Mental Health, Crisis Care, & Technology
At the heart of this work is a simple conviction: that everyone deserves care that meets them where they are and supports them in building a life worth living. I am driven by the belief that better research leads to better services, and that thoughtfully designed technologies are one of our most powerful tools for making that happen.
When people are in crisis, who do they turn to and why? My core research, informed by my experience as a volunteer crisis text counselor, asks how people experiencing suicidal ideation and emotional distress navigate the systems, technologies, and relationships around them. My dissertation, awarded the UCSF Distinguished Dissertation Award in Sociology, conceptualized suicide-related help-seeking is a socio-technical practice unfolding over time, and influenced by life stage, institutional logics, and access.
Published in Social Science and Medicine, the Journal of Adolescent Health, and elsewhere, my in this area has focused especially on young adults, Veterans, and low-income communities, and increasingly centers on how digital crisis services, including crisis lines and artificial intelligence, are reshaping who gets care and how. Findings have been used to brief congressional representatives and presented at local and national conferences.
“A friendlier help-seeking terrain —possibly characterized by transparent escalation policies, better-equipped friends and families, hospitals better suited to young adults, or other supportive elements —may be needed to set the stage for a safe, honest disclosure”.
From Enacting Assemblages of Care: How Young Adults Seek Support for Suicidal Ideation - LaForge, 2026
“Despite the accessibility of crisis text services, many young adults reported not texting crisis lines because of concerns over effectiveness and embarrassment”.
From Crisis Text Service Use Among Young Adults with Suicidal Ideation: Findings from a Survey Study - LaForge, 2026