The ALIVE Research Lab is a platform for basic, applied, intervention, and participatory psychological research that is advocacy-oriented and aims to promote the wellbeing of immigrants and underserved communities in the U.S. and globally. Our research develops frameworks, competencies, and evidence-based interventions that integrate and synthesize tenets from critical theories of education and social change, and theories from multiple areas of psychology (e.g., counseling psychology, vocational psychology, cultural psychology, developmental psychology). This research lab is led by Dr. Germán A. Cadenas in collaboration with graduate student researchers at Lehigh University.
We acknowledge that there are systems of historical oppression (e.g., racism, xenophobia, economic marginalization, sexism and hetero-sexism, ableism) that pervade institutions and structural policies, and from which individuals and communities seek liberation in order to thrive psychologically. As such, our research is participatory and situated within health and mental health systems, higher education and K-12 schools, and setting for community entrepreneurship and workforce development. Our research is grounded in community, responsive to sociopolitical contexts, and aims to inform practice and policy at all levels, from institutional to state and national.
Areas of Focus:
- The psychology of immigration: This line of research focuses on the psychological experiences of immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, as they navigate immigration policy and resist marginalization. This includes exploring immigrant’s mental health in the context of policy (federal, state, and institutional), their educational and career development, and processes of sociopolitical empowerment. This line of research also encompasses the development of cultural competencies and strategies for mental health providers and educators to better serve immigrants.
- The psychology of critical education and critical vocational development: This line of research explores the psychological construct of critical consciousness and its utility in bolstering educational outcomes and career development among communities facing various forms of social oppression. The aim of this line of work is to promote inclusive learning, equity, and social justice through the development and implementation of critical education and vocational development strategies.
Our work aims to support the transformation of systems that historically have played a key role in liberating or oppressing communities.