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Jessica Brown, Ph.D.

Headshot of Jessica Brown

Teaching Assistant Professor
jybrown@vcu.edu

 

Professor

Ph.D. (2013), Virginia Commonwealth University

Research Interests

I have two main areas of interest. First, I enjoy studying how spiritual belief systems impact how people understand and talk about their mental health symptoms, and how they seek out support for these systems. I enjoy working with faith communities to help them attend to mental health symptoms from a holistic perspective, and helping individuals to capitalize on positive components for spiritual belief systems to aid in mental health recovery.

Secondly, I am interested in how racism, race-related stress, and racialized trauma impact the way people understand themselves, operate in relationships and family units, and engage with medical and mental health systems. I am especially interested in the transgenerational transmission of trauma in families and other systems, and what steps individuals and communities can take to address this trauma. 

Select Publications

Young Brown, J. “Trauma Upon Trauma” Faith and Leadership. April 2021. https://faithandleadership.com/trauma-upon-trauma

Young Brown, J.  (2020). Making Space at the Well: Mental Health Ministry in the Church, Judson Press, Valley Forge, PA.

Young Brown, J. & McCreary, M. L. More than a prayer: Pastors Perceptions of mental health services. (2014). Journal of Pastoral Care and Counseling, 68. 1-14.

McCreary, M. L., Young, J. J., Fife, J. E., Jones, M. Y., Pasquariello, C., Fife, J. E., Grosz, E., Stewart, N. & Desmangles, J. (2011). Project IMPPACT: A psycho-educational problem-solving intervention for children. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 38, 124-131. .

Dzokoto, V. A. A., Young, J., & Mensah, C. A. (2010) A tale of two cedis: Making sense of a new currency in Ghana. Journal of Economic Psychology, 31, 520-526. doi:10.1016/j.joep.2010.03.014

Recent Courses

  • History of Psychology, undergraduate level
  • Psychology of the Abnormal, undergraduate level
  • Personality and Behavior of African Americans, undergraduate level
  • Psychological Testing, undergraduate level
  • Intro to the Helping Relationship, undergraduate level 

Recent Grants

Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Fellowship Recipient- 2008-2011

American Psychological Association, Minority Fellowship Program