



Sherry Hamby, Ph.D., is the Director of Life Paths Research Center and Founder of ResilienceCon. She is also Research Professor of Psychology at the University of the South. A licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Hamby has worked for more than 20 years on the problem of violence, including front-line crisis intervention and treatment, involvement in grassroots organizations, and research leading to the publication of more than 200 articles and books. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, CBS News, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic, Time, Forbes, Slate, The Guardian, CTV News, Wisconsin Public Radio, and hundreds of other media outlets.
“Because of the excellent survey that was led by Sherry Hamby and other experts, we know that – in America today – more than three out of five children have been exposed to crime, violence, or abuse – in their neighborhoods, in their schools, or in their own homes.”
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder
“Sherry is one of the freshest thinkers in the field, and never fails to bring a new perspective to familiar topics. She is just plain fun to listen to.”
Dr. David Finkelhor, Professor of Sociology & Director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire
“Dr. Sherry Hamby is a thoughtful and inquisitive thought leader in the child maltreatment field, always willing to think about the next big thing while being an outstanding researcher and author. All of this expertise translates to Sherry providing high-quality, and thought-provoking presentations. If you are looking for someone to challenge your way of thinking about our work with a focus on advancing practice by utilizing available research, then Dr. Sherry Hamby is a fantastic option.”
Chris Newlin, MS LPC, Executive Director, National Children's Advocacy Center
Available Topics
Resilience After Trauma: Understanding Key Factors That Promote Thriving After Adversity
When people dream of the future, they do not dream about avoiding depression or minimizing pain. People dream about seeking and achieving joy, love, and meaning. After many years of focusing on victimization, risks, deficits, and symptoms, health and social services are finally starting to address the ways that individual, family, and community strengths help people overcome family violence and other adversities. Using a new concept called "resilience portfolios," Dr. Hamby will use multiple mixed methods datasets involving in-depth interviews, focus groups, and surveys to identify key strengths that promote thriving after adversity. Dr. Hamby will focus on ways that psychologists and other practitioners can assess and promote key strengths for facilitating resilience after trauma.
Resilience After Trauma: Evidence-Based Assessment & Intervention
Dr. Hamby speaks on the strengths that help people thrive after victimization and other adversities, with a focus on developing balanced “resilience portfolios” of psychosocial strengths. In this talk, she focuses on ways that practitioners can assess and promote key strengths for facilitating resilience after trauma. She describes evidence-based assessments and interventions, such as motivational interviewing and narrative, that can be used in a variety of settings to help people achieve well-being even after traumatic experiences.
Portrait of Resilience: Insights from Rural Appalachia
Despite overall shifts to more strengths-based approaches, remarkably negative, deficit-focused portrayals remain the norm for some groups. In the United States, this is perhaps truer for rural Appalachians than any other group. Mainstream media and entertainment still routinely mock stereotypical characteristics of people from this region, and terms such as “hillbilly” or “redneck” are permitted in public discourse in ways that other slurs are not. However, like all stigmatized groups, rural Appalachians have under-appreciated strengths. Using a new concept called "resilience portfolios," Dr. Hamby will use multiple mixed methods datasets involving in-depth interviews, focus groups, and surveys to identify key strengths and values in southern Appalachia, including self-reliance, humility, privacy, spirituality, and the use of self-deprecating humor. Many Appalachian people rely on these values to both resist and navigate the challenges of violence, adversity, and marginalization. Core Appalachian values are almost entirely missing from mainstream research in resilience, but better understanding of strengths and coping in this region can improve services to Appalachian communities, which have over 25 million residents. Further, improving our understanding of one subculture can inform our broader understanding of how people cope and thrive in the diverse communities of the United States, and often produces insights that are useful in many cultural contexts. Among other implications, these findings point to the need to do more to incorporate meaning making and community connections into approaches to overcoming victimization and promoting resilience.
Poly-victimization and the Prevention of Elder Abuse
Understanding vulnerabilities to abuse in late life requires understanding the full burden of victimization. Poly-victimization refers to the experience of multiple different types of victimization. In addition to forms of elder abuse perpetrated by family members and caregiver, elders are vulnerable to other types of victimization that affect their functioning, such as identity theft and other crimes. Research on adverse childhood experiences has also shown the lifelong impact of the cumulative burden of early childhood adversity. A more comprehensive approach to recognizing victimization can inspire more effective strategies for the prevention of elder abuse. This talk will focus on strengths-based approaches to elder abuse prevention, with a focus on ways to support the key strengths and needs that contribute to thriving in late life. Prevention efforts in the following domains will be described: home safety, physical health, psychological well-being, social connections, financial well-being, and spiritual well-being. More holistic approaches to prevention have the most promise for promoting safety and well-being among older adults.
Poly-victimization: Essential Information and Implications for Treatment
Poly-victimization is experiencing multiple different types of victimization, such as physical abuse at home, bullying at school, and witnessing community assault. It is the strongest predictor of psychological symptoms in national studies. Adaptations of current trauma treatment models can help address poly-victimization. This workshop will provide a basic background in key concepts of polyvictimization. Dr. Hamby will discuss how poly-victimization compares to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), complex trauma, trauma-informed care, and other emerging concepts. The most important characteristics and consequences will be presented. She will also address the primary components of a poly-victimization approach to treatment, such as considering that caregivers may be poly-victims themselves and may need assessment, safety planning, and their own interventions to support parenting strengths, engaging and planning interventions across multiple contexts including schools, and recognizing that multi-pronged treatment approaches may require a longer time frame and need to be developmentally specific. Examples of treatment models to address poly-victimization will be provided. She will also discuss ways that professionals can work on policies, resources, and programs to prevent further victimization.
Click here to view Dr. Hamby's talk on Child Protection and Research, presented at the Association for International Schools in Africa (AISA) International Child Protection Symposium
Click here to view Dr. Hamby's talk A Scientific Answer to a Scientific Question: The Gender Debate in Intimate Partner Violence, presented at Trajetvi et l'Équipe Violence Conjugale du CRI-VIFF
Invited Addresses: Keynotes, Colloquia, Workshops & Other Plenaries
Overview of Organizations
National Organizations in the U.S.
- - End Violence Against Women International
- - Indian Health Service
- - National Children’s Alliance
- - National Children’s Advocacy Center
- - National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
- - National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center
- - National Institute of Justice
- - National Institutes of Health
- - National Judicial Institute on Domestic Violence
- - National Resource Center on Domestic Violence
- - Prevent Child Abuse America
- - U.S. Department of Defense
- - U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention
International Universities & Organizations
- - Association of International Schools in Africa (AISA)
- - Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire sur la violence familiale et la violence faite aux femmes (CRIVIFF) (Center for interdisciplinary research on family violence and violence against women), Montreal
- - Dhaka University, Bangladesh
- - National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), United Kingdom
- - Trajetvi (Trajectoires de Violence Conjugale et de Recherche D’Aide), Montreal
- - Universidad de la Laguna, Canary Islands, Spain
- - Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
- - University of Central Lancashire, England
- - University of Lausanne, Switzerland
- - University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
State & Regional Organizations
- - Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence
- - North Dakota Courts
- - North Dakota U.S. Attorney’s Office
- - Northeast Regional Children’s Advocacy Center
- - Southeastern Psychological Association
- - Virginia Victim Assistance Network
Invited Presentations at Other Conferences
- - Association for Women in Psychology
- - International Conference on Violence, Abuse, & Trauma
- - International Family Violence & Child Victimization Research Conference
- - National Summit on Interpersonal Violence Across the Lifespan
- - San Diego International Conference on Child & Family Maltreatment
- - Sandhills Regional Psychology Conference
- - Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth
Webinars (some):
- - Battered Women’s Justice Project Webinar Series
- - National Children’s Advocacy Center
- - National Latino Network
- - National Register of Health Service Psychologists
- - Office for Victims of Crime
U.S. Universities
- - Brown University
- - Georgia Southern University
- - Murray State University
- - Pennsylvania State University
- - Rhode Island College
- - University of Kentucky
- - University of Michigan
- - University of South Carolina Upstate
- - University of Southern California
- - University of Tennessee at Knoxville
- - Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University
- - Western Kentucky University
City and Local Organizations
- - Greenville Children’s Advocacy Center
- - Grundy County (TN) Health Council
- - Grundy County (TN) Rotary Club
- - Marion County (TN) Health Council
- - Safe Shelter
- - Winchester (TN) Rotary Club
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