Crystal Brandow

• PhD
• clb strategies llc

This article introduces a Wellness First Approach to addressing adverse community experiences and encouraging community healing and resilience. Structural violence and traumatic conditions can contribute to poor mental health outcomes for communities.However, communities have the capacity to amplify protective factors to mitigate the negative effec...

Individuals with major mental disorders could benefit from low cost, functional ways to support healthy lifestyles. Walking is a popular, preferred, accessible, and safe physical activity for many people. Walking is free, requiring no specialized equipment or membership fee, and is important to support engagement in other daily living activities. T...

Many people with serious mental illnesses live in poverty, which can worsen mental and overall health. The authors suggest strategies to improve health outcomes through behavioral health services and supports that directly target financial wellness while reducing dependence on public benefits. Although some services focus on financial education, th...

This study helps to provide an understanding of the complex intersection between food marketing and nutrition education in schools, the role of communication in this context, and the influence on seventh and eighth graders’ nutrition-related attitudes and behaviors. This study infused the social cognitive theory model with an ecological approach, a...

This poster will display a response to school infractions that aims to address behavioral health needs and reduce the likelihood of juvenile justice involvement, the School Responder Model. The SRM is an approach to school safety that, when applied correctly, creates opportunities for addressing the mental health needs of youth, being explicit abou...

A constellation of factors detrimentally affects Black mental health at individual and community levels. Issues such as racism, trauma, and a lack of culturally relevant services prevent access to timely, high-quality mental health treatment. These negative experiences, exacerbated by the current impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, contribute to the...

Individuals served by behavioral health programs experience risk factors that threaten health and longevity. Health behavior changes may be supported through environmental modifications known as nudges. The current review (a) examines the potential value of nudges for helping individuals receiving services from behavioral health programs, and (b) o...

Background/Context: Despite the fact that almost 50% of all Americans will develop some form mental illness or disorder during their lifetimes, the dominant view of mental health is that it is an individual’s own concern and that “most people” with mental health conditions can get better on their own. This perception of the continuum of mental heal...

Background/Context: Students with disabilities are more than twice as likely to be suspended than their peers. Relatedly, Black students are suspended and expelled from schools at three times the rate of white students, though no studies show black students misbehave at higher rates. These school events have a significant impact on children, their...

It is now well-known that one’s zip code matters more than her or his genetic code when referring to rates of chronic disease as well as risk factors for disease, such as smoking, among populations living in certain areas around the country (e.g. Iton, 2016). Place matters for physical health. What is discussed less often, however, is the role of z...

More than 12 million children in the U.S. are obese, contributing to the nearly 20% of children/youth experiencing obesity in this country. A comprehensive approach to addressing obesity includes intervening in environments children often engage with, like schools. My research explored the role of the school in influencing children’s nutrition beha...