

Another major goal of the lab is to understand causes for elevated risk for suicidal behaviors in racially and ethnically minoritized youth. This will be achieved by clarifying precursors in the development of suicide-related risk in youth, particularly the developmental consequences of adverse childhood experiences including racism-related experiences.