Addressing "Care" Within Families

Dr. Angelle E. Richardson is the Department Chair of Counseling at Bethune-Cookman University. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor who holds a Doctorate in Couple and Family Therapy from Drexel University, a Master’s in Counseling from Rider University, and Bachelor’s in Professional Writing and Journalism from The College of New Jersey. Dr. Richardson also serves on Bethune-Cookman’s CAPS, Student Services, and Judicial Hearing committees. She is a member of the Trauma Informed Education Coalition (TIEC) and was an inaugural board member of the Family Legacy Organization in Philadelphia, PA. An adoptee herself, Dr. Richardson specializes in working with individuals and families impacted by adoption, foster care, grief, and trauma. Her research primarily focuses on the experience adoptees, and she enjoys using creative narrative techniques to assist people in reauthoring their stories to work toward healing. Dr. Richardson’s research on the experience of female adoptee’s relationships with both biological and adoptive mothers has been published in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy. She has also been published in the Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis’s special issue on resilience. Dr. Richardson has been trained in the Beck Model of Cognitive Therapy and in Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). She was part of a team that provided trauma training in Haiti. She has been on The Today Show, highlighted in People Magazine, and interviewed by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Times, and other media outlets to provide insight about mental health. Of all Dr. Richardson’s experiences, her most rewarding are in the classroom, working with counseling students who will be the next generation of empathic, culturally humble, and trauma sensitive counselors. This is the space where she hopes to make her greatest impact.