Teaching Philosophy
As an applied research psychologist, I use psychological science to the service of issues of local and regional importance. When the vast majority of people think about psychology as a discipline, they visualize people whose work is mainly in the clinical and counseling psychology domains. Through my teaching and mentoring of students in my Research Lab, I expose students to other types of psychology, especially the ones around which my research programme revolves: health psychology, personality and social psychology, and developmental psychology. I also share with them my passion for applied research, as I want them to appreciate how widespread the applications of psychology are–particularly psychological research and the science of psychology.
 
I believe that students rise to the occasion when faculty set high standards, provide opportunities and resources, facilitate substantive discussions, and use assessment strategies that require critical-thinking. Throughout my own education and training, I have valued the use of active learning strategies, the use of technology and media, and a logical approach to the presentation of information, and so I incorporate these techniques in my own teaching. In research supervision, my mantra is that “research is an iterative process”; a research project is only as good as the continuous rethinking, reworking, and rewriting that goes into it. My approach in research supervision, for both course work and volunteer research work in my Lab, is to train students who in turn train junior colleagues. This is all part of my commitment to nurturing the professional development of our future colleagues.
 
 
Research Philosophy
My programme of research mainly revolves around health. Understanding mental illnesses and how to best manage and treat them in our Caribbean contexts was what initially drew me to the study of psychology. Very quickly though, my research interests broadened to include physical and social well-being, as I learned more about how integrally connected these aspects are to enhancing psychological functioning. My research to date has focused on risk and resiliency factors in mental and physical health across the lifespan. I am fascinated with the ways in which contexts (e.g. migrations, organizational climates), stressors (e.g. discrimination, poverty) and person-level factors (e.g. personality, social identities) interact to affect physical and mental well being, and how we can shape contexts and interventions for enhanced health. I am committed to strengthening local and regional health research through the use of rigorous quantitative and qualitative research strategies.