Treniece Harris

Dr. Treniece Lewis Harris is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in child/adolescent psychology and multicultural mental health. As a scholar and clinical educator, Dr. Harris has spent the past 20 years learning and educating others how to provide therapeutic services that value the person, their cultural background and that take into account social determinants of mental health. She consults to community, academic, health and organizational executives on multicultural mental health care provision, multidisciplinary collaborative care, as well as diversity, equity and inclusion curriculum development. Her scholarly work can be found in several publications including Academic Psychiatry, Adolescent Psychiatry, Journal of Adolescent Health, JAMA Psychiatry and Sucide & Life-Threatening Behavior.

As an Associate Professor of the Practice in the Lynch School Mental Health Counseling Program, she brings a wealth of experience providing psychotherapy in public health settings. She has also been in private practice providing psychotherapy to children, adolescents, adults, couples and families from all walks of life. She uses this experience base coupled with her expertise in child and multicultural mental health to teach her students and advisees about the “real world” of mental health care for people from diverse life experiences.

When she is not at Boston College, Dr. Harris is in her private practice, CULTURA Psychotherapy & Consulting, LLC. Using her CULTURAscope Model of Health & Advancement, she integrates developmental, multicultural, psychodynamic and evidenced-based behavioral therapies to develop a personalized, holistic biopsychosociocultural treatment plan for each client. She provides integrative care consultation to primary care physicians, school personnel, psychopharmacologists and religious leaders. She is often sought out to provide community wellness workshops on multicultural mental health issues, parenting and child development, as well as racism-related chronic stress. Her consultation services also include DEI corporate development, life coaching for early career mental health professionals and faith leaders mental health training.

Education

• Ph.D. Howard University (1990 — 1996)
• B.A. Hampton University (1986 — 1990)
• High School Diploma Boston Latin Academy (1980 — 1986)

SELECT PUBLICATIONS

Recent Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

• Alegria, M., Nakash, O., Johnson, K., Ault-Brutus, A., Carson, N., Fillbrunn, M., Wang, Y., Cheng, A., Harris, T.L., Polo, A., Lincoln, A., Freeman, E., Bostdorf, B., Rosenbaum, M., Epelbaum, C., LaRoche, M., Okpokwasili-Johnson, E., Carrasco, M., Shrout, P. (2018). Effectiveness of the DECIDE Interventions on Shared Decision Making and Perceived Quality of Care in Behavioral Health With Multicultural Patients: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry. 75(4), 325-335.
• Harris, T. L. (2012). Using Cultural Formulations to Enhance Adolescent Assessment and Psychotherapy. Adolescent Psychiatry. 2, (3), 243-252.
• Harris, T.L., McQuery, J., Elmore, S. & Raab, B. (2008). Multicultural psychiatric education: Using the DSM-IV-TR Outline for Cultural Formulation to improve resident cultural competence. Academic Psychiatry. 32(4), 306-312.
• Holder, D.W., Durant, R.H., Harris, T.L. Daniel, J.H., Obeidallah, D. & Goodman, E. (2000). The association between adolescent spirituality and voluntary sexual activity. Journal of Adolescent Health. 26(4), 295-302.
• Harris, T.L. & Molock, S.D. (2000). Suicidal ideation among African American College Students: An investigation of cultural orientation, family cohesion and perceived family support. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. 30(4), 341-353.

HONORS & AWARDS

• Division of Psychology Teaching Award, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Health Alliance (2018)
• Department of Psychiatry, Leston L. Havens Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Health Alliance (2018)
• Gold Humanism Scholarship, The Arnold P. Gold Foundation (2013)

GRANTS & FELLOWSHIPS

• Harvard Macy Fellowship, Program for Educators in Health Profession (2013)