Carson Bohl

Carson Bohl is a PhD student in the Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences (BSHES) at Emory University. His research focuses on decriminalizing and destigmatizing mental illness and expanding access to comprehensive healthcare among people experiencing homelessness. Informed by critical perspectives on the limitations of psychiatry, his work interrogates how the construction and experience of mental health is shaped by social identity and embedded within political-economic systems. 

Methodologically, Carson employs mixed-method and community participatory approaches—including qualitative interviewing, ethnography, and arts-based interventions—to amplify the voices of unhoused populations and to generate platforms for advocacy and storytelling. He is passionate about disseminating research through public forums. 

Carson’s scholarship also explores the role of grassroots organizing as a mechanism for cultivating political will and advancing policy reform in local communities. He is actively involved with community-based organizations and coalitions in Atlanta that focus on improving housing and health outcomes for unhoused residents. His prior work included the implementation and evaluation of comprehensive school-based mental health infrastructures across multiple Georgia school districts. Broadly, Carson’s work is motivated by a commitment to systems thinking and structural reform as essential strategies for advancing public mental health and health equity.