My name is Kimberly Hoover, and I am a doctoral candidate in the English Department. My own research focuses on the socio-political tension that arises from integrating “alternative” or “complementary” medicine (referred to as Integrative Medicine in the US) into the American medical system(s). This summer, I wanted to find some resonance between my own research and actions taken within the community that also apply “alternative” therapies like mindfulness and meditation. I was fortunate to hear about the local non-profit organization, Awaken Pittsburgh, created by our own Pitt alumni, Dr. Stephanie Romero at the right moment. This powerful organization seeks “to create positive, systemic change in our backyards–and beyond–by teaching lifelong skills that have the power to transform lives.” Awaken achieves this impact by building evidence-based research to deliver mindfulness intervention programs with varying foci, including implicit bias and trauma-sensitive training. Upon hearing of this organization, I quickly realized that by conducting research for Awaken I could simultaneously support their important mission and get a firmer grasp on the literature that forms the evidence-basis for integrative medicine. I was thrilled to receive this opportunity to also dip my toes in the non-profit world, giving me the chance to explore multiple ways I could apply my degree postgraduation to causes that I support.

As a research assistant for Awaken Pittsburgh, I have been building a research-base for a pilot program set to run at the end of July, which offers trauma-sensitive delivery training to mindfulness professionals. My role in the research mainly entailed finding pre-post measures used to assess the effectiveness of a given training program, or how well an individual has integrated trauma-sensitive delivery. I then, with the consultation of another research assistant, went on to propose the most ideal measures to assess the effectiveness of the pilot program to Dr. Romero, who will make final decisions about the instrument(s) used. The next project I am working on includes finding similar measures for assessing the effectiveness of implicit bias training, with the special foci of racial, gender, dis/ability, and immigration status biases. Dr. Romero received a timely invitation to potentially work with local police forces on implicit bias training, which is why we are now prioritizing this research base.

I feel honored to be part of the work Awaken Pittsburgh is doing, especially given the social and political injustices our country continues to battle. It is heartening to see organizations like this taking the research-basis of practices that I support and practice myself, like mindfulness and meditation, and transforming that research into concrete, real-world results which reduce phenomena like racism and xenophobia. Pittsburgh is a stronger, safer community for having organizations like Awaken around. I look forward to continuing to find ways to integrate what I am learning from this research assistantship into my own research and hope to continue supporting Awaken Pittsburgh in any way I can.

For my reflections post-immersive, please see Thinking through the Complexities of Mindfulness and Meditation.

Learn about all the Summer 2020 Immersive Fellows and their experiences with their host organizations.