About Rev. Dr. Melinda

The Reverend Dr. Contreras-Byrd is a retired state licensed psychologist with over 35 years of clinical practice. Her general areas of expertise involve issues of class, gender, ethnicity, and faith. Her clinical areas of expertise are major depression and anxiety disorders. Reverend Dr. Contreras-Byrd received her Bachelor of Science from Rutgers University, her Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) from the Rutger’s Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology and her Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. Her master’s thesis was on the development of a psycho-spiritual approach to treating major depression in Christian women.

Reverend Dr. Contreras-Byrd is an adjunct professor in the Doctor of Ministry Program at New Brunswick Theological Seminary and is the Director of its Presidential Scholars Program. She has also served as Professor of Psychology, Pastoral Counseling, Multicultural Counseling, and Black Studies at Alliance Graduate School of Counseling and Drew University, Special Services Advisor to the Office of the Dean of Students at Princeton University, Interim Director of the Third World Center at Princeton University (now renamed the Carl Fields Center), Director of the Princeton University Minority Affairs Advisor Program, and consultant Psychologist and clinical Supervisor for LifeTies, Inc. Reverend Dr. Contreras-Byrd’s past work experience also includes serving as a school psychologist in urban and suburban districts and a clinical psychologist for juvenile offenders, homeless men, and adult substance abusers. Reverend Dr. Contreras-Byrd has been a presenter and/or lecturer at the Transatlantic Roundtable on Religion and Race, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, the Hispanic Theological Initiative the Hampton Minister’s Conference, and at numerous other corporations, religious and educational institutions. She is also an elected member of the Board of the Association of Theological Seminary and has been an NGO delegate to the United Nations in 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019.

Reverend Dr. Contreras-Byrd was ordained an Itinerant Deacon in 1997 in the Philadelphia Annual Conference and an Itinerant Elder in 1999 in the New Jersey Annual Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She has served with her husband, the Reverend Vernon R. Byrd, Jr., Esq., at three churches in the New Jersey and Philadelphia Annual Conferences. Furthermore, she is one of the Deans of the Ministerial Institute for the 16th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church

Reverend Dr. Contreras-Byrd is the author of The Great Shift Psycho-Spiritual Manuel for Survival and Transformation in the Trump Era (2018), Saving the Lives of Black and Latinx Pastors: A Self-Care Study (2019), Black Women and Girls Matter: Voices of Resistance and Resolve (2020), and Toward A Theology of Holy Black Rage (2021). Her writings can also be found in The Christian Recorder, the Princeton Seminary Thread, Sacra Testamentum, the A.M.E. Church Review, Abingdon Women’s Preaching Annual, and the Other Side Magazine. Reverend Dr. Contreras-Byrd has received numerous awards. Some of those awards include the International Black Women’s Congress Oni Award, 100 Black Women Candace Award, New Jersey Mental Health Association Service Award, the International Black Women’s Conference Oni Award, and the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference’s Beautiful are the Feet Award. Reverend Dr. Contreras-Byrd is the spouse of the Reverend Vernon R. Byrd, Jr., Esq. and the mother of two daughters, the Reverend Kamaria Milagros Byrd McAllister and Alexa Esperanza Byrd, a vocalist and recording artist.