Recent events in Ferguson, Mo., have brought renewed attention to issues of race, policing, social justice and more across the region and nation. Last Saturday, the conversation on the University of Missouri–St. Louis campus turned to mental health.
Counselors, psychiatrists, social workers, teachers and psychologists gathered at UMSL for an all-day conference titled “Beyond Ferguson: Mental Health Services and the Crises in Disadvantaged Urban Communities.”
“The core of the conference was a discussion of the mental-health effects of the events in Ferguson, the specific responses of mental health to these events and how psychology sheds light on the chronic underlying issues,” said John Nanney, clinical assistant professor and director of UMSL’s Community Psychological Service. “We also examined how mental-health services can address these underlying issues to prevent future tragedies.”
UMSL presenters at the June 13 event included Nanney, Associate Professor Tara Galovski, doctoral student Ashley Parker, Associate Professor Matthew Taylor and Associate Clinical Professor Jerry Dunn, executive director of Children’s Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis.
Nanney shared a few of the conference’s takeaways for mental-health professionals as well as citizens and laypeople with UMSL Daily. He also touched on lessons from his own recent research.
Reviewed 2015-06-22