Hazel Angela Da Breo, PhD, RP - St. George's University

Assistant Professor, Psychology
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Phone: 439-2000 x 3661

Biography

Hazel Da Breo, PhD, R.P. is an Assistant Professor in the School of Arts and Sciences, St. George’s University. She is a practicing psychotherapist and supervisor of psychotherapists with an international clientele, who dedicates her life to psychology and its intersections with social justice, the ethos of nonviolence, philosophy and transcendence. Her research work has focused on child protection, sexual violence, and on the relationships between psychosis, psychic trauma, and spirit possession. She has published widely in the field, counting books, book chapters, and numerous peer-reviewed journals. She directs an NGO (www.sweetwaterfoundation.ca), renowned for its regional work with vulnerable and marginalized populations. She is committed to psychology’s liberatory purpose, and its objective to offer interventions that relieve the social and psychic suffering of ordinary people.

Areas of Interest

Broadly speaking, her interests encompass all things psychological from both practice and scholastic orientations. Her current personal research is in Sufism, which is a study of the mystical practices of the three Abrahamic religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, and how these religions impact the mental health of their adherents. She is equally interested in how the Caribbean’s political traditions have influenced the construction of our populations’ psychological ontology. Her past-times reflect her all encompassing interest in focusing and strengthening the power of the mind, via ocean kayaking and archery.

Affiliations

Selected Publications

Original, Peer Reviewed Articles:

Da Breo, H. (Upcoming, January 2023) Bystander Mobilization for Anti-Violence Education and Child Abuse Prevention in Latin America and the Caribbean. Contemporary Developments in Anti Domestic Violence Interventions, Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma (JAMT).

Bodusek, Dan, Debowska, Agata, Trotman, Ena, Da Breo, Hazel, Willmott, Dominic, Sherretts, Nicole, Jones, Adele D. “Victimisation, violence perpetration, and attitudes towards violence among boys and girls from Barbados and Grenada”, (2017) DOI10.13140/RG.2.2.12891.87848

Jarmal Charles, B.S.; Lindyann Lessey, B.S.; Jennifer Rooney, M.D.; Ingmar Prokop, B.S.; Katherine Yearwood, M.D.; Hazel Da Breo, Pdh.D.; Patrick Rooney, M.D.; Ruth H Walker, MB. Ch.B., Ph.D.; Andrew K Sobering, Ph.D (2017) “Presentation and care of a family with Huntington disease in a resource-limited community.” Journal of Clinical Movement Disorders, Springer.

Books

Da Breo, H. (Upcoming – December 2023) Spirit Possession and Sexual Violence: A Jungian Perspective on Transatlantic Spirituality as Resistance. Routledge, U.K.

Jones, A., Trotman-Jemmott, E., Da Breo, H. and Maharaj P. (2016) Cross-Cultural Practice for Addressing Child Sexual Abuse in Clinical, Group and Community Settings. Palgrave McMillan, U.K.

Jones, A., Trotman-Jemmott, E., Maharaj. P. and Da Breo, H. (2014) An Integrated Systems Model for Preventing Child Sexual Abuse. Palgrave McMillan, U.K.

Jones, A., Trotman-Jemmott, E., Maharaj. P. and Da Breo, H. (2013) Jones, A. Ed. International Perspectives on Child Sexual Abuse: Lessons from the Caribbean. Palgrave McMillan U.K.

Chapters in Books or Collections

Maharaj, P., Da Breo, H., Descartes, C. (2021) “Indigenous Mental Health, Caribbean” in Public Health in the Caribbean. Pooransingh, S., Figueroa, P., Babatunde, O., and Parasram, R. Eds.
UWI Press, Jamaica.

Maharaj, P. E., Da Breo, H. & Descartes, C. (forthcoming, 2021). Mental Health Beyond the Individual: Caribbean Context, Barriers and Solutions. In Public Health in the Caribbean. Eds. Shalini Pooransingh, John Peter Figueroa, Babatunde Olowokure, Roshan Parasram. Mona: UWI Press.

Da Breo, H., Descartes, C. & Maharaj, P. E. (forthcoming, 2021). Child abuse in the Caribbean Context: An Overview and Emerging Issues. In Public Health in the Caribbean. Eds. Shalini Pooransingh, John Peter Figueroa, Babatunde Olowokure, Roshan Parasram. Mona: UWI Press.

Maharaj, P.E., Barclay, N., Descartes, C. & Da Breo, H. (2019). Intimate Partner Violence and Sleep: An Overview of Sleep Disturbances and Interventions in Handbook of Interpersonal Violence Across the Lifespan (G. Tinney, S. M. Wagers & J. Langhinrichsen-Rohling, section eds.), Springer.

Da Breo, H., Jones, A. (2017) “It’s My Party, I’ll Cry if I Want to”, in Feminist Narrative Research, Opportunities and Challenges, Jo Woodiwiss, J., Smith, K., Lockwood, K. Eds. Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Textbooks
Da Breo, H. (2021) Lifting the Shade on Mental Health Issues and Services for Vulnerable Populations in the Caribbean. Kaleidoscope Trust, UK.

Da Breo, H., Henderson, G., Rogers, T., Sealey Burke, J., Vega, A. (2015) Foundations: Strengthening Prevention Approaches to Address Gender-Based Violence in the Caribbean. UNWomen.

Journal / Book Reviewer:

2022 Book
Representations of Child Sexual Abuse in Jamaica, Monograph Manuscript. Authors:
Tatyana Karpenko-Seccombe * , Kenisha Nelson , Christine Fray , Roxanne Harvey , Karyl Powell-Booth , Adele Jones , Nadia Wager , Xiaomin Sheng. Abstract: This study uses a productive combination of corpus and discourse analysis to explore the ways Jamaican papers present child sexual abuse.

2021–2022 Journal of Aggression, Trauma and Maltreatment.

2015-2016 Scientific Annals of the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, Iasi (New Series) Sociology and Social Work Section - "Experiences of Invisible, Marginalized or Socially Excluded Childhood; Implications for National and International Agendas".

Selected Projects

CONFERENCE/SEMINAR PRESENTATIONS AND INVITED TALKS/LECTURES

Keynote or other invited plenary:
2019 “Demonic Possession: Negative Spiritual Coping in Sexual Violence, Eastern Caribbean”. (December, 2019). World Psychiatric Association, International Congress in Spirituality and Psychiatry, 4th Global Meeting in Spirituality and Mental Health. Jerusalem, Israel.
2015 “Yoga as Therapy: Bending your Body to Straighten out your Mind: Children and Caregivers - The Importance of their Relationships. (July, 2015) Reachwithin, in association with St.George’s University, the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation. With Stephen W. Porges, John F. Hornstein, Aditi Subramaniam, Sue Carter and Gaylen Plant.
2015 “Implementing Interventions for the Therapeutic Care of Victims of Sexual Violence in
the Caribbean.” (March, 2015) Global Implementation Conference, Dublin, Ireland.

CURRENT PROJECTS

2020 – Current: Under Five. A multi-year research and treatment project in partnership with Global Affairs Canada, via its Caribbean arm – Women and Voices in Leadership (WVL). This project looks at the rapes of children under the age of five, and developments psychological treatments and trainings along with implications for policy within the legislative framework.