Event Recording: ARMS Spotlight: Fulbright Research Chair Series - Dr. Imani Scott
Watch our recording of "Psychological Risks of Advocacy: Exploring the Mental Health Needs of Black and Indigenous Human Rights Advocates in the U.S. and Canada", a talk presented by Dr. Imani Michelle Scott on Nov. 29th, 2022.
Jan 24, 2023
About this event
"Psychological Risks of Advocacy: Exploring the Mental Health Needs of Black and Indigenous Human Rights Advocates in the U.S. and Canada".
Despite studies indicating that Human Rights Advocates (HRAs) experience significantly higher rates of work-related psychological risks than those in other occupations, the number of groups identifying as Human Rights defenders has dramatically increased across the world. Alongside this increase there has been a heightened involvement of advocates who identify as Black, Indigenous and Persons of Colour (BIPOC).Within contexts where dismantling racialized violence is the goal and BIPOC-identifying HRAs are perpetually confronted with racialized violence directed at those in their communities, psychological risks are compounded by personal feelings of race-based victimization. In this talk, Dr. Scott will explore and highlight specific mental health and self-care needs of Black and Indigenous HRAs living in Canada and the U.S., including how access to quality healthcare in BIPOC communities is substandard, how BIPOC experiences of daily trauma far exceed those of non-BIPOC individuals and that repeated exposure to racial trauma can increase PTSD.
About Dr. Imani Michelle Scott
Dr. Imani Michelle Scott is a scholar and consultant in human communication, conflict analysis and peacebuilding. Scott holds a PhD in Conflict Analysis & Resolution and was recently awarded the honour of becoming a Fulbright Research Chair in Mental Health & Societal Wellbeing at Canada’s esteemed McMaster University. She is passionately committed to dismantling racial conflict, oppression and violence through acknowledgement, healing, reconciliation, and transformation.
About McMaster's Department of Sociology
The Department of Sociology at McMaster University is one of the largest departments on campus. The outstanding quality and diversity of our department is one of our greatest strengths.
We study social processes and social institutions in areas such as the family, education, health, social inequality, immigration and race and ethnic relations, paid and unpaid work and politics. The goal of sociology is to help explain the relationship between our personal experiences and the wider organization of society.
About ARMS
ARMS takes a unique interdisciplinary approach to lead the way for advanced research on mental health from a social science perspective.