Community support is key to success, Vincentian scholar asserts

Once a student has a strong support system and tries his or her best, it doesn’t matter which primary or secondary schools they attend, they will succeed.

Dr Shannique Richards, a Vincentian who recently graduated with a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the City University of New York said the trajectory of her life is a perfect example of the importance of family and community support.

“I fully believe in community to help the individual to get where they want to go and coming from a strong community influenced my trajectory, and I will like to encourage students in SVG that may be going to certain schools to always try to do their best and be yourself.”

Richards, a former resident of Old Montrose who migrated to the United States in 2009, is a former student of the Kingstown Government School (KGS), the Bishop’s College Kingstown (BCK) and the St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College (SVGCC).

She said she had strong support when in SVG which helped her achieve goals.

“I think the people you meet at these institutions (the schools in SVG)…I remember teachers helped and family helped and I think I never thought about quitting because of the support from primary, secondary and tertiary levels. I think having people in your corner and in the community helps you to excel…,” the newly minted psychologist told SEARCHLIGHT. She now much complete her residency, on her way to becoming fully licensed in about a year.

After migrating to the US, Richards earned her BA in Psychology at Medgar Evers College and MA in psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Now that she has completed her PhD, she is interested in examining the impact of trauma on health outcomes, particularly among racial/ethnic minorities.

As a member of the Translational Research Training in Addictions for Underrepresented Groups (TRACC), Richards is currently involved in research studying the effects of prenatal cannabis use and exposure to maternal stress on preschoolers’ neurobehavioral outcomes under the mentorship of Dr Sarah O’Neill.

Prior to joining TRACC, she researched sleep, cardio-metabolic diseases, and health disparities among racial/ethnic minorities at NYU Langone Health.

In a few days time, Dr Richards will take up a psychology fellowship in perinatal mental health at a research and academic medical centre in Manhattan.

“I think initially, I was interested in trauma and this was spurred by growing up in my community in St Vincent where I was seeing domestic violence as prevalent and something I wanted to help with and so the next logical choice was to be able to study it.”

Dr Richards said her journey to the PhD in psychology took about six years and she currently works with individuals with traumatic experiences, more specifically perinatal mental health and fertility related interventions.

The daughter of Luann Richards and Michael Garrick says while she currently has no plans to move back to SVG, she is thinking of ways she can contribute to her homeland.

She said her journey was challenging as three years after she started, COVID-19 struck.

“…And that shifted the dynamics and added a layer to the journey, but with that said I had support so despite it being challenging it was a rewarding journey,” she commented.

“It takes a village to raise a child and when I think back, when I passed Common Entrance, people in the village knew before my family and that showed the level of support,” Dr Richards said while noting that once teachers are willing to pour into students, students will succeed.

“…And if that is not happening, that’s sad,” she stressed while noting that as a student in SVG, her grandmother Jacqueline Cupid provided her with learning material like books, and as a child, that helped her and shows the importance of family support.