Community-Based Participatory Research 

Placing YOUR wants and needs at the center of research 

In this week’s newsletter, we wanted to provide a refresher on community-based participatory research, reflect on the ideas lifted up at our second Community Advisory Board meeting, share the resources we have been co-creating, and invite you to share YOUR ideas with us! 

🔍 What is community-based participatory research (CBPR)? 

👥 CBPR is a collaborative approach to research that involves stakeholders in the research process to creative positive and lasting change. In CBPR, the questions we ask are driven by the expressed needs of stakeholders. As a lab that is focused on youth mental health and resilience, our stakeholders include youth, caregivers, and folks who work with and for youth—e.g., pediatricians, mental health workers, educators, community leaders, etc.  

🧑🏽‍🤝‍🧑🏼 What is a community advisory board (CAB)? 

A community advisory board is a group of individuals that represent the stakeholders in our research. A CAB is a core component of CBPR; in this manner, the community’s oversight through representation on the CAB is meant to protect the values and interests of the stakeholders.  

Our Ruvvy Resilience Lab CAB is currently comprised of 8 individuals. We have voices of the youth we serve, including two teenage students and one young adult. We also represent folks who care for youth, including an art therapist/psychologist and a social worker, and three leaders of nonprofit organizations centered around youth and caregivers (Brilliant Detroit, Figure Skating in Detroit, and Mosaic Youth Theatre).

We are so grateful for the time, knowledge, and enthusiasm they contribute to our lab! 

💡 What have we learned from our CAB so far? 

We had our second CAB meeting in June and came back with a number of great ideas and insights!

• We learned that more animation and graphics, and less text, can help us effectively communication information through infographics and social media posts. We have attached a few of infographics here for you!

  • Childhood Trauma Infographic

  • PTSD Infographic

  • Bully Infographic

• You may already be familiar with our YouTube channel (@TheRuvvyResilienceLab); based on the feedback of our CAB we are now also working to create a “Friend or Foe” series to help kids understand bullying versus playful teasing and to provide a guide for how caregivers can talk with their children and teens about topics like bullying.

Finally, we are grateful to our CAB for connecting us with like-minded individuals and organizations across the metro Detroit region, so that we can all become stronger by working together towards our shared missions. 🤝 In one conversation, a CAB member asked us to connect them with information on Autism Spectrum Disorders [ASD]. Here are two great resources:

• A guide for navigating care and resources for ASD in Michigan

• A caregiver’s guide to ASD

✉️ We'd love to hear from YOU!

Do you have an idea for our research and outreach?

What key questions do you think we need to be asking about youth mental health and resilience?

How can we best get this information back into your hands?

📩 Email us at [email protected] and let us know!  

_{Help Support Science Content & Communication}

Our team is so excited to get the word out to the people we serve and inform for FREE … and your support will allow us to put more resources and energy into doing precisely that.

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Stay Resilient!