HWS News
5 January 2023 • Faculty • STEM Professor Bodenlos on Being the Change By Andrew Wickenden '09
A new book by Professor of Psychological Science Jamie Bodenlos offers practical guidance for activists to maximize their impact as agents of change.
In Being the Change: A Guide for Advocates and Activists on Staying Healthy, Inspired, and Driven, Professor of Psychological Science Jamie Bodenlos and her coauthor Dara Friedman-Weller detail theories and tactics that empower activists working in organizations with social missions, and those involved in social change outside of their jobs.
Published this month by the American Psychological Association, the book offers a manual of therapy-based strategies to help activists and change-makers as they support for their causes.
“You can't take care of the world without taking care of yourself,” the publisher notes, explaining that Being the Change “provides empirically supported strategies from cognitive behavior therapies and other psychological interventions for coping with the challenges of difficult, yet meaningful work.”
With case examples, exercises and actionable ideas, the book lays out a “comprehensive toolkit” for readers “to clarify their values, identify their strengths, manage their emotions and relationships, and incorporate self-care as part of their personal and professional development.”
Bodenlos studies the psychology of behavioral medicine, mindfulness and health behaviors, including obesity, stress and sleep. The recipient of numerous research grants and awards, including the 2021 Faculty Prize for Scholarship, she was recently awarded a fellowship with the Society of Behavioral Medicine in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the advancement of the science and practice of behavioral medicine. She has presented scholarship at national and international conferences and published more than 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, Mindfulness, Appetite, Obesity, and the Journal of American College Health.
Her teaching interests align with her areas of research — psychopathology, health psychology and psychotherapy — encompassing topics like stress and illness, substance use disorders, mindfulness, eating behaviors and evidence-based treatment. A licensed New York State psychologist, Bodenlos earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Louisiana State University, M.A. from Western Carolina University and B.S. from the University of Pittsburgh. Before joining the HWS faculty in 2009, she completed a post-doctoral research fellowship and then served as an instructor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Department of Medicine.
View her ResearchGate profile.
