Leader in Clinical Psychology to Speak on Faith, Mental Health, and Community [Video Recording Available]
Update: Watch a recording of this event here.
Update: The free registration for this event has sold out. A livestream of the event will be available via Zoom. Register here for the livestream.
A leader in clinical psychology, Dr. Thema Bryant will speak on “Faith, Mental Health, and Community” on Tuesday, October 3, at 6:00 p.m. at Duke University Chapel.
The event, presented as a public conversation with Duke Chapel Dean Luke A. Powery, is free and open to the public but requires a no-cost ticket to attend. Free parking for the event will be available in the Bryan Center Parking Garage at 125 Science Drive with ADA parking available in the surface lot at the same address.
Click here to reserve tickets.
Dr. Bryant is president of the American Psychological Association (APA) and a tenured professor of psychology in the Graduate School of Education and Psychology at Pepperdine University, where she directs the Culture and Trauma Research Laboratory. Her clinical and research interests center on interpersonal trauma and the societal trauma of oppression. She has raised public awareness regarding mental health by extending the reach of psychology beyond the academy and private therapy office through community programming, organizational consultation, popular books, and media engagement.
Dr. Bryant’s discussion at Duke will be the 2023 William Preston Few Lecture. Duke Chapel’s annual Few Lecture takes its name from Duke’s first president who articulated a vision of education promoting the courage to seek the truth and the conviction to live it. The series is funded by the William Preston Few Endowment for Duke Chapel, which was established in 1986 by Kendrick S. Few '39 as a memorial to his father, William Preston Few, the first president of Duke University.
“In this time when there is an important focus on mental health, we are blessed to hear from a leader in the field of clinical psychology who offers holistic wisdom that incorporates spirituality and community,” said the Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery, the dean of Duke Chapel. “With her deep ties to Duke, Dr. Bryant is a fitting person to extend the legacy of courage and conviction articulated by President Few—and in a year when Duke Chapel is emphasizing the value of community.”
Dr. Bryant is host of Homecoming, a mental health podcast, and director of the mental health ministry at First AME Church in South Los Angeles. She is author of the book Homecoming: Overcome Fear and Trauma to Reclaim Your Whole Authentic Self and co-author of The Antiracism Handbook: Practical Tools to Shift Your Mindset & Uproot Racism in Your Life and Community. She is editor or co-editor of the APA books Womanist and Mujerista Psychologies: Voices of Fire, Acts of Courage and Multicultural Feminist Therapy: Helping Adolescent Girls of Color to Thrive.
A triple-graduate of Duke University, Dr. Bryant completed a doctorate in clinical psychology and also earned a master of arts and bachelor of arts at Duke. She did her post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical Center’s Victims of Violence Program. She is a past president of the Society for the Psychology of Women and a past APA representative to the United Nations. She also served on the APA Committee on International Relations in Psychology and the Committee on Women in Psychology. Among other awards, in 2013 the APA honored her for Distinguished Early Career Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest and in 2015 the California Psychological Association recognized her for Distinguished Scientific Achievement in Psychology.
Campus cosponsors of the event include: Counseling and Psychological Services; Department of African & African American Studies; Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences; Duke Health; Office of Black Church Studies; School of Medicine; Personal Assistance Service; and Theology, Medicine, and Culture.