Our research centers on two primary areas, psychological and social resiliency and trauma. Specifically, in our resiliency work, we examine individual and collective forms of resiliency and how it buffers distress and bolsters well-being. In our trauma work, we examine issues of historical/collective trauma (e.g., genocide) and its intergenerational impacts, as well as the impact of individual types of trauma. Some of our projects focus more on resiliency, for example our ongoing international LGBTQ+ project, others more on historical trauma, for example our current study validating a transcultural scale for assessing historical trauma across types of collective trauma, and yet others meld these two programs of research, for example our present work examining resiliency to colonization and assimilation trauma in Indigenous peoples.
In line with our desire to undertake research of the highest quality, our studies adopt a mixed methods approach, utilizing self-report scales, interviews and in situ observer-rated systems. Moreover, in addition to examining general resiliency factors, we utilize community devised measures of strengths, in order to identify group specific factors that can then be targeted in individual or collective clinical interventions. >> Contact Us |
Dr. Claire J. StarrsDr. Starrs obtained her Clinical Psychology PhD from McGill University, in 2013. Her early work focused on risk and stress. In collaboration with her mentor Dr. John Abela, her doctoral thesis focused on self-criticism and dependency and stress in Mainland Chinese adolescents. […]
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