Yvette G. Flores

“La paz no es solamente la ausencia de la guerra; mientras haya pobreza, racismo, discriminacion, y exclusión difícilmente podremos alcanzar un mundo de paz.” –Rigoberta Menchu

Dr. Flores is a national and international consultant on cultural humility, prevention and treatment of trauma, and gender, migration and mental health. She is the current president of division 27, Society for Community Research and Action, of the American Psychological Association [APA], and past president of section 3, Psychology of Latinas, of Division 35, Psychology of women of APA. She served as a coach for the Women’s Addiction Services Leadership Institute [WASLI], a project funded by SAMHSA until 2018.

Born in Colon, Panama, and raised in San Jose, Costa Rica, Dr. Flores migrated to the United States in 1965. She was educated in the public schools of South Central Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. Her interests in psychology emerged from the challenges the process of migration posed to her family. Dr. Flores obtained a B.A degree in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1970. She pursued a Master’s Degree in Community-Clinical Psychology at C.S.U. Long Beach where she also created a support group for teenage Chicanas, Hermanas de West Side Longo. In this role, Dr. Flores mentored young Chicanas through facilitating discussions around higher education, careers, and family concerns.

Dr. Flores completed a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology at U.C. Berkeley in 1982. She has done postdoctoral work in health psychology. Her research focus in the past has been substance abuse treatment outcomes, women’s mental health, and intimate partner violence.

A Professor of Psychology in Chicana/o Studies at U.C. Davis for the past 33 years, Dr. Flores’ current research promotes family well being in rural California communities and examines the mental health impact of migration on Mexican men. She was also co-investigator of a National Science Foundation Institutional Transformation grant to increase the numbers of Latinas in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine [STEMM] careers.

Dr. Flores’ publications reflect her life’s work of bridging clinical psychology and Chicano/Latino studies, as she foregrounds gender, ethnicity and sexualities in her clinical, teaching and research practice. Her book Chicana and Chicano Mental Health: Alma, Mente y Corazon was published by the University of Arizona Press in March of 2013 and Psychological Perspectives for Chicano/Latino Families was published by Cognella Academic Publishers in 2014. Sentia Academic Publisher published her e-book on Latinx Children and Adolescents in 2016. Her most recent book, Cultura y Corazon, A decolonial methodology for community engaged research was co-authored with a colleague and two former post-doctoral students, reflecting her continued mentorship of emerging Chicana scholars. The book was published in 2020 by University of Arizona Press.

Dr. Flores continues to mentor emerging scholars and uplift Chicanas/x/o youth through her teaching. By centering her student’s lived experiences in her course lectures, Dr. Flores affirms their identities and empowers students to reach for their wildest dreams.