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Helping Communities Help Themselves: It's a Family Affair

Where the Practice Lives

This practice doesn’t just operate in one building—it meets people where they already are, such as... 

  • A private office inside a church, school, or community-based nonprofit

  • A mobile team visiting senior centers, block clubs, and community gardens

  • Telehealth and phone sessions for those who prefer to heal from home

  • A partnership network that stretches across the South and West Sides of Chicago

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It doesn't just serve the community, but belongs to the community, with the belief that healing is a right, not a privilege.

    • Chicago Department of Public Health

    • Local schools, churches, and senior residences

    • Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)

    • Grassroots coalitions like South Shore Works, BUILD, and West Side United

    • Universities committed to following community wisdom—not just studying it

    • Cultural grounding: Honoring Black, Brown, immigrant, and intergenerational wisdom

    • Healing over harm: Choosing restoration, prevention, and community-led solutions

    • Community ownership: Clients aren’t just participants—they are partners and co-creators

    • Joy and justice: Celebrating life, even while addressing deep pain

    • Accountability with love: Pushing systems to do better—and walking with them toward that goal

    • Health equity through research: Lifting up voices long excluded from scientific conversations

    • Cultural grounding: Honoring Black, Brown, immigrant, and intergenerational wisdom

    • Healing over harm: Choosing restoration, prevention, and community-led solutions

    • Community ownership: Clients aren’t just participants—they are partners and co-creators

    • Joy and justice: Celebrating life, even while addressing deep pain

    • Accountability with love: Pushing systems to do better—and walking with them toward that goal

    • Health equity through research: Lifting up voices long excluded from scientific conversations

    • Chicago Department of Public Health

    • Local schools, churches, and senior residences

    • Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)

    • Grassroots coalitions like South Shore Works, BUILD, and West Side United

    • Universities committed to following community wisdom—not just studying it

    • Cultural grounding: Honoring Black, Brown, immigrant, and intergenerational wisdom

    • Healing over harm: Choosing restoration, prevention, and community-led solutions

    • Community ownership: Clients aren’t just participants—they are partners and co-creators

    • Joy and justice: Celebrating life, even while addressing deep pain

    • Accountability with love: Pushing systems to do better—and walking with them toward that goal

    • Health equity through research: Lifting up voices long excluded from scientific conversations

    • Cultural grounding: Honoring Black, Brown, immigrant, and intergenerational wisdom

    • Healing over harm: Choosing restoration, prevention, and community-led solutions

    • Community ownership: Clients aren’t just participants—they are partners and co-creators

    • Joy and justice: Celebrating life, even while addressing deep pain

    • Accountability with love: Pushing systems to do better—and walking with them toward that goal

    • Health equity through research: Lifting up voices long excluded from scientific conversations

    • Chicago Department of Public Health

    • Local schools, churches, and senior residences

    • Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)

    • Grassroots coalitions like South Shore Works, BUILD, and West Side United

    • Universities committed to following community wisdom—not just studying it

    • Cultural grounding: Honoring Black, Brown, immigrant, and intergenerational wisdom

    • Healing over harm: Choosing restoration, prevention, and community-led solutions

    • Community ownership: Clients aren’t just participants—they are partners and co-creators

    • Joy and justice: Celebrating life, even while addressing deep pain

    • Accountability with love: Pushing systems to do better—and walking with them toward that goal

    • Health equity through research: Lifting up voices long excluded from scientific conversations

    • Cultural grounding: Honoring Black, Brown, immigrant, and intergenerational wisdom

    • Healing over harm: Choosing restoration, prevention, and community-led solutions

    • Community ownership: Clients aren’t just participants—they are partners and co-creators

    • Joy and justice: Celebrating life, even while addressing deep pain

    • Accountability with love: Pushing systems to do better—and walking with them toward that goal

    • Health equity through research: Lifting up voices long excluded from scientific conversations

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What a Community Psychologist's Practice Looks Like — Rooted in Public Health & Healing in Chicago

A practice led by a Community Psychologist with deep roots in public health wouldn’t just sit in an office—it would live and breathe alongside the community. It would show up at block parties, healing circles, barbershops, and school gymnasiums. It would be grounded in love, justice, and lived experience, centering the stories of those most often overlooked.

This kind of practice doesn’t just ask “what’s wrong?”—it asks “what happened, what’s strong, and how can we heal together?”

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Clinical      

Holistic

Human
First

1. Mental Health & Healing Support That Feels Like Home

  • One-on-one and family therapy rooted in cultural understanding and trauma-informed care

  • Grief support that recognizes the complexity of loss—whether due to violence, stroke, incarceration, or displacement

  • Healing circles grounded in storytelling, tradition, and collective care

  • Mental health first aid for block leaders, caregivers, and faith leaders—because everyone can be a healer

3. Violence Prevention Rooted in Healing, Not Just Policing

  • Victim support with warmth, not red tape

  • Programs that bring grandmothers and teenagers to the same table

  • Advocacy that transforms pain into policy—for safer streets, schools, and futures

5. Research That Doesn’t Extract—It Uplifts

  • Projects that start with listening, not surveys

  • Community researchers paid and trained to lead

  • Findings turned into murals, healing toolkits, and policy wins—not just PDFs

Core Values

6. Promoting Clinical Research—Because One Size Doesn’t Fit All

  • Raising awareness about why representation in clinical research matters—for treatments that actually work for us

  • Engaging communities in ethical, inclusive research that centers transparency and trust

  • Honoring the past—like the legacy of Henrietta Lacks—so science can move forward without repeating harm

  • Building trust with families, youth, and elders to learn from history and build a healthier future together

2. Public Health That Speaks the People’s Language

  • Real-talk workshops on diabetes, HIV, maternal health, strokes, and more—led by trusted voices from the community

  • Health education pop-ups in parks, salons, schools, and senior centers

  • Porch conversations and town halls where residents lead the dialogue

4. Lifting Up the Next Generation

  • Community Health Worker (CHW) training and paid mentorships

  • School-based internships that give young people a reason to stay rooted and rise

  • Trainings for teachers, nonprofits, and health workers on trauma, bias, and how to lead with love

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