What is Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)?
AboutLearn more about our research and the goals of our lab!
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Mission Statement
The goal of CIRRCLE lab is to dismantle mental health disparities among children and families oppressed by structural racism. We recognize that longstanding racial mental health disparities cannot be addressed by individual mental health care alone, but through working with every system of care that surrounds children and families. To do this, our work considers the interplay of different contextual and systemic factors, such as family and neighborhood, teachers and schools, and healthcare and legal system, that all contribute to the social, emotional, and educational outcomes of children of color.
We are especially interested in externalizing behaviors (e.g., aggression, hyperactivity, and impulsivity) that many children of color get punished for. Black and Brown children with these behaviors are especially more likely to be disciplined than White or Asian children with the same behaviors, which might be why they are overrepresented in the school-to-prison pipeline. However, research shows that system-involved youth have lots of unmet mental health needs. If we worked to strengthen our child-serving systems of care to better meet these children's mental health needs before they start to get labeled as "difficult" or "disruptive," we can start to dismantle some of these racial mental health disparities.
We leverage community-engaged research to promote racial equity in mental health services for Black and Brown children. Currently, we are primarily partnered with the education system, and we hope to grow our community partnerships to childcare services and healthcare agencies in the future. We hope to inform practices and policies in these child serving institutions to better address and center children and family's mental health needs, ultimately to dismantle racial mental health disparities and the school-to-prison pipeline.
We are especially interested in externalizing behaviors (e.g., aggression, hyperactivity, and impulsivity) that many children of color get punished for. Black and Brown children with these behaviors are especially more likely to be disciplined than White or Asian children with the same behaviors, which might be why they are overrepresented in the school-to-prison pipeline. However, research shows that system-involved youth have lots of unmet mental health needs. If we worked to strengthen our child-serving systems of care to better meet these children's mental health needs before they start to get labeled as "difficult" or "disruptive," we can start to dismantle some of these racial mental health disparities.
We leverage community-engaged research to promote racial equity in mental health services for Black and Brown children. Currently, we are primarily partnered with the education system, and we hope to grow our community partnerships to childcare services and healthcare agencies in the future. We hope to inform practices and policies in these child serving institutions to better address and center children and family's mental health needs, ultimately to dismantle racial mental health disparities and the school-to-prison pipeline.
