University of Nebraska experts can share insights in how families communicate in times of illness and stress. They can explain what happens when a family gets involved in the legal system. They can discuss parental responsibility, juvenile justice and elder care. They can even can offer tips on how to survive holiday gatherings when Uncle Ed and Cousin Emily just have to talk politics.
Jody Kellas
faculty
Chairperson
Communication Studies
Professor and Chair, Communication Studies
Communication Studies
Bio
Dr. Jody Koenig Kellas is a Willa Cather Professor who conducts research and teaches classes on interpersonal, family, and health communication. The overarching purpose of her research program is to study the ways in which narratives, storytelling, and related forms of communicated sense-making can help individuals and families understand, negotiate, and improve communication and coping within the context of difficulty and illness. Her research lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln - NARRATIVE NEBRASKA - seeks to implement interdisciplinary, narrative-based interventions to improve caregiving, communication, and psychosocial well-being for families and care providers.
Eve Brank
faculty
Director
Ctr on Children Families & the Law
Aaron Douglas Professor of Psycholoyg; Director, Center on Children, Families and the Law
Ctr on Children Families & the Law
Bio
Brank holds a law degree and doctorate from UNL’s law-psychology program. Her research focuses primarily on the way the law intervenes and sometimes interferes in family and personal decision making. In particular she studies the public support, implementation and effectiveness of parental responsibility laws associated with the juvenile justice system. She also studies the legal requirements for elder care giving.
Carrie Hanson-Bradley
faculty
Associate Professor of Practice
Child, Youth & Family Studies
4024722957
chanson-bradley@unl.edu
Bio
Carrie Hanson-Bradley is director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. As a licensed marriage and family therapist, she specializes in treating individuals, couples and families affected by grief, loss, illness and trauma. She has advanced training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and trains student and community clinicians in Narrative Exposure Therapy. Her research centers on individual, family and community-based interventions for those affected by stress, crisis and trauma; using relationships to improve student learning outcomes; and providing evidence-based trauma interventions to underserved populations. She maintains a small private practice and has worked in hospital intensive care units, emergency rooms, and community-based crisis centers. (Updated December 2024.)