About me
Dr. Larkin Maxwell Francis, Ph.D., MSW (they/them), is a queer, disabled assistant professor with the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work. Larkin has 11+ years of licensed clinical practice experience in community mental and behavioral health, and this clinical work is the foundation for their research, activism, and teaching practice. Their research focuses on how people balance the complex factors of trauma, family history, and social networks as they navigate their recovery process. Larkin also engages in community organizing and activism around harm reduction, housing access, and civil rights to improve how our system serves the needs of people who use drugs and alcohol. Larkin is a clinician and community organizer at heart, and continually seeks to bridge between research, teaching, clinical applications, and community needs in their work. Their work is strengths-based, trauma-responsive, and focused on anti-racism and social justice. They believe that radical, transformative change happens when we create spaces where we can be our authentic, whole selves in our work, and they are dedicated to creating those spaces in all of their work.
