Taking Action
View Dr. Barbara Prempeh’s NJEA article:
Dr. Barbara Prempeh, Psy.D.
Vice President, New Jersey chapter of the Association of Black Psychologists
Psychologist at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
Clinical Specialist at Montclair State University
By Amanda Adams
I recently spoke with Dr. Barbara Prempeh, a clinical psychologist known for her expertise in helping children heal through the juvenile justice system, trauma-informed care, crisis intervention, racial/cultural issues, and resilience. Dr. Prempeh also teaches college-level psychology courses.
She ardently presses educators, parents and law enforcement to go beyond simply acknowledging childhood trauma and do more to prevent it or—when it’s too late—help those who’ve experienced it to heal.
Q. Over the past academic year, you were a consulting counselor at a Pre-K through Grade 12 school in New York State. What did you learn about the challenges facing students, particularly students of color?
Over the past year and a half, while we’ve been in this pandemic, there’s been a lot of talk about the need to understand that this is an emotionally challenging time for students, and also to understand the prevalence of social injustice and how we all got a firsthand view. We had no distractions while we were in the pandemic and had no choice but to see what was happening on our screens and social media sites. Students saw it with their own eyes as well, and we saw students protesting and marching alongside their parents.
There’s been a lot of talk about it, but I want to see action now that schools are opening. Where is the action? My concern is that we can do a great deal of talking and acknowledging but then we stop there. It’s great to acknowledge. I’m glad that a lot of places have acknowledged the racial trauma and the collective trauma that we’re experiencing with the pandemic, but what’s the action behind it? I really want to see schools emphasize their emotional support for students.
Q: What should schools think about as they navigate another year affected by the pandemic?
As we navigate this year, we need to be asking ourselves some hard questions such as how we will deal with grief and loss, given the high number of students we’ll have in classrooms who lost a parent, a grandparent, an aunt or a community member to this COVID pandemic. What about the classrooms where teachers aren’t there because they passed away from COVID-19? How are we addressing that?
This is in addition to the increased anxiety that students have experienced, maybe the lack of motivation, because during that year and a half things just weren’t the same, they weren’t able to interact with their friends as much, or they missed out on junior prom. What about kids who were in eighth grade when the pandemic started, entered a new high school last year, and now they’re sophomores? Not only are they adjusting to being in a new building, they’re also adjusting to this new group of students.
Are schools running emotional support groups? Are they providing some type of psychoeducation to parents to inform them on how to support their children at home? I get it that some schools just don’t have the capacity, or don’t want to add anything else to the school day, but we have to become creative in how we’re supporting students.
