Community| Social Equity | Resilience | Planning | Flourishing | Diversity & Inclusion
The Community Resilience & Social Equity Lab is a dynamic research center and consultancy established to translate social equity research into practices that make organizations resilient and that result in equitable community impact. We produce events and curate resources that support resiliency, inclusion and social equity.
The lab is led by Professor Loretta Brady of the Saint Anselm College Department of Psychology.
Our Mission and Impact
Resilient and equitable communities are built when people, places, and policies are aligned around shared success. CRSE Lab centers the strengths, needs, and lived experiences of communities, particularly those most vulnerable, to co-create solutions that endure.
Key Impact Areas
- Community-Centered Solutions – Convening stakeholders to design solutions with, not for, vulnerable communities
- Leadership & Workforce Development – Building curriculum that supports holistic professional growth for educators, first responders, clinicians, and community leaders
- Recovery & Renewal – Creating programs, products, and tools that support healing from adversity, trauma, and systemic harm
Why Social Equity & Resilience?
Social equity and resilience are inseparable, as communities cannot be resilient if some people are systematically excluded from safety, opportunity or voice, and equity cannot be sustained without the capacity to adapt, heal, and grow through adversity. Structural inequities, trauma, and chronic stress weaken individuals, organizations, and systems, leaving them vulnerable to disruption and harm.
CRSE Lab focuses on social equity and resilience because sustainable change only happens when we address both the conditions people live within and the strengths they bring. Central to this approach is the centering of lived experience, where systemic barriers are conformed and individual and collective capacity are built. Our work recognizes that resilience is not about enduring harm; rather, it is about transforming systems so that people and communities, particularly those that have been historically marginalized or underserved, can thrive.
Why We Make Games
CRSE Lab uses applied gaming as a tool for learning, dialogue, and transformation. Games create accessible entry points into complex topics, therefore serving as a means to reduce stigma, foster empathy, and support shared understanding. We use games to engage audiences of all ages in challenging subject matter, seeking to educate and reduce stigma while promoting meaningful dialogue around DEIBJ topics.
Current Games
The CRSE Lab currently has three games available for purchase on DriveThruRPG:
Faces is a card game of bioethical principles. Bioethics is the term given to describe the study and practice of ethics in medicine including healthcare, research and practice. It gives participants the opportunity to explore the two faces of medicine: the side that has harmed and the side that has healed
Bad Call is a small group game about a year in the life of a first responder. Players will create a character and follow them through a Bad Call and the impacts of that day that echo through their life. With each card players decide how their first responder will act/react and make note of how their actions are informed by experience, trauma and supportive resources.
Bad Call Sport is a small group game about a year in the life of a college student-athlete beginning their freshman year.. Players will create a character and follow them through a Bad Call and the impacts of that day that echo through their life. With each card players decide how their athlete will act/react and make note of how their actions are informed by experience, trauma and supportive resources.
Historic Projects, High Impact
Over two decades, Dr. Brady’s work has centered community strengths while building professional capacity. Notable projects include:
- Creation of the first public-sector Inclusion Leadership Program in the U.S. (NH Bureau of Education & Training)
- Development of the first Trauma-Informed Intensive Outpatient Program in New Hampshire (Family Willows, Families in Transition)
- Workforce development for formerly incarcerated women (NH State Prison for Women; NH Probation and Parole)
- International federal treatment system reform (Antidrug Agency, Cyprus)
Learn More About our Work
CRSEL Lab Report- Summer/Fall 2024
CRSEL Lab Report- Winter/Spring 2024
CRSEL Lab Report - Summer/Fall 2023
CRSEL Lab Report - Academic Year '22/'23
CRSEL Lab Report - Summer 2022
CRSEL Lab Report - Academic Year '21/'22
How to Engage with Community Resilience & Social Equity Lab
If you need to translate evidence-based research into practical community level impacts, then partnering with Community Resilience & Social Equity Lab can support your goals. We provide research, practice, and technical assistance while partnering to create programs, products and opportunities for resilience and social equity.
If you wish to discuss collaborations, please reach out to us! Community Resilience & Social Equity Lab responds to requests for proposals three to four times per year (November for January and beyond engagements, March for May and beyond engagements, July for August and beyond engagements. We also respond by invite outside of these months depending on the opportunity and our current client demands).
Contact Us
Community Resilience & Social Equity Lab
lbrady@anselm.edu
603-854-0227
Our Team
Loretta L.C. Brady, Ph.D. – Director
Dr. Brady is a licensed clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at Saint Anselm College where she directs the Community Resilience and Social Equity Lab (CRSEL). She previously served as co-director for the Center for Teaching Excellence. She serves on the boards of several task forces and local non-profits including youth serving organizations and healthcare systems.
She is the author of Bad Ass & Bold: A Transformative Approach to Planning with Your Loves, Dreams, and Realities in Mind and Technology Touchpoints Parenting in the Digital Dystopia, published in November 2022 from Rowman & Littlefield. Her award-winning writing has been recognized by the New England Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, Jack Jones Literary Arts, and the New England Press Association. Her work has appeared in New Hampshire Business Review, Business NH Magazine, and she has been a source for the New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post. She lives in Manchester, N.H., with her family and dog, Zelda.
Kayla Smith (‘24) – Master’s Fellow
Kayla Smith worked as a student volunteer and INBRE fellow for CRSE Lab during her undergraduate time at Saint Anselm College. She primarily worked on Faces, a card game of bioethical principles. Since graduating, Kayla has embraced the opportunity to revisit her work with CRSE Lab, this time as the lab’s Master’s Fellow.
Student Volunteers
Conor Burke '26
Abbi Edgington '27
Vishal Velavan '28
Mei Justic '28
Jacob Puzzo ‘29
Other Contributors
Over the summer of 2025, the lab hosted a summer residency focusing on stories of healing, during which attendees collaborated to design a game focused on healing from trauma. Contributors (left to right) are as follows: Dr. Loretta Brady, Cordan James, Kayla Smith (‘24), Vishal Velavan (‘28), Marvin Kinnel, Anthony Payton, Jenni Powell, Joe Acone, Lafleche Giasson, Abbi Edgington ('27, not pictured)
Historic Contributors
Rebecca Benoit - Graduate of IO Psychology program at Southern New Hampshire University
Second Lieutenant Caitlin Morgan - Research Assistant, National Center PTSD
Skylar Bottcher - Adverse Childhood Experience Response Team (ACERT) Family
Advocate for Amoskeag Health and House Monitor at Bridgid's House of Hope
Ariel Valdes - Graduate of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Leadership (DEIJ-L) program at Tufts University
Glenn Given - Game Designer
Joe Acone - Game Designer
Grace Martin - Alumna
Brett Mancini - Alumnus
Hayden Rogers - Alumnus
Connor Terry - Alumnus
Samantha Sinacori- Alumna
Gianna Cormier - Alumna
Brianna Plant - Alumna
Billy Karugira - Alumnus
Olivia McGuire - Alumna
Ava O'Donnell - Alumna
Lilian Melton - Alumna