Theresa Betancourt, Boston College

Theresa S. Betancourt, Sc.D., M.A., is the inaugural Salem Professor of Global Practice at the Boston College School of Social Work and Director of the Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA). Her research includes the developmental and psychosocial consequences of concentrated adversity on children, youth and families; resilience and protective processes in child and adolescent mental health and child development; refugee families; and applied, cross-cultural mental health research. She is Principal Investigator of a prospective longitudinal study of war-affected youth in Sierra Leone (LSWAY). This research led to the development of the Youth Readiness Intervention (YRI), a group mental health intervention for war-affected youth that demonstrated effectiveness for improving emotion regulation, daily functioning and school functioning. Dr. Betancourt has also developed and evaluated the impact of a Family Strengthening Intervention for HIV-affected children and families and is leading the investigation of a home-visiting early childhood development (ECD) intervention to promote enriched parent-child relationships and prevent violence that can be integrated within poverty reduction/social protection initiatives in Rwanda. Domestically, she is engaged in community-based participatory research on family-based prevention of emotional and behavioral problems in refugee children and adolescents resettled in the U.S.

Free and open to the public.

Cultural and Humanitarian Agents, Mahindra Humanities Center

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