Claire de Mézerville López welcomes Gina Baral Abrams, Dr.P.H., Ed.M., LSW, to the Restorative Works! Podcast public health series. Today we are discussing insights on Dr. Abrams' recently published white paper, A Restorative Practices Strategy to Advance Community Health. 

Using a restorative framework provides community health professionals a human-centered view from which they can begin their work by being inclusive, building authentic relationships, and identifying collective strengths. Dr. Abrams describes how this fundamental shift in public health is creating solutions to root issues. She offers several recommendations for practical applications for creating safe spaces for natural listening where groups can work towards strengthening social connection, enable community engagement, and address harm and healing. She also provides examples of how restorative practices can be used in large scale community culture and climate change in higher education and across sectors.  

Dr. Abrams serves as the Director of Research and Program Evaluation and Associate Professor at the IIRP Graduate School where she teaches courses in community health and research methods, serves as the principal investigator for the Restorative Practices in Higher Education Learning Collaborative, and oversees the Collaborative Center for Restorative Practices in Higher Education. She is also an adjunct faculty at the Boston University School of Social Work, the Tulane University School of Social Work, and Mercer County Community College in Jersey.  

Dr. Abrams has served in administrative roles at numerous institutions of higher education, including Lehigh University, Princeton University, MIT, and Bentley College. She also worked in disease prevention research with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Massachusetts Correctional System. Dr. Abrams' research interests include high risk behaviors among college students, restorative practices as a prevention strategy, psychological sense of community, community readiness, and collective action.  

For more information on Dr. Abrams' work and approach to public health solutions through a restorative lens, read her white paper, A Restorative Practices Strategy to Advance Community Health.