Dr. Blanche Wright is a clinical psychologist who conceptualizes mental health as a public health issue. Informed by social determinants of health and ecological systems frameworks, her research is grounded in the understanding that youth mental health is influenced by family, school, healthcare, and policy contexts. Thus, she enacts an interdisciplinary approach, drawing from clinical and cultural psychology, implementation science, and public health. Her equity-centered scholarship has the overarching goal to help close research to practice to policy gaps.
Dr. Wright prioritizes community partnerships and scalability. She leverages quantitative and qualitative methodologies to investigate three streams of research:
- Identifying disparities in youth mental health status, and understanding strengths and stressors that shape the mental health of youth from low-income, ethnoracial minoritized and/or immigrant family backgrounds
- Strengthening youth and parent engagement within the delivery of evidence-based practices with specialized foci on Latinx/Latiné families and community-based providers
- Exploring pathways to integrate research into the mental health policymaking process and optimizing government financing strategies to help sustain evidence-based practices in publicly-funded services.
Dr. Wright is interested in accepting new doctoral students for Fall 2025.
Selected Publications:
Wright, B., Chen, B. C., Kodish, T., Lazaro, Y. M., & Lau, A. S. (2024). Immigration stress and internalizing symptoms among Latinx and Asian American students: The roles of school climate and community violence [Special Issue: Promoting Equitable and Socially Just School Climates for Minoritized and Marginalized Students]. Journal of School Psychology, 104, 101286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2024.101286
Doan, S. N., Yu, S. H., Wright, B., Fung, J., Saleem, F., & Lau, A. S. (2022). Resilience and family socialization processes in ethnic minority youth: Illuminating the achievement-health paradox. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 25(1), 75-92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-022-00389-1
Wright, B., Brookman-Frazee, L., Mcleod, B. D., Flores, A.*, Alegría, M., Langer, D., Chavira, D., & Lau, A. S. (2024). Shared decision-making with Latinx caregivers during community implemented evidence-based practices: Determinants and associations with alliance. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2024.2372761
Wright, B., Brookman-Frazee, L., Alegría, M., Langer, D., & Lau, A. S. (2023). Shared decision making between community therapists and Latinx caregivers during evidence-based practice delivery in publicly-funded children’s mental health services. Patient Education and Counseling, 115, 107867. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2023.107867
Wright, B., González, I., Chen, M., Aarons, G. A., Hunter, S., Godley, M. D., Purtle, J. & Dopp, A. R. (2024). Multi-level alignment processes in the sustainment of a youth substance use treatment model following a federal implementation initiative: A mixed method study [Special Issue: Contemporary Developments in Treatment Services for Adolescent Substance Use Disorders]. Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment, 209445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.josat.2024.209445
Wright, B., Celeste-Villalvir, A., Moorehead, D., Johnson, C., Luna Mendoza, K., Bowers, M., & Zima, B. T. (2023). A community-partnered qualitative study on multiple stakeholder perspectives: The COVID-19 pandemic’s perceived impact on Black and Latinx youth mental health and community-driven school policy recommendations. School Mental Health, 15(4), 1145-1157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-023-09611-z