Kara Mia Vigilia Escobar

Research and Scholarly Interests

Kara Mia’s research focuses on how social workers navigate carceral logic—policies and practices that mirror custodial control—while supporting persons with mental illness experiencing crises. Her aim is to deepen the understanding of contemporary civil-commitment processes and the practical realities of law-enforcement participation in crisis response. In the interest of safeguarding civil rights, Kara Mia also hopes to explore strategies that empower individuals in crisis and promote ethically sound, collaborative practice.

Biography

Kara Mia has been dedicated to serving persons with acute mental illness across a variety of settings, beginning with her career as a social worker at Princeton House Behavioral Health’s inpatient psychiatric unit and psychiatric emergency room. When Early Intervention Support Services (EISS) was introduced in New Jersey, Kara Mia was in the first cohort of clinicians to serve Middlesex County. EISS was innovative in providing urgent outpatient mental health treatment as an alternative to hospital-based emergency room treatment. Her most recent work as a certified screener, serving persons in crisis, will ground her research with clinical experience and experiential knowledge.

Kara Mia is a licensed social worker in New Jersey. She holds a BA from New York University, with magna cum laude honors, and MSW from Columbia University’s School of Social Work. She is currently in her second year of doctoral studies at Bryn Mawr College’s Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.