{"id":60660,"date":"2026-06-22T13:58:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T17:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/?p=60660"},"modified":"2026-07-10T12:09:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:09:02","slug":"prophetic-witnesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/prophetic-witnesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Prophetic Witnesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was originally published in the 2026 issue of <\/em>focus<\/span><\/a> magazine, the annual publication of the BU School of Theology. This article can be found on page 18.\u00a0<\/em>By Steve Holt. Illustrations by Stephanie Singleton.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Hope for Self-Injury through Scar Revision<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Kate Leavey (’99)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kate Leavey<\/strong>\u2019s mission in life found her, and it was born from a crisis in her own home.<\/p>\n

In 2020, Leavey (\u201999) discovered that her youngest daughter, who\u2019d survived an assault in 2019 at age 13, was self-injuring as a way to cope with debilitating depression. Leavey began listen – ing to podcasts and reading everything she could to learn about the behavior. She discovered that reports of self-injury, which is classified as a social contagion, had skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the International Society for the Study of Self-Injury, as many as 35 percent of young people ages 12\u201322 harm their own bodies. And she found that social media algorithms \u201cfed a lonely kid what they were searching for\u201d and are \u201calmost a how-to guide in self-injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leavey\u2019s daughter was in counseling for her mental health, but she still had the physical reminders of what she was going through in the form of \u201cangry\u201d scars on the inside of her arms. Leavey reached out to an aesthetician friend to learn about scars, and the friend offered to try to make the marks less noticeable. Using laser technology, Newton, Mass.-based clinician Lizabeth Glynn was able to drain all of the color from them.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething came back to life in my kid\u2014hope,\u201d Leavey says of the period after her daughter\u2019s scar revision. \u201cShe\u2019s a gifted athlete, and that revision was enough for my kid to put her track uniform back on. She had not competed in a year, and three months later she was at a national track meet and became a nationally ranked athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Filled with gratitude for her daughter\u2019s progress, Leavey realized she could bring that same hope to others who\u2019d experienced self-injury. She says scar revision, which can cost thousands of dollars for each treatment, is siloed from mental health treatment. \u201cThe more I investigated, the more I realized nobody had connected these dots,\u201d Leavey says.<\/p>\n

In 2023, she set out to do just that. She founded Spark Hope Scar Revision Project, a nonprofit that provides free scar revision treatment and works to reduce the stigma around self-injury. Her friend Cathy Carswell runs operations, and Richard \u201cRox\u201d Anderson, a Massachusetts General Hospital dermatologist who developed the patented scar revision technologies that make Spark Hope possible, provides medical consulting. Glynn came on as a clinical adviser and board member. Participants work with their mental health therapist to determine their emotional readiness for scar revision and then apply for treatment. In its initial proof-of-concept pilot, Spark Hope served 21 individuals and has just launched Hope in Action, a new pilot in Massachusetts and New Hampshire designed for scalability and to engage donors so the program can expand wherever the need exists. By integrating scar revision with mental health treatment, the program addresses both the physical scars and the hidden emotional wounds they represent\u2014advancing prevention while improv – ing quality of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to the direct impact on participants, this initiative offers a significant opportunity to contribute to the field of knowledge by studying how scar revision linked to mental health influences mental health outcomes and overall well-being,\u201d Leavey says.<\/p>\n

Leavey, who has a master\u2019s degree in sacred music from the BU School of Theology, served as director of Liturgical Arts at Boston College, and now directs Sound & Spirit, an intergenerational choir. Leavey has a story not unlike those of STH alumni bringing hope into their corners of the world in a variety of disciplines\u2014including law, social work, and food and environmental justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stumbled upon a mission that is really beautiful, deeply hopeful, and uniquely of this time,\u201d Leavey says. \u201cIt addresses an unmet need of the world, and what an honor to get to do the work of sparking hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Environmentalist, Social Entrepreneur, and Community Builder<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Alex Froom (’12, SSW’12)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The town of Klamath Falls, in south central Oregon, sits on the shores of the massive Upper Klamath Lake, the 700-mile Cascade Mountain range standing sentinel in the distance. The area around the town, with millions of acres of evergreens, spring-fed rivers, and wetlands, is a destination for hikers and paddlers and those passing through from Northern California to Crater Lake National Park and picturesque Bend to the north. Klamath County, which is roughly the area of Connecticut, also embodies many of the challenges facing America\u2019s West: a history of white colonization and marginalization of Indigenous populations, the decline of timber and agricultural industries, and water scarcity. This complicated tapestry is precisely what drew Alex Froom<\/strong> and his family to the area in 2020 after years working in the Navajo Nation in northeast Arizona, near the New Mexico border.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ecology of the Klamath Basin and the myriad challenges and opportunities for human life here matched our lifestyle and desire for a smalltown quality of life,\u201d Froom (’12, SSW’12) says. \u201cWe knew we wanted to start a business of some kind that connected food and land and people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Froom and his wife, Malu, are renovating and reimagining a landmark building in downtown Klamath Falls that will bring people together around food, art, and recreation, and will celebrate the ecological beauty\u2014and fragility\u2014of the region. The largely vacant, nearly century-old building, which the Frooms purchased in 2021, is being rebuilt using energy-efficient principles. It will house an artisan bakery (run by the Frooms), a climbing gym, an art gallery, an event space, its own greywater treatment facility, and walkable outdoor spaces. They\u2019re calling it Watershed Row and expect to open it in 2026.<\/p>\n

Froom, who earned master\u2019s degrees in divinity and social work while at BU, worked with Navajo youth and built local food systems in Arizona before moving to Oregon. In addition to his work launching Watershed Row, Froom serves on the board of Klamath Grown, a food hub that connects local farmers and ranchers directly with retail and wholesale buyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBehind a lot of our work with food, the built environment, salvaged material, and water is the belief that we can collaborate with matter toward a place of diversity and resilience,\u201d Froom says. \u201cIf we\u2019re faithful to that partnership with the creation, new things will come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Spirit-Led Social Worker and Counselor<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Bridget Kinahan (’24, SSW’24)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bridget Kinahan<\/strong> was a relatively new Christian when she enrolled in the School of Theology to learn more about her faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d always thought of myself as social justice\u2013oriented,\u201d says Kinahan (’24, SSW’24), who completed a Master of Divinity alongside a Master of Social Work at BU. \u201cAt that time, I didn\u2019t know that theology could also be social justice\u2013oriented. I thought I would only be getting it [in the School of Social Work], but I ended up getting it in both.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kinahan draws on lessons from both programs in her work in community- based and inpatient mental health care. Most recently, she was a clinical social worker with the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health before taking a position running a substance use day program on Cape Cod in late 2025. Each day as a social worker is different, she says, whether she\u2019s de-escalating someone experiencing psychosis, connecting a patient to a community resource, or leading a recovery meeting. Whatever she is doing, Kinahan says, she tries to do it in love\u2014\u201cas Jesus loved us.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the lessons Kinahan applies most frequently came in an evangelism class at STH, of all places.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d always thought of evangelism as going out with the scary signs and preaching to people, \u2018You\u2019re going to burn in hell,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cBut evangelism is about hospitality, radical welcome, and treating others with kindness and decency. I try to think of my social work practice as evangelism, in a way, because I do think I\u2019m preaching through my actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Compassionate Arbiter of Justice<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Herman Griffin IV (’25)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That Herman Griffin IV<\/strong>, the son of a Baptist preacher with a heart for pastoral ministry himself, would be given the title \u201cReverend\u201d was almost a guarantee. The title of judge, though? That came as more of a surprise. On August 27, 2025, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer appointed Griffin (’25), an attorney who\u2019d been overseeing the district\u2019s 115 public defenders, to Detroit\u2019s 36th District Court, where he presides over a range of cases, from traffic misdemeanors to nonviolent felonies.<\/p>\n

Griffin pastored throughout Detroit, preaching in churches (including his father\u2019s) and officiating funerals and weddings. After his mother suffered a massive stroke at Griffin\u2019s graduation from Howard Divinity School, he spent the next three years as her primary caregiver before her death in 2009. He entered law school at the University of Michigan in honor of his late mother, who had enrolled years earlier in Boston College Law School but didn\u2019t finish her degree. For 10 years, Griffin worked as a criminal defense attorney in the 36th District Court, arguing cases before all 30 judges there\u2014including the one who would recommend him for the bench upon his retirement.<\/p>\n

A few months before he was sworn in, Griffin completed STH\u2019s hybrid Doctor of Ministry program, with an emphasis in transformational leadership\u2014this time honoring his father, who always aspired to pursue a DMin. Griffin, who won STH\u2019s Edith P. and Augustus G. Hare Preaching Prize for best text-based sermon, sees both ministry and the law as restorative in nature\u2014\u201chelping people in their most vulnerable moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI say a prayer every time I zip up my robe,\u201d he says. \u201cI say, \u2018Thank you for this opportunity. Let me lead today with integrity, humility, and compassion.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was originally published in the 2026 issue of focus magazine, the annual publication of the BU School of Theology. This article can be found on page 18.\u00a0By Steve Holt. Illustrations by Stephanie Singleton. Hope for Self-Injury through Scar Revision Kate Leavey\u2019s mission in life found her, and it was born from a crisis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12612,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[200,211,202,203],"tags":[179,347],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60660"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12612"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60660"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60827,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60660\/revisions\/60827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}