Department of Psychology | Clinical Counseling Track | Master of Arts in Psychological Science Program
Welcome!
THE MIND-BODY TRAUMA CARE LAB, directed by Dr. Viann Nguyen-Feng ([vee-anne win-fang] she/her), integrates several domains: psychology & public health, mental & physical health, mind & body.
Our research team aims to bridge the disconnections between body and mind, particularly in the context of trauma-informed psychotherapeutic care. We coined the term "mind-body trauma care" to speak to that focus. The term mind-body trauma care can be interpreted in several ways:
First, there is the idea of including the mind and body into trauma-informed care.
Then, there is the idea of caring for mind-body traumas. Although perhaps an underrecognized concept, mind-body traumas are ubiquitous and refer to psychological traumas as well as embodied traumas that are deeply ingrained and somaticized from past and/or ongoing experiences (e.g., transgenerational, historical, systemic, interpersonal traumas), meaning that traumatic stress can be held as tensions in the present-day human body.
Lastly, to holistically address our mind-body across various trauma types, we must think about inclusivity and community access to care.
This research addresses access to care issues in two main ways:
sharing wellbeing-focused, trauma-conscious, and embodied healing interventions (e.g., trauma-sensitive yoga, body-based and movement therapies, mental-physical healthcare integration, context-inclusive approaches) with individuals who might not otherwise access them;
co-developing and implementing interventions that broaden psychotherapy's reach (e.g., technological, community-based) while evaluating what works best and for whom.
We aim to serve at-risk and underrecognized groups, such as those who have been exposed to interpersonal traumas (e.g., emotional abuse, race/identity-based stressors), have disabling life experiences, and/or may be experiencing psychosociocultural oppression.
