Nationally-Known Speaker Coming to Give Grand Rounds Presentation is Psychiatry

Sherry Hamby, Ph.D. is Director of the Life Paths Appalachian Research Center, Research Professor of Psychology at Sewanee:  The University of the South, and founding editor of th​e APA journal Psychology of Violence. A licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Hamby has worked for more than 20 years on the problem of violence, including front-line crisis intervention and treatment, involvement in grassroots organizations, and research leading to the publication of more than 150 articles and books. She is best known for her work on poly-victimization and developing measures of violence. Her current work focuses on resilience, especially the under-appreciated strengths of rural Appalachians, where she has multi-generational roots, and other disadvantaged communities. She conducted the largest psychological study ever completed in Appalachia. Her research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Digital Trust Foundation, and numerous other agencies. She has served on numerous advisory boards, including the Board of Scientific Counselors at the CDC’s National Center for Injury Control & Prevention.  Her awards include the 2017 Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Science of Trauma Psychology from the Trauma Psychology   Division of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Hamby has appeared in the New York Times, CBS News, Washington Post, Huffington Post, USA Today, Psychology Today, and hundreds of other media outlets.  Her most recent book is Battered Women's Protective Strategies: Stronger Than You Know (Oxford University Press, 2014).

Presenting: “Portraits of Resilience: Insights from Rural Appalachia” on Wednesday March 21st at 3:00 p.m. The talk will take place at the UK Dept. of Psychiatry, 245 Fountain Court Room 213

When people dream of the future, they do not dream about avoiding depression or minimizing pain. People dream about seeking and achieving joy, love, and meaning. After many years of focusing on victimization, risks, deficits, and symptoms, health and social services are finally starting to address the ways that individual, family, and community strengths help people overcome violence and other adversities. Still, despite overall shifts to more strengths-based approaches, remarkably negative, deficit-focused portrayals remain the norm for some groups. In the United States, this is perhaps truer for rural Appalachians than any other group. Mainstream media and entertainment still routinely mock stereotypical characteristics of people from this region, and terms such as “hillbilly” or “redneck” are permitted in public discourse in ways that other slurs are not. However, like all stigmatized groups, rural Appalachians have under-appreciated strengths. Using a new concept called "resilience portfolios," Dr. Hamby will use multiple mixed methods datasets involving in-depth interviews, focus groups, and surveys to identify key strengths and values in southern Appalachia, including self-reliance, humility, privacy, spirituality, and the use of self-deprecating humor. Many Appalachian people rely on these values to both resist and navigate the challenges of violence, adversity, and marginalization. Core Appalachian values are almost entirely missing from mainstream research in resilience, but better understanding of strengths and coping in this region can improve services to Appalachian communities, which have over 25 million residents. Further, improving our understanding of one subculture can inform our broader understanding of how people cope and thrive in the diverse communities of the United States, and often produces insights that are useful in many cultural contexts. Among other implications, these findings point to the need to do more to incorporate meaning making and community connections into approaches to overcoming victimization and promoting resilience.