Black Women’s Wellness & Self-Care as Resistance
Saturday, December 4th
1:30 PM-2:30 PM EST
From an Occasional Luxury to an Everyday Experience: Radical Self-Care for Black Women
Robyn Gobin, Ph.D.
Dr. Robyn L. Gobin is a licensed psychologist, author, researcher, professor, consultant, and mindfulness meditation teacher who is passionate about helping people live empowered lives. A nationally recognized expert on interpersonal trauma, self-care, and Black women's mental health, Dr. Gobin has over a decade of experience as a trauma researcher and therapist, supporting survivors along their healing journeys. She is a former Ford Foundation and APA Minority Fellow, has published extensively in high-impact peer reviewed journals, and her research has been funded by national funding agencies including the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). Throughout her career, she has been intentional about making psychological science accessible to culturally diverse communities, particularly Black women. In alignment with this value, she has authored public-facing self-care books and blogs, regularly offers community-based workshops and trainings, and contributes perspectives on interpersonal trauma and self-care in national news outlets.
Dr. Gobin earned her doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Oregon and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Brown University and the San Diego Veterans Affairs Hospital. She serves on Advisory Boards for the Boris L. Henson Foundation and Bay Area Trauma Recovery Clinical Services. Dr. Gobin’s work has been featured in national publications like Essence Magazine and Woman’s World Magazine, and she has been recognized for her contributions to the mental health field with a Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association and three Early Career Awards from the Society for the Psychology of Black Women, the National Register of Health Service Psychologists, and her alma mader, Wesleyan College.
Centering the Wisdom of Black Women in Mind-Body Interventions
Natalie Watson-Singleton, Ph.D.
Dr. Natalie Watson-Singleton is a licensed clinical psychologist; Assistant Professor of psychology at Spelman College; and Diversity and Inclusion Education Director with the Nia Project at Emory University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She received her PhD in Clinical-Community psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and completed her predoctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship at Emory University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Watson-Singleton’s program of research includes two lines of inquiry. The first focuses on understanding how stressful events (e.g., trauma) and cultural factors (e.g., race-related stress) interact to influence African Americans’ health disparities, with special attention to African American women. Her second programmatic line examines if mind-body interventions reduce adverse health outcomes for African Americans, and how to culturally modify these interventions to increase African Americans’ use of these services. Dr. Watson-Singleton has published numerous empirical research papers related to these topics, and her research program has resulted in approximately $1.2 million worth of grant funding from the National Institutes of Health. Her work has been recognized by the American Psychological Association, the Association of Black Psychology, the Association for Women in Psychology, and the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology. Overall, Dr. Watson-Singleton aims to produce research that is translational and that can bridge science and practice to improve the lives of marginalized communities.