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Cindy Sousa, PhD, MSW, MPH is an Associate ůůֱ²¥ and the Director of the Doctoral Program at the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research at ůůֱ²¥ College, where she teaches throughout the macro concentration and teaches social theory, social welfare policy, qualitative research, and global public health. Cindy is also the co-director of the Center for Child and Family Wellbeing at ůůֱ²¥ College. In her work, Cindy promotes understanding about the conditions underlying health, using a lens informed by feminist and critical race theories that prioritize the social, environmental, and political contexts of well-being. She also focuses on the importance of anti-oppressive practice and reflexivity, using deep understandings of power and positionality from an intersectional lens.

Cindy’s scholarship highlights the mental health implications of violations to the lived environment; the effects of violence and oppression on parenting (particularly mothering); the importance of culture, place, and social and organizational supports in responding to the health effects of adversity; and professional responsibility in the face of collective suffering. Cindy has authored or co-authored over 30 publications in peer-reviewed journals. Her latest projects focus on the lived experience of parenting within adversity, and the varied ways parents protect themselves, their children, cultures, and communities.

Cindy is a Research Affiliate at two international labs: the Global Adversity and Wellbeing Research Group at Wilfred Laurier University in Ontario, Canada and the Health, Conflict, and Psychology Lab at The University of Milano-Bicocca in Milan, Italy. Cindy serves as a representative to the Joint Policy Committee, a 12-member board that oversees the annual policy statement development process for the American Public Health Association (2022-2023), and serves as Cluster Co-Chair for the International Social Work and Global Issues cluster, Society for Social Work Research (SSWR) (2020-2023).

Research & Scholarly Interests: health; political violence; community and historical trauma; parental resilience and family well-being; place; individual and collective resilience

Substantive Specialization: The political contexts and health effects of individual and collective violence and resilience; critical perspectives on mothering; professional responsibility in the face of collective suffering