It is with great sadness and even greater appreciation that I honor the legacy of Dr. Maureen Allwood, who died suddenly on March 4, 2024. Dr. Allwood joined the JTD Editorial Board this year and immediately began work as a co-editor for a forthcoming Special Issue on Inequalities, Intersectionality, and Dissociation. It was my privilege and a genuine pleasure to bring Dr. Allwood into the ISST-D family after her 20 years of groundbreaking work as a clinical scholar, translational research scientist, educator, therapist in practice, and advocate, spanning the fields of youth development and traumatic stress, trauma-informed approaches to juvenile justice and prevention services, and the intersection of historical, racial, ethnic identity-based, and intergenerational trauma, hate crimes, and violence.
Of many pioneering publications that Dr. Allwood authored or edited, I want to highlight her research on emotional numbing and posttraumatic cognitions in high-risk youth (Allwood et al., Citation2011, Citation2014), which has catalyzed a trauma-informed paradigm shift in how “delinquent,” “substance abusing” and psychiatrically impaired youth are viewed and the services they receive in the public health and safety systems. Subsequently, Dr. Allwood led a landmark scoping review on identity based hate and violence as trauma (Allwood, Ghafoori, et al., Citation2021) and was lead co-editor on a Journal of Traumatic Stress Special Issue on disproportionate trauma, stress, and adversities as pathways to health disparities among disenfranchised populations (Allwood, Ford, et al., Citation2021) – providing a crucial foundation for trauma-informed research and policy for the most vulnerable populations of youth and adults globally. Most recently, she has joined with a stellar group of colleagues and former mentees to re-conceptualize traumatic stress reactions (Adams et al., Citation2023) and bring a trauma lens to health psychology (Adams & Allwood, Citation2023).
Dr. Allwood’s publications are only part of the story. As a psychotherapist and clinical teacher and supervisor, she was extraordinarily attuned to and able to reach deeply troubled youth. This is brilliantly illustrated by two filmed therapy sessions she did with a young woman in crisis, which can be viewed in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s Learning Center in the Identifying Critical Moments and Healing Developmental Trauma webinar series (https://learn.nctsn.org/course/index.php?categoryid=78). Outside the office in the community, Dr. Allwood served on the Board of Trustees and as incoming Board of Trustees Chair for CASES (Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services), an organization in New York City that has been providing alternatives to incarceration since 1967. With her leadership, that community-embedded agency has undergone an Anti-Racism Transformation process, centering a focus on systemic injustices and advocacy for change.
These sentinel accomplishments speak volumes about Maureen Allwood’s contribution to the traumatic stress field, which really had only just begun. Her compassion and kindness, her subtle wit and sense of humor, and her unique and radiant presence touched those of us who were fortunate to know her as a colleague and friend. As several colleagues have expressed, we have no words to fully express this profound loss, and words cannot express what Maureen has meant to us. We will always carry cherished memories of her in our lives and our work.
References
- Adams, S. W., & Allwood, M. A. (2023). Parallel processes of posttraumatic stress and cardiometabolic dysfunction: A systemic illness of traumatic stress. Health Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0001347
- Adams, S. W., Layne, C. M., Contractor, A. A., Allwood, M. A., Armour, C., Inslicht, S. S., & Maguen, S. (2023). The middle-out approach to reconceptualizing, assessing, and analyzing traumatic stress reactions. Journal of Traumatic Stress. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.23005
- Allwood, M. A., Bell, D. J., & Horan, J. (2011). Posttrauma numbing of fear, detachment, and arousal predict delinquent behaviors in early adolescence. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 40(5), 659–667. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2011.597081
- Allwood, M. A., Esposito-Smythers, C., Swenson, L. P., & Spirito, A. (2014). Negative cognitions as a moderator in the relationship between PTSD and substance use in a psychiatrically hospitalized adolescent sample. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 27(2), 208–216. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.21907
- Allwood, M. A., Ford, J. D., & Levendosky, A. (2021). Introduction to the special issue: Disproportionate trauma, stress, and adversities as a pathway to health disparities among disenfranchised groups globally. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 34(5), 899–904. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22743
- Allwood, M. A., Ghafoori, B., Salgado, C., Slobodin, O., Kreither, J., Waelde, L. C., Larrondo, P., & Ramos, N. (2021). Identity-based hate and violence as trauma: Current research, clinical implications, and advocacy in a globally connected world. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 35(2), 349–361. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22748