HWS News
1 August 2024 Bodenlos Leads Workshop at Netroots Nation By Andrew Wickenden '09
In July, Professor of Psychological Science Jamie Bodenlos guided workshop participants through strategies to help with the challenges inherent in social justice work.
In 2023, Professor of Psychological Science Jamie Bodenlos and her coauthor Dara Friedman-Weller published Being the Change: A Guide for Advocates and Activists on Staying Healthy, Inspired, and Driven, detailing theories and tactics that empower social justice activists.
This summer, Bodenlos and Friedman-Weller led a workshop at the annual Netroots Nation conference, which provides training, resources and connection opportunities to help activists create a more progressive and just world. Speakers and participants included current U.S. senators, congressional representatives and leaders at the state and municipal levels, as well as academics and business and nonprofit executives.
In their workshop, “Being the Change: Surviving and Thriving in Social Justice Work,” Bodenlos and Friedman-Weller shared insights into the values and strengths that enable social justice activists to maximize their effectiveness, stay healthy and engaged, and decrease burnout. Informed by research-supported psychotherapy strategies, the training provided opportunities to practice strategies to manage the challenges inherent in social justice work — skills such as managing emotions and relationships, problem-solving and decision-making, and the incorporation of meaningful self-care and boundary-setting into busy lives.
Published by the American Psychological Association, Being the Change offers a manual of therapy-based strategies to help activists and change-makers as they support for their causes. 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,” the publisher notes.
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 her scholarship at national and international conferences and published more than 50 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.
Top: Professor of Psychological Science Jamie Bodenlos talks to students about body image research in her “Intro to Psychopathology” class in Gulick Hall.
