Briana Applewhite

I am a DPhil student in the Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing supervised by Professor Morten Kringelbach. My research focuses on the uses of creative arts therapies, namely music and dance, as alternative therapeutic methods for children and adolescents with symptoms of trauma and PTSD. I have a strong interest in ethnic minority populations, and my DPhil will focus specifically on Black racial minority groups and the uses of creative arts therapies as potentially viable and culturally competent solutions for individuals suffering from psychiatric disorders. 

Prior to commencing my DPhil, I graduated with an MSc in Mental Health Studies from King’s College London with a thesis focusing on the uses of music for individuals with anorexia nervosa. In 2019, I completed a Fulbright Research award in Berlin, Germany assessing the uses of narrative therapy in Syrian refugees with PTSD. In 2017, I completed my BSc in Psychology from Howard University and joined a lab assessing the physiological responses to stress and trauma in African Americans in the Washington DC metropolitan area.

My research is funded by the NIHR ARC Oxford & Thames Valley.