The Multicultural Conference for Belonging and Inclusion (MCBI) is proud to announce that this year we are partnering with the Michigan Roundtable for Just Communities to bring their First Friday Forum event to the conference. The Deputy Director of the Michigan Roundtable for Just Communities, Joe Drew Hundley will be moderating a panel of experts, including MSP’s Clinic Director Dr. Jim Maher, Schoolcraft College’s Department of Psychology Chair Dr. Lisa R. Jackson, Dr. Andre Johnson the founder and CEO of the Detroit Recovery Project, and therapist Demarra West, MA, discussing post Covid mental health struggles in minority communities.
Lisa R. Jackson, PhD
Dr. Jackson is professor and chair of Psychology at Schoolcraft College. She earned her doctoral degree from the University of Michigan in behavioral neuroscience.
She was appointed by Governor Whitmer to the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) where she examines issues of training, selection, employment, and licensing of police officers across the state of Michigan.
She is a founding member of Care Based Safety which provides Washtenaw County with public safety that is community-led, grounded in providing care, evidence-based and progressive.
Through UofM Medical School’s Office of Health Equity and Inclusion, she investigated health disparities including social determinants of health and disparities in access to and delivery of health care.
At the Project for Research on Black Americans, in the Institute for Social Research, she investigated how affects the mental health of African American women. Through the University of Michigan Medical School’s Office of Health Equity and Inclusion, she looked at health disparities including social determinants of health and disparities in access to and delivery of health care. She is interested in other health issues in young people including reproductive health, mental health and substance abuse.
Her neuroscience research focused on how sex differences in neural function affect behavior, including how ovarian hormones affect depression and cocaine addiction in women. Her research included an animal model of cocaine addiction and human brain imaging research.
Dr. Jackson is a Ford Foundation Fellow, a Society for Neuroscience Fellow, a Harry S. Truman Scholar and a recipient of an American Psychological Association Fellowship in Neuroscience.
Andre Johnson, PsyD
Dr. Andre L. Johnson is an alumnus of the Michigan School of Psychology’s doctoral program. He is the Founder/President/CEO of the Detroit Recovery Project Incorporated (DRP) which is the first recovery focused community organization designated a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic in the state of Michigan. Dr. Johnson’s work in recovery extends beyond Michigan with his national advocacy work. He was recognized as the “2016 Champion of Change for Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery” by President Barack Obama and was appointed to serve as a member of the SAMHSA National Advisory Counsel in 2023.
Jim Maher, PhD
Dr. Maher joined the Michigan School of Psychology in August 2019 and helped create the new Psychology Training Clinic. He previously worked in Detroit area hospitals on psychiatric inpatient units and was at Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital for 24 years. While there, he was Lead Clinician for Behavioral Services, conducted daily individual and group psychotherapy, and directed the training of psychology students in both internship and practicum. Dr. Maher also served as an Adjunct Professor and Supervisor at the University of Detroit Mercy for 15 years, teaching a variety of courses, including Group Therapy and Psychology in a Hospital Setting.
Demarra West, MA
Demarra West is a community advocate, counselor, entrepreneur and author of “Me Too: A Therapist’s Journey to Heal, Find Liberation, & Joy.” She has a bachelor’s in family life education from Spring Arbor University and masters in clinical mental health counseling from Western Michigan University. West is also the former chair of YWCA Kalamazoo and led the organization’s CEO search in 2023. She is also a survivor which is illustrated in detail in her memoir, Me Too: A Therapist’s Journey to Heal, Find Liberation & Joy. Me Too encapsulates Demarra’s lived experience with eight out of ten Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the holistic practices that have been most universal to her ongoing healing.
Knowing first hand what it feels like to have systems designed to support healing fail her, Demarra felt compelled to bring healing and liberation to us all – especially those with the greatest need including BIPOC, LGBTQI, low income individuals, and those that have been impacted by the foster care and criminal justice system. From that place she founded Be Well Beautiful People, a not for profit organization dedicated to supporting optimal wellbeing, in part, through trauma recovery and advocacy.
Through her internal and external work, Demarra has discovered the power that we have been given to take reign over our lives, turning any form of scarcity, including trauma and poverty, into abundance as long as we do the work to heal.
Demarra also founded Be Well Beautiful Woman, a global initiative dedicated to empowering female leaders and entrepreneurs to live life on their own terms through holistic healing and mindset support, such as retreats and coaching.
On top of being a therapist, Demarra is certified in trauma-sensitive yoga, a professional certified coach, and trained in various healing modalities, such as meditation, Reiki, and forest bathing.
Today, she is living her absolute best life in Detroit, Michigan, globetrotting as much as she can, and working passionately to ensure that optimal wellbeing becomes a reality for each and every one of us.
