Dr. Mary R. HARVEY

HARVEY, Dr. Mary R. Ph.D. A pioneering clinical psychologist, trauma scholar, and artist whose work transformed the understanding and treatment of survivors of violence, passed away peacefully in Massachusetts. She was 86.

Dr. Harvey devoted her career to illuminating the psychological impact of interpersonal and political violence and to developing compassionate, community-based responses to trauma. She was the Founding Director of the Victims of Violence Program at Cambridge Health Alliance, affiliated with Harvard Medical School, where she served for more than three decades as a Supervising Clinical Psychologist and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry.

A graduate of the University of Oregon, where she earned her Ph.D. in Psychology in 1972, Dr. Harvey went on to become one of the early voices linking individual recovery to social justice and collective healing. Her leadership of the Victims of Violence Program established it as a national model for integrated trauma treatment, combining rigorous clinical care, community outreach, and training for mental health professionals in the aftermath of violence and disaster.

Her commitment to understanding trauma through multiple lenses led her to create Violence Transformed, an arts-based initiative that celebrates the resilience of survivors and the power of creative expression to bear witness, educate, and heal. Housed at Northeastern University's Public Health Advocacy Institute, Violence Transformed brought together artists, clinicians, and activists to explore the role of art in confronting and transcending violence.

Dr. Harvey was a licensed psychologist and Certified Health Services Provider in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, maintaining a private consultation practice in Brookline. She was widely respected by colleagues for her clinical depth, mentorship, and commitment to social responsibility in psychology.

Her professional affiliations reflected her stature in the field: she was a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, an active member of its Divisions of Community Psychology, the Psychology of Women, and Trauma Psychology, and a longtime member of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, where she served on the Board of Directors.

In addition to her scholarly and clinical achievements, Dr. Harvey was an accomplished visual artist, earning a Studio Arts Diploma from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 2009. Her artwork often reflected the same themes that animated her professional life-resilience, recovery, and the persistence of beauty after suffering.

Dr. Harvey's colleagues and students remember her as a clinician of rare empathy and intellectual rigor, a mentor who inspired generations of trauma professionals, and a woman whose life joined science, art, and advocacy in the service of healing.

Mary R. Harvey is survived by her husband, E. Oliver Fowlkes of Brookline, MA. A son, Eric J. Harvey of Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Stepdaughters, Maggie Shirland of Brookline, MA and Abigail Vogel of Annapolis, MD. A brother, John Donald of Novato, CA. And five grandchildren.

Plans for a memorial service are underway but have not been finalized at this time.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Mary Harvey's name to the Equal Justice Initiative or Human Rights Watch. www.stanetskybrookline.com