Episode
About this Episode:
In this episode, Dèsa speaks with Pearis Bellamy and Dr. Della Mosley about the formation of Academics for Black Survival and Wellness, aka Academics for Black Lives. They share the successes and challenges of their work as healer-scholar-activists and why the fight for Black liberation leads to the liberation of everyone. We discuss the power of communities, how counselors can be healers beyond the counseling room, and why nothing starts in academia.
Presenter
About Pearis & Della:
Pearis Bellamy is a rising fourth-year counseling psychology doctoral candidate at the University of Florida. Pearis’ research and clinical interests include trauma specifically intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and racial trauma. She is a proud HBCU alumna and hopes to be an HBCU professor. As a Black doctoral student studying and experiencing racial trauma, Pearis dreamed up Academics for Black Survival and Wellness, alongside her mentor, Dr. Della V. Mosley, in hopes of providing healing and support for Black people through collective action in academia. The initiative has garnered over 15,000 participants from across the world who are participating in anti-racism trainings centered on accountability and action (non-Black participants) and healing and wellness workshops and experiences (Black participants). Pearis has received awards from APA Division 17 (SAS) and 56 as well as the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language & Gender.
Della V. Mosley is an Assistant Professor in the American Psychological Association (APA) accredited Counseling Psychology Program in the Psychology Department at University of Florida. She created and leads the Wellness, Equity, Love, Liberation, and Sexuality (WELLS) Healing and Research Collective. She is the cofounder of Academics for Black Survival and Wellness (#Academics4BlackLives). Dr. Della is a Black, queer feminist, scholar, activist, and healer committed to liberation. Her research focuses on facilitating the wellness of Black and/queer and transgender People of Color (QTPOC) and is undergirded by Black feminist-womanist-paradigms and liberating methods of inquiry. She uses practical, evidence-based, and culturally mindful approaches to fight oppression and facilitate healing and liberation of Black and QTPOC folx. She has published in top-tier journals, has been invited to speak internationally, and is engaged in radical social justice advocacy work. Dr. Della is an APA Minority Fellow, co-authors the Psychology Today blog, “Healing through Social Justice” with the Psychology of Radical healing Collective, and recently served as the Presidential Task Force Co-Chair for the American Psychological Association Society of Counseling Psychology.
Citation
APA Citation for this Episode:
Daniel, Dèsa. (Producer). (2021, August 4). Academics for Black Survival and Wellness #Academics4BlackLives [Audio Podcast]. The Thoughtful Counselor. Retrieved from https://wp.me/p7R6fn-Xus
