Dr.  Hanson-Bradley is an Assistant Professor of Practice in Child, Youth, and Family Studies; the Program Director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program; and the Faculty Coordinator for the Great Plains IDEA Family and Community Service program.  Her primary areas of interest and scholarly activity focus on individual, family, and community-based interventions for those impacted by stress, crisis, and trauma; increasing student learning outcomes through relationships; and expanding access to evidence-based trauma interventions for underserved populations.

Dr. Hanson-Bradley’s approach to teaching is systemic.  She strongly believes that her job is to help students develop rich, overlapping relationships: 1) relationships with course content; 2) relationships with personal and professional futures; 3) relationships with community.  With these relationships in mind, she works to create a class culture that disseminates course content in relevant and impactful ways, assesses learning through multifaceted assessments, encourages critical and creative thinking, and creates a class environment that promotes interpersonal relationships. Dr. Hanson-Bradley teaches CYAF 280 Family Science, multiple courses in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program, and multiple courses for the GPIDEA Family and Community Services program.  She loves teaching synchronously and asynchronously and encourages students to visit her office to introduce themselves, to discuss course content, to talk about graduate school programs, or to pick up a cup of hot chocolate to-go.  She consistently tells students, “My office door is always closed, that is to keep me in, not to keep you out.  So, stop by and say hi!”.  Dr. Hanson-Bradley was awarded the  2021 CEHS Outstanding Teaching Award, and the 2021 Great Plains IDEA Faculty Excellence Award. 

Dr. Hanson-Bradley is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who specializes in treating individuals, couples, and families affected by grief, loss, illness, and trauma.  She has advanced training in Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) and travels the country training student and community clinicians in Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET).  She has clinical experience working in hospital ICUs and ERs, community-based crisis centers, and in private practice. She is a Clinical Fellow of the American Association for Marriage and Family therapy (AAMFT) and an AAMFT Supervisor Candidate.  Dr. Hanson-Bradley has a small private practice in Lincoln, NE where she specializes in working with those impacted by trauma.

When Dr. Hanson-Bradley is not working she can be found walking her dogs, scheming up adventures for her husband and stepchildren, and updating her old house.