Even as a child John Nanney was interested in the social and political world around him. He has clear memories of the 1984 presidential race even though he was only eight at the time. While still a preteen he discovered a fondness for political talk shows. Attending a well-integrated grade school in Kentucky made him hyper-aware of the inequalities between black and white students. Later on, Nanney pursued psychology, but he never lost his passion for social issues and has made his career at the intersection of the two.
Nanney is now an assistant professor of psychology and the head of Community Psychological Services at UMSL. He took the position in July of last year. Before coming to UMSL, Nanney worked in a New Orleans level 1 surgical trauma center, doing outreach and intervention to victims of gunshot wounds, many of whom were involved in criminal activity.
“We used the injury as an opportunity to intervene,” Nanney said. “To try to help them find another way beyond their current position in life.”
Not long after Nanney arrived here last July, the shooting death of Michael Brown occurred in August, and issues Nanney had been concerned about were suddenly thrust front and center. Many in the St. Louis mental health community have stepped up to help those impacted by the turmoil, and others have asked what they can do to combat the issues that caused turmoil in the first place.
Trying to help facilitate this conversation, Community Psychological Services planned a conference called Beyond Ferguson: Mental Health Services and the Crises in Disadvantaged Urban Communities that took place at UMSL in June. The conference was co-sponsored by the UMSL College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychological Sciences, Center for Trauma Recovery, and Children’s Advocacy Services, as well as the St. Louis Chapter of the Association of Black Psychologists.
Nanney says the conference intended to, “look at chronic underlying issues that have been present for decades if not centuries, and will be present long after people have forgotten the names Michael Brown and Darren Wilson. We want to bring together mental health providers and scholars from that St. Louis area and ask ourselves how we as a discipline best address this crisis.”
Nanney and others don’t want the conference to be experts telling people what to do, but for it to be an open conversation with all people coming and talking about their research and their personal experience, sharing strategies that others can then turn around and implement.
The conference was open to social workers, teachers, psychologists—anyone who works in mental health.
