Our Ongoing Commitment to Community

If you’ve been following this newsletter for a while, you may be familiar with our lab’s Community Advisory Board. You may also have heard us talk about Community-Based Participatory Research.  

If you’re new here, WELCOME! We are grateful to have you. Be sure to check out the newsletters linked above to learn more about our initial efforts towards centering community in our research. 

Our Third CAB Meeting

This past Sunday, we gathered with our Community Advisory Board, or CAB, for our third meeting of the year. We provided updates on our current studies, discussed new ideas, and encouraged feedback to make sure our research is guided by community needs. These meetings mean so much to us because they remind us why we do this work: to truly reflect and uplift the voices in our community. 

We introduced our Detroit Health Survey study and got feedback on how to improve the study questions to better capture the health landscape of Detroit. The Detroit Health Survey aims to understand local trends in community health, how our communities have become resilient, and the challenges many face day to day.

We also shared updates on the BEAM Study, which uses functional neuroimaging, or fMRI, to explore how experiences shape the brain and youths’ emotions. Luis, our post-bacc volunteer, shared his research on immigrants’ experiences in the U.S. We had great conversations about the importance of following participants over time to truly understand emotional growth. Our board also encouraged us to measure factors like media influence, social context, and social perception: everyday factors that can impact anxiety and wellbeing. 

We are so grateful to our CAB members for always showing up with honesty, care, and wisdom. Their voices help us make sure our research isn’t just data; it’s representative of real, lived experience. Thank you for being part of this journey with us.  

Learning and Growing Together

Here at the Ruvvy Resilience Lab, we are life-long learners. That’s why we attended a professional development session on community engagement back in August. We also just picked up a book on Methods for Community-Based Participatory Research for Health.  

Join Us in Learning More!

Whether you’re a researcher, clinician, or community member looking to get involved in this line of work, the University of Michigan Community-Based Participatory Research self-paced online course is a great resource! This resource is available for FREE; if you are looking for continuing education credit (CEs), there is also a paid version of the course that offers CE credit.  

The Greenhouse of the Mind:

Resources to Help You Bloom

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