Dr. Stephanie Irby Coard is a gifted clinically trained psychologist, professor, researcher, public intellectual and consultant. She has always concerned herself with increasing awareness and knowledge of the racial, ethnic and cultural influences on youth development and family functioning and in the implementation of culturally relevant evidence-based programming in communities of color.  Her passion is to improve mental health and well-being in children, families and communities of color. The lens that informs her approach to working with youth, families and communities is one that is strength-based, and resilience focused. She approaches situations and conditions of adversity from the perspective of ‘at promise’ as opposed to ‘at-risk’.   With 20+ years of experience in developing and implementing culturally relevant, strength-based and evidence-based interventions, measures and research studies for youth, parents and families of color, she has gained a skill set vital to helping families of color and those servicing them to address the mental health priorities.

Her understanding of socio-cultural factors as they relate to the etiology, prevention and treatment of child mental health problems has informed her work on several federally funded studies.  Dr. Coard has received funding on both the local and national levels to support her research and intervention work.  This includes: The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Institute for Child Health and Development (NICHD), University of North Carolina Greensboro, Duke Transdisciplinary Prevention Research Center, Robertson Scholars Program, and the Duke/UNC Collaboration Fund.

Dr. Coard is former Chair, American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Resilience and Strength in Black Children and Adolescents. The task force offered a bold new vision of thriving optimal development in African American youth and provided the next generation of researchers, practitioners, educators, policymakers, and programmers with a useful lens through which to view African American youth.

She is the current Chair, Working Group on Race Related Parental Stress (RESilience), American Psychological Association.  RESilience seeks to develop resources for parents and other caregivers to assist them in recognizing and managing their own race-related stress in order to facilitate purposeful and effective RES engagement with their children.

Dr. Coard is the author of a forthcoming textbook on Black Adolescent Development to be published by Routledge Ltd.

Dr. Coard is an active member of professional and civic organizations locally and nationally. They include American Psychological Association, Society for Research in Child Development, The National Council on Family Relations, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, The Links, Incorporated, and the NAACP.