Charis Stanek

Charis Stanek is a first year in the combined MSW-PhD in social work program. Charis received her B.A. in psychology and sociology from Oberlin College in 2018 and her M.A. in social sciences, with a concentration in psychology, from the University of Chicago in 2020. Charis has case management experience working with female adolescents and young adults living in residential mental health treatment programs. For the past two years, she worked as a clinical research coordinator at Nationwide Children’s hospital, where she broadly investigated psychosocial outcomes of advanced pediatric cancer and sickle cell disease among adolescents and young adults and their families.

Charis is broadly interested in investigating risk and protective factors for adolescents and young adults after they experience major life events or experiences of trauma, and in particular, the influence of positive relationships, sense of purpose/meaning-making, and identity on resilience and mental health outcomes broadly. She is passionate about expanding access to mental health care and culturally response and social justice focused mental health interventions.