Recent AfroAm Graduate Students to Discuss Career Pathways and Issues in BIPOC Mental Health and Wellness

Recent graduates from the W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies Sofia Meadows-Muriel ’22; Charles Pisaturo ’22; Chayanne Chataigne ’21; and Carlea Dolcine ’23 will join psychotherapist Jamie Daniels, LICSW/MSW, and AfroAm professor Britt Rusert, PhD, to discuss, “Career Pathways and Issues in BIPOC Mental Health and Wellness.” The virtual event is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 9, from 6-6:30 p.m. and is open to all students. 

Hosted by the W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, the panel is also co-sponsored by the HFA Career Center; the Department of Psychology; the Center for Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Teaching; the Center for Women and Community; and Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies.

Jamie Daniels, LICSW/MSW, is the owner and director of Polestar Therapy, a private psychotherapy practice in Amherst. She is trauma-informed and uses an anti-oppressive/liberatory framework in her treatment. Her personal experience as a teen parent, Black woman, and first-generation college student informs her work and deepens her commitment to serving the most vulnerable among us. A PhD candidate in Social Work at Smith College, she is also completing a dissertation titled “Union Strong: The Impact of Labor Organizing and Representation on Black Women’s Mental Health and Wellbeing.”

Chayanne Chataigne ’21 graduated from UMass with a Dual Degree in Psychology and Afro-American Studies. As a UMass student she served as President of BMCP, Secretary of the NAACP, and as a referral Specialist and Rape Crisis Counselor Advocate at the Center for Women and Community (CWC). In the Psychology Department, she served as a peer mentor and also as a research assistant in a lab. Since graduating, she has worked at YOU Inc and at the Wetzel Center as a Case Manager and  Admissions Coordinator. Currently, Chayanne works in the UMass Chan Medical School Office of Well-Being as a Wellness Program Coordinator.

Carlea Dolcine ’23 hails from Somerville, MA and is a psychology and Afro-American Studies double major with a certificate in civic engagement and public service. Her senior thesis is titled “Visioning In and Re-Visioning Schools: The Students Know What They Need.” Carlea is also currently creating a workshop series on Afrofuturism and storytelling. After graduating, Carlea plans to attend graduate school in clinical mental health counseling in order to work towards a mental health counselor or professional counselor licensure.

Sofia Meadows-Muriel ’22, they/she, graduated from UMass Amherst with a dual degree in African-American Studies and Social Thought and Political Economy. They currently work as a teacher in residence at Margarita Muniz Academy in Jamaica Plain where they are also an advisor for Afro-Alliance, a student club. Sofia is also the Director of Partnerships for Unity Circles, a small Boston based nonprofit that practices restorative and transformative justice. 

Charles Pisaturo III is a class of ’22 UMass Amherst Psychology major and double minor in AfroAm and Italian. After completing his degree at UMass, Charles worked as a temporary/seasonal Mental Health Worker in the float pool at Butler Psychiatric Hospital, located in Providence, Rhode Island. Currently, Charles works as a SITE program assistant in Legnano, Italy, teaching English and American History to middle schoolers. 

Register for the event here.