Elevating Alumni Voices: Resilience and Trauma Among Puerto Ricans in the Diaspora and Borinquen

Social workers remain an integral part of developing and implementing comprehensive mental health and public health services to assist in lowering recidivism, lowering mental health crises, and increasing education and access to supports. Fellow alumni Dr. Wilfred Labiosa will present how he has developed programs focused on intersectionality, trauma, and resiliency within the cultural context.

Schedule

• 6:00 PM — Welcome | Catalina Gutierrez-Perez '13MSW, President of the SSW Alumnae/i Board
• 6:10 PM — Introduction of the Endowed Chairs | Dr. Melinda Gushwa, Director, School of Social Work
• 6:25 PM — Discussion: Resilience and Trauma Among Puerto Ricans in the Diaspora and Borinquen | Dr. Wilfred Labiosa, CEO of Waves Ahead Corp
• 7:25 PM — Question and Answer Session | Moderated by Roxann Mascoll '15MSW, LCSW
• 7:55 PM — Closing Remarks

Speaker Bio

Wilfred Labiosa, PhD, has been a community leader and advocate for the last thirty years working in the public health field with marginalized communities such as the Latino and LGBT communities in the United States, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. He has published his research with the dually-diagnosed Latino community, mental health and a substance abuse diagnosis, and has collaborated on books related to the LGBT Latino/a community and mental health field. Dr. Labiosa works as a consultant and supervisor on state, national and international projects that focus on mental health, HIV/AIDS prevention, homelessness, youth, Latinos, LGBTQ+, people with dual diagnosis or evidence-based treatment modalities. He has worked with LGBT and HIV organizations locally, nationally and internationally for many years, as a mentor, mental health provider and evaluator.

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Dr. Labiosa graduated with a doctorate degree from Simmons University, School of Social Work, a master's degree from Northeastern University's Department of Counseling Psychology, a graduate certificate from Suffolk University’s Management of Nonprofits, and a bachelor’s degree from Boston University. He is currently the CEO of Waves Ahead Corp, a non-profit organization in Puerto Rico whose main objective is to support the development and transformation of LGBTQ communities, specifically LGBTQ seniors and the homeless; and Dr. Labiosa manages three Community Centers across the country of Puerto Rico. In addition, he manages and curates exhibits of Cuban and Puerto Rican Art focusing on the art by the renowned artist, his father, also named Wilfred Labiosa, who currently curated the exhibit titled, Dualidad Antillana at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts in St Croix, USVI.

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