Lynette Lively Cookson

Lynette Lively Cookson serves as a Lecturer in the Department of Child and Family Development at San Diego State University, where she integrates clinical expertise with community-focused mental health initiatives. She is concurrently advancing her specialization through the UC Davis Napa Fellowship in Infant Parent and Family Mental Health.

Her educational foundation includes:

• Postgraduate Continuing Education: UC Davis CPE: Infant Parent and Family Mental Health Napa Fellowship (2024)
• Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology with Psychoanalytic and Child/Family focus, Alliant International University
• B.A. in Psychology and Cultural Anthropology minor, University of Washington

Dr. Cookson's research centers on trauma-informed care systems, infant-caregiver attachment dynamics, and somatic approaches to mental health. Her clinical specialization targets DCFS-involved families through culturally attuned interventions, with active community work addressing Black infant mortality disparities in Los Angeles County and birth equity gaps in marginalized South Carolina communities. As a neurospicy, gender-queer clinician of African Slave and Filipinx descent, she pioneers intersectional frameworks for reducing mental health inequities among military families and impoverished populations.

Her professional identity is deeply informed by lived experience as a first-generation graduate and military spouse, driving her commitment to reflective supervision models that center racial justice and disability inclusion in early childhood systems. Current work emphasizes community-based participatory research to transform perinatal care access for historically excluded populations.