Mental Help: Coping with Bias & Collective Trauma

March 1, 2021
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Facebook Live and C2ST YouTube TV

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Program Series:
Health and WellnessScience and Society

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In launching the new series Mental Help series, C2ST is pleased to partner LIVE with research experts and practitioners to offer support to specific communities such as the elderly, families, and professionals. In the first program, we discuss bias, collective trauma and offer strategies for managing stress during COVID-19 and beyond.

The World Health Organization defines mental wellness as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.” Stress impacts us behaviorally, cognitively, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and socially. We are all feeling the drag of winter, missing life pre-COVID, and grappling with the evolving cultural and political landscapes. But, there are skills we can learn to help deal with these issues and all manner of other stressors!

In the first program, professors Dr. Tara Leytham Powell and Dr. Karen Tabb (University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign School of Social Work) will review the mental health cycle for collective trauma, how different forms of bias (ageism, racism, sexism, ableism, heterosexism, classism) interact and intersect to influence our lives, and share coping strategies that can be practiced immediately.

Event Details

Monday, March 1st, 2021, 4:00-5:00 pm CT, C2ST Facebook Live & C2ST TV Youtube Live.

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We are dedicated to providing an inclusive environment for everyone. Please respect diversity in individuals and cultures.

Featured Guests

Tara Leytham Powell, Associate Professor, School of Social Work

Tara Powell is an Assistant Professor in Social Work at the University of Illinois. Dr. Powell’s research explores the impact of post-disaster behavioral health interventions in disaster-affected communities throughout the U.S. and internationally. She began her career as a clinical social worker in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. As both a hurricane survivor and post-disaster service provider, Dr. Powell recognized the need for behavioral health programs to address the emotional toll of collective traumatic events, such as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Most recently she has examined the impact of community based mental health interventions for Syrian Refugees in Jordan and for survivors of hurricanes Harvey and Maria.  

Dr. Powell has also responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, providing webinars on self-care, supporting distressed children and youth, and grief and bereavement.  She provides expertise in stress-management and coping skills, psycho-educational curriculum development, and aiding children, families, and communities after a collective trauma.

Karen Tabb, Associate Professor, School of Social Work

Karen Tabb is an Assistant Professor in Social Work at the University of Illinois. Dr. Tabb teaches integrated health policy, community systems development, and public health social work at the undergraduate, Master’s, and Ph.D. levels at the University of Illinois. Her current research focuses on the social determinants of health and mental health outcomes for pregnant and postpartum women. She is conducting a pilot study in a racially and ethnically diverse public health clinic to screen perinatal women for psycho-social risk factors during pregnancy. She is also a part of a team investigation to identify the multiple social determinants of pregnancy outcomes and health disparities over the life course.

Dr. Tabb is internationally renowned for her maternal health disparities scholarship and identifying mental health problems as risk factors for maternal morbidity and mortality. She won the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s premier Thought Leader award for her publication record in 2019. She currently leads two projects funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to engage rural and pregnant stakeholders in depression research during COVID-19.