(2 CEU Live Webinar) Dismantling Health Disparities: Attacking Causes and Healing Effects

Alexis Jemal, LCSW, LCADC, JD, PhD, assistant professor at Silberman School of Social Work-Hunter College, is a scholar, writer, artivist, educator, social entrepreneur and radical social worker whose mission is to facilitate every person’s potential to transform consciousness into action. Dr. Jemal educates from a critical social work perspective using a restorative approach to: bridge the micro-macro divide; recognize and dismantle white supremacy and oppressive practices, policies and culture; prevent and eliminate domination, exploitation and discrimination that threaten life, liberty, justice and wellness (i.e., the pursuit of happiness). As a practitioner, to address the well-documented connection between racism and health/wellness, Dr. Jemal incorporates the Transformative Potential Development Model (TPDM) that she developed with an intersectional frame and trauma-informed approach for liberation-based practice to pursue personal and collective healing from daily living in a dehumanizing society. In addition to serving as a framework for critical social work, TPDM provides a guide for anti-racism and healing work that involves rebuilding community, restoring authentic self-identities; reclaiming power; sparking radical imagination; and, inviting reparative action that disrupts the status quo - that is, mitigates the harm of white supremacy and advances social/racial justice and equity. Dr. Jemal’s scholarship uses participatory action research methods to develop and test multi-level and multi-systemic socio-behavioral health practices that integrate applied theatre, critical theory, community and cultural organizing, restorative justice frameworks, and liberation health models to address structural, community and interpersonal violence. Dr. Jemal’s work spans epigenetics to cultural study, and draws from the disciplines of Public Humanities, Social Sciences, Education, Public Health, Criminal Justice, and Neuroscience. The interdisciplinary nature of Dr. Jemal’s research and practice creates an innovative synergy leading to holistic and dynamic discoveries for intervention. The goal of Dr. Jemal’s educational, health, and sociocultural initiatives is for people to reclaim their humanity with all possibilities, to live in their purpose, continue the healing journey, and thrive to their full potential.