About

Professor Tessa Evans-Campbell is the Charles O. Cressey Endowed Professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work. She completed her BA in art history at the University of Washington and her MSW at the University of California Los Angeles. Her research interests focus on historical trauma, resistance and healing; cultural buffers of trauma; substance use and mental health; and indigenous family wellness. She has served as the SSW Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and MSW program director. Dr. Evans-Campbell began her social work career more than 15 years ago as a children’s social worker in Los Angeles County, gaining extensive practice experience in Indian child welfare, adoptions, and community advocacy/organizing with American Indian communities. She served as a commissioner for the Los Angeles County Native American Indian Commission and was the American Indian community representative to the Los Angeles County Children’s Planning Council. Her research interests stem from her practice and personal experiences as a Washington state tribal member. She now has the opportunity to blend her passion for clinical social work practice in health with research. Dr. Evans-Campbell is also the co-executive director of the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute and belongs to several professional organizations, including the Society for Social Work and Research, the National Association of Social Workers, and the Council for Social Work Education. She sits on the Local Indian Child Welfare Advisory Committee and serves on various boards and committees related to Native American family wellness.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Gender studies
• Psychotherapist
• Social Science
• Psychology
• Art
• Media studies
• Pedagogy
• Social psychology
• Epistemology
• Aesthetics

Selected publications

• “Being on the walk put it somewhere in my body”: The meaning of place in health for Indigenous women

  Routledge eBooks · 2021 · 4 citations

  • Sociology
  • Sociology
  • Media studies

  Relationship to place is integral to Indigenous health. A qualitative, secondary phenomenological analysis of in-depth interviews with four non-Choctaw Indigenous women participating in an outdoor, experiential tribally specific Choctaw health leadership study uncovered culturally grounded narratives using thematic analysis as an analytic approach. Results revealed that physically being in historical trauma sites of other Indigenous groups involved a multi-faceted process that facilitated embodied stress by connecting participants with their own historical and contemporary traumas. Participants also experienced embodied resilience through connectedness to place and collective resistance. Implications point to the role of place in developing collective resistance and resilience through culturally and methodologically innovative approaches.

  PublisherDOI

• “Being on the walk put it somewhere in my body”: The meaning of place in health for Indigenous women

  Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work · 2020 · 18 citations

  • Sociology
  • Social Science
  • Sociology

  Relationship to place is integral to Indigenous health. A qualitative, secondary phenomenological analysis of in-depth interviews with four non-Choctaw Indigenous women participating in an outdoor, experiential tribally-specific Choctaw health leadership study uncovered culturally grounded narratives using thematic analysis as an analytic approach. Results revealed that physically being in historical trauma sites of other Indigenous groups involved a multi-faceted process that facilitated embodied stress by connecting participants with their own historical and contemporary traumas. Participants also experienced embodied resilience through connectedness to place and collective resistance. Implications point to the role of place in developing collective resistance and resilience through culturally and methodologically innovative approaches.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Karina L. Walters

  9 shared

• Ramona Beltrán

  University of Denver

  5 shared

• Eric W. Trupin

  University of Washington

  4 shared

• Kevin M. King

  University of Washington

  4 shared

• Suzanne E. U. Kerns

  Medical University of South Carolina

  4 shared

• Terry G. Lee

  Cambridge Health Alliance

  4 shared

• James J. Mazza

  4 shared

• Georganna Sedlar

  University of Washington

  4 shared

Education

• B.A., Art History

  University of Washington

• Other

  University of California Los Angeles

Awards & honors

• Charles O. Cressey Endowed Professor

Similar researchers at University of Washington

• Sarah Jaewon Leeh-151
• Jan Hansenh-130
• Linda Simonsenh-120
• Anna Waldh-119
• Jesse Bloomh-117