Lisa Wexler
- Email Lisa Wexler
- (734)763-2345
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BIO
Working with rural Indigenous communities, Dr. Lisa Wexler’s participatory and applied research program aims to prevent suicide and promote wellness from multiple levels. Focused on strengthening local systems of support, PC CARES (Promoting Community Conversations About Research to End Suicide) (R01MH112458) brings together community members and service providers to learn from scientific research so they can strategically apply it to their lives. She co-leads the statewide Alaska Native Collaborative Hub for Research on Resilience (ANCHRR) with Drs. Stacy Rasmus and Jim Allen (U19MH113138). ANCHRR identifies and describes the community level protective factors in 64 Alaska Native communities. The project strives to share and amplify these strengths across Alaska through annual Collaborative Hub meetings and on-going outreach and capacity building efforts. Additionally, Dr. Wexler is working with Dr. Rivkin in rural schools to incorporate Elder teachings and youth digital storytelling in the high school curriculum. Her school-based work also includes youth-led educational sessions focused on wellness, prevention and anti-bullying. Lastly, her current projects include an innovative, universal, family-focused screening in primary care clinics to restrict access to firearms.
Research Foci
- Translating mental health research to community stakeholders and service providers to spark strategic, self-determined action
- Describing and amplifying sources of strength and resilience in rural Indigenous communities that promote youth wellness
- Upstream Alaska Native youth suicide prevention
- Lisa Wexler, Lauren A. White, Victoria M. O'Keefe, Stacy Rasmus, Emily E. Haroz, Mary F. Cwik, Allison Barlow, Novalene Goklish, Emma Elliott, Cynthia R. Pearson, James Allen. 2024. Centering Community Strengths and Resisting Structural Racism to Prevent Youth Suicide: Learning from American Indian and Alaska Native Communities. Archives of Suicide Research
- A. Barlow, E. E. Haroz, V. M. O’Keefe, T. Brockie, S. M. Manson, J. Allen, Lisa Wexler, D. Buchwald, S. Rasmus, N. Goklish, J. Ivanich, M. Stifter, M. Cwik. 2023. New Collaborative Research on Suicide Prevention, Practice, and Policy With American Indian and Alaska Native Communities Holds Promise for All Peoples. Health Promotion Practice 24(5):841-851.
- Lauren A. White, Lisa Wexler, Addie Weaver, Roberta Moto, Tanya Kirk, Suzanne Rataj, Lucas Trout, Diane McEachern. 2022. Implementation beyond the clinic: Community-driven utilization of research evidence from PC CARES, a suicide prevention program. American Journal of Community Psychology 70(3-4):365-378.
- Caroline C Wells, Lauren White, Tara Schmidt, Suzanne Rataj, Diane McEachern, Diane Wisnieski, Josie Garnie, Tanya Kirk, Roberta Moto, Wexler,Lisa. 2022. Adapting PC CARES to Continue Suicide Prevention in Rural Alaska During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Narrative Overview of an In-Person Community-Based Suicide Prevention Program Moving Online. American Indian and Alaska native mental health research (Online) 29(2):126-154.
- Denise Yookong Williams, Wexler,Lisa, Anna S. Mueller. 2022. Suicide Postvention in Schools: What Evidence Supports Our Current National Recommendations?. School Social Work Journal 46(2):23-69.
- Kelly L. Markowski, Lauren White, Sela R. Harcey, Tara Schmidt, Diane McEachern, Patrick Habecker, Lisa Wexler. 2022. What Kinds of Support are Alaska Native Youth and Young Adults Reporting? An Examination of Types, Quantities, Sources, and Frequencies of Support. Health Promotion Practice 24(5):863-872.
- Wexler,Lisa, Tara Schmidt, Lauren White, Caroline Bec, Suzanne Rataj, Roberta Moto, Tanya Kirk, Diane McEachern. 2022. Collaboratively Adapting Culturally-Respectful, Locally-Relevant Suicide Prevention for Newly Participating Alaska Native Communities. Journal for Social Action in Counseling & Psychology 14(1):124-151.
- Wexler, Lisa, Collins, Pamela Y, Delgado, Roberto A, Apok, Charlene , Baez, Laura , Bjerregaard, Peter , Chatwood, Susan , Chipp, Cody , Crawford, Allison , Crosby, Alex , Dillard, Denise , Driscoll, David , Ericksen, Heidi , Hicks, Jack , Larsen, Christina V. L., McKeon, Richard , Partapuoli, Per Jonas, Phillips, Anthony , Pringle, Beverly , Rasmus, Stacy , Siguroardottir, Sigrun , Silviken, Anne , Stoor, Jon Petter, Sumarokov, Yury . 2019. RISING SUN: Prioritized Outcomes for Suicide Prevention in the Arctic. Psychiatric Services 70(2):152-155.
- Wexler, Lisa, Rataj, Suzanne , Ivanich, Jerreed , Plavin, Jya , Mullany, Anna , Moto, Roberta , Kirk, Tanya , Goldwater, Eva , Johnson, Rhonda , Dombrowski, Kirk . 2019. Community mobilization for rural suicide prevention: Process, learning and behavioral outcomes from Promoting Community Conversations About Research to End Suicide (PC CARES) in Northwest Alaska. Social Science & Medicine 232:398-407.
- Wexler, Lisa, Weinronk, Hannah , Trout, Lucas , Rowlett, Kathryn , Klakegg, Idun , Zhen, Shirley , Valenzuela, Steele , Henry, Ivik , Moses, Joshua . 2018. New understandings of communities and ourselves: community-based participatory research with Alaska Native and Lower 48 youth. Educational Action Research 26(3):439-455.