INTERSECT Research Overview

Much research focuses on singular traumatic events; at INTERSECT, we examine daily, ongoing stress. We know that chronic stress and adversity are daily realities for many historically marginalized, urban communities, so we ask: Why do some people maintain psychological health despite cumulative stress while others do not? We call this the capacity to adapt: the ability to sustain functional well-being amid ongoing stress exposure. In this view, mental health is not merely the absence of disorder, it is the ongoing ability to function well in the face of adversity.

Drawing on developmental psychopathology, clinical psychology, epidemiology and public health, our work examines this question in three distinct but intersecting ways:

Together, these threads of exploration advance a unified research agenda centered on understanding and promoting mental health within socio-ecological contexts characterized by chronic adversity.