“Beaches all around, beautiful skies, beautiful food, just beautiful people.” That’s how Alvin Thomas describes his home island of Saint Lucia, located in the Caribbean. But it was the people, and the not-so-idyllic social and economic issues they faced, that inspired Thomas to pursue psychology. He wanted to find ways to support people “who were being raised in spaces that required significant amounts of resilience and internal strengths.” Thomas is now a professor of human development and family studies at the UW School of Human Ecology and the director of the Thomas Resilient Youth Lab (TRYlab). His research centers on positive youth development and family dynamics, with a particular focus on the mental health of Black men and boys. Read more about his work and how he’s seeking to build up Black and low-income communities around the world, not just on tropical islands […]