Jodi Berger Cardoso
Associate Professor of Social Work
Email: jabergercardoso@uh.edu
Room: 407 Social Work Building
Phone: 713-743-1157
Personal Statement
Dr. Jodi Berger Cardoso has over 20 years of clinical and research experience working with children, youth, and families. Dr. Cardoso’s research examines how exposure to stress and trauma impact the mental health of children and their caregivers. She is particularly interested in how psychological stress before, during, and post-migration affects the mental health and family processes of immigrants and refugees from Latin America. Dr. Cardoso has been instrumental in testing culturally attuned prevention and intervention programs that reduce psychosocial stress and treat developmental trauma and its consequences, such as complex posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and other trauma-related consequences. Dr. Cardoso has been funded to examine the unique stressors associated parenting in the context of deportation risk (Hogg Foundation for Mental Health); the integration of unaccompanied minors in the U.S. communities (Department of Homeland Security); the effects of immigration enforcement on mental health outcomes of Latinx high schools (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation); and the implementation of Journey of Hope to reduce psychosocial stress in children exposed to multiple natural disasters (National Institute of Mental Health). Dr. Cardoso works with humanitarian organizations around the world that focus on providing legal and mental health services to immigrants, unaccompanied minor youth, and refugees that have experienced trauma. She has served as an expert witness in asylum, child trauma, human trafficking, and family separation cases and has testified on behalf of vulnerable populations. At the invitation of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, she joined The Welcoming Houston Task Force, an initiative that aimed to enhance inclusion and lasting economic integration of new Americans through public policy and by implementing community-based initiatives. Dr. Cardoso was twice elected to the national board of directors for the Society for Social Work Research, and she currently serves on the board of Communities in Schools. She is a founding member of the Central American Minors Workgroup—one of the largest volunteer networks of legal service, mental health, health, educational and post-release service providers in the United States. Prior to getting a degree in social work, Dr. Cardoso was a proud Peace Corps volunteer in Santo Domingo, Ecuador (1999-2002).
Education
PhD, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, 2012
MSSW, Columbia University, New York, NY, 2004
BS, Portland State University, Portland, OR, 2000
Licenses and Certifications
2007- Present, Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Texas
2004-2006, Licensed Master Social Worker in Texas
Courses Taught
- SOCW 6306 - Social Work Practice Skills Lab
- SOCW 7324 - Clinical Applications of the DSM