The Department of Psychiatry is excited to announce the dates for its 2026 Summer Brown Bag Series. This year's series, "Community Conversations," will feature six presentations aimed at increasing understanding, reducing stigma, encouraging meaningful conversations, and equipping participants with knowledge and tools to support well-being and promote healthier communities.

Civic Artist and Educator Andrea Gluckman will lead a discussion on the growing body of research demonstrating the mental health benefits of urban trees and tree canopy. Through the lens of the Civic Canopy project, participants will consider how trees function as vital components of our mental health infrastructure and leave with practical, evidence-informed strategies for incorporating the restorative benefits of trees into clinical practice, community planning, and everyday life.

Andrea Anderson Gluckman is a civic artist, photographer, researcher, and educator whose interdisciplinary practice bridges visual art, scholarship, and public engagement. Drawing on a background in international policy, conflict studies, and higher education, she creates immersive, research-driven projects that illuminate the hidden relationships between history, ecology, health, and civic life. Through photography, archives, mapping, data visualization, performance, and community collaboration, Gluckman's work invites audiences to reconsider familiar landscapes as living repositories of memory, resilience, and interconnectedness. Her projects transform complex research into accessible public experiences that foster curiosity, interaction, and care for both people and place.