Robb Scott had the opportunity to interview Prof. Barbara C. Wallace at Teachers College, Columbia University, and wrote this article in November, 1994, published in the student paper called TC News.

America suffers from an array of "overlapping public health crises," such as crack cocaine addiction, AIDS, dysfunctional families and a crisis of violence, according to Barbara Wallace, of TC's department of Health and Nutrition education. Professor Wallace, who collaborated in starting New York City's first specialized crack cocaine detoxification unit, is a pioneer in psychoeducation and the first African-American woman to move through the ranks and achieve tenure at Teachers College. Her third book, in progress, "Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families: Prevention, Intervention and Treatment for Mental Health Promotion," serves as a training manual for professionals and paraprofessionals working as teams in community-based settings.

The psychoeducation component

Her field of psychoeducation is teaching/learning about "how to feel feelings; engage in problem solving and conflict resolution; build self-esteem; control impulses; and foster health," Wallace says. She gives compelling reasons for modifying the current curriculum to include this new psychological aspect, starting at the earliest stages of formal education. A cycle of addiction, trauma and despair Urban settings can "reproduce a cycle of addiction, trauma and despair" and juvenile delinquency for young people. Immigrating to a new country at a young age, being separated from one parent for an extended period, being abused physically or sexually, suffering from AIDS and watching loved ones become addicted to drugs are key factors in the unique crisis urban families face today.

Dr. Wallace has designed models for community outreach in which HIV-infected individuals and recovering crack cocaine addicts act as paraprofessionals, or apprentices, with social workers and health professionals. Together, both groups can work to prevent children from repeating the pernicious behaviors they see around them and, when appropriate, intervene and treat those who are already becoming victims of urban trauma and violence.

Recruiting paraprofessionals from within the community

Outreach programs depend on the training of paraprofessionals from within the community to foster community empowerment. These programs, according to Dr. Wallace, should be either school-based or church-based, and provide psychological training in group settings for children and also for their parents, teaching them "how to help a child to develop emotionally and how to discipline without abuse."

Members of the Teachers College community, in all fields of study, need to join forces as community-health advocates to "stop the demise of the community" and initiate "quality interaction for healing," according to Dr. Wallace. To do this it is necessary for educators to "get out of the ivory tower" and into the surrounding Harlem neighborhoods where many parents are concerned with "day to day survival and making it through the day."

A water-safety analogy for intervention

Wallace employs a water-safety metaphor and says that TC students, faculty and graduates should act as "lifeguards, forming multidisciplinary search and rescue teams ... to resuscitate people right there," and doing research to discover "how deep the water is, where the boulders and sharks are." Dr. Wallace would like to see a new century begin where "we realize our capacity to train multidisciplinary individuals who can work in beacon schools and community centers, and keep things moving in a new direction."

Barbara Wallace is a licensed psychologist in the state of New York. She holds an A.B. in psychology form Princeton, with a minor in Afro-American studies; an M.A. in psychology from City College of the City University of New York; and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from City University of New York. She did a post-doctoral fellowship at Narcotic and Drug Research, Inc. (NDRI), now called National Development Research Institutes, NY, NY.

She has been teaching at TC for four and a half years, and was awarded tenure in the Health and Nutrition Education department this fall. Dr. Wallace has received several awards for outstanding scholarship, and through her books and presentations has established herself as an integrator of theory, with her biopsychosocial model, which informs her approach to mental health promotion in school, community and church-based settings. She comes from a family of teachers and has a natural "love for teaching and nurturing" her students. At TC, she would like to see increased recruitment of faculty and students of color, "so I don't feel so alone here."

Original report by Robb Scott appeared in November 2, 1994 edition of TC News, the student paper at Teachers College
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