Black Suicidology Summit Webinar On-Demand Webinar

The Interfaith America Black Leadership Fellows introduces the Black Suicidology Summit webinar. We examine the socio-historical context of systemic disparities, provide intersectional discourse on current risk/preventative factors, and visualize the possibilities of future evidence-based practices. This virtual, fireside chat, is a space created for healing, awareness, and community innovation.

About Tanisha Esperanza, M.A.

Tanisha Esperanza, M.A. is a neurodivergent consultant and suicidologist. She is a 1st generation Afro-Latinx American, queer, and an autistic adult. She obtained her B.A. in anthropology & sociology from Spelman College. In 2019, she graduated with her M.A. in psychology from the Catholic University of America. Her work focuses on providing neuro-affirming support to LGBTQ+/BIPOC adults. Integrating an intersectional and womanist approach in holistically treating trauma. She examines the social-historical impact of systemic trauma on the daily functionings of marginalized individuals and communities. Tanisha is a proud companion of a cavapoo, Ms. Ella Fitzgerald.

About Janel Cubbage

Janel Cubbage currently serves as the Strategic Partnerships and Equity Program Manager at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. Janel began her career providing case management and care coordination to adjudicated youth where she encountered firsthand the deleterious effects of gun violence. It was then that Janel made a commitment to prevent gun violence and care for those who have been affected. Janel transitioned to a career as a suicidologist where she gained experience managing prevention programs for the military, and serving as the Director of Suicide Prevention at Maryland’s Behavioral Health Administration and chairing Maryland’s Governor’s Commission on Suicide Prevention. Janel also works as a licensed trauma therapist, specializing in providing therapy for minoritized communities. She is passionate about healing racial trauma and actively working for racial and social justice. Janel is a recent Fellow of the Bloomberg American Health Initiative and earned her MPH at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 2022. Janel also holds a masters of science in clinical mental health counseling from McDaniel College.

About Tianna Dowie-Chin, PhD

Dr. Tianna Dowie-Chin is currently an Assistant Professor of Social Studies Education at the University of Georgia. Tianna was born and raised in Toronto, ON, Canada by Jamaican born parents. She earned her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction specializing in Teachers, Schools and Society (TSS) from the University of Florida. Her dissertation titled “My Child’s First Teacher: Utilizing Black Mothers’ Counter-Narratives to Reimagine Black Schooling” recently won an Outstanding Dissertation Award from American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) Critical Examination of Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender Special Interest Group (SIG). Additionally, her research has been recognized with the University of Florida’s Association for Academic Women (AAW) Madelyn Lockhart Dissertation Fellowship and a National Council of Social Studies (NCSS) Exemplary Research Award. Her research broadly examines race in education with a particular focus on Black feminist thought and education, fostering critical race approaches to teacher education, and challenging global anti-Black racism in education through race theory. She currently serves on the executive committee for NCSS’s College & University Faculty Assembly (CUFA) Scholars of Color Forum and AERA’s Social Studies SIG. One of her professional goals is to support and inspire educators to honor and make space for Black voices and experiences in order to challenge the ways Blackness has been essentialized.