Section: Research

Joanne Nicholson, Ph.D.

Academic Role: Professor

Faculty Appointment(s) In:
   Center for Mental Health Services Research

Other Affiliation(s):
   Clinical and Population Health Research
   Psychiatry

Joanne Nicholson, Ph.D.  has been a clinical and research psychologist for over 25 years.  She is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), and directs the Child and Family Research Core of the UMMS  Center for Mental Health Services Research. Dr. Nicholson has established an active, consumer-based program of research on parents with mental illness and their families. Her team of researchers, providers, and consumers is developing education and skills training materials for parents, integrating the current knowledge on parents with mental illness, and evaluating programs for families, including homeless mothers and children, and the pilot Family Options program, with funding from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the National Alliance for Mental Illness Research Institute, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, and private foundations.

Dr. Nicholson is the lead author of “Parenting Well When You’re Depressed: A Complete Resource for Maintaining a Healthy Family,” published by New Harbinger Publications.  Written by parents for parents, it is the first self-help manual for parents living with mental illness.  Dr. Nicholson established SAMHSA’s National Advisory Group on Parents with Psychiatric Disorders.  She writes extensively on the challenges facing these families, and provides training and consultation to professional and consumer groups.   Dr. Nicholson is currently a W.T. Grant Foundation Distinguished Fellow, and a Senior Fellow at the UMMS Center for Adoption Research. She is the 2006 winner of the USPRA Loeb Award for her career contribution to research in psychiatric rehabilitation   .

Research/Scholarly/Creative Activities

Continuing Grants and Contracts

Principal Investigator, “Family Care Management for Parents with Mental Illness and their Children.” AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. 9/01/05 to 12/31/07.

Principal Investigator (Distinguished Fellow), “Transforming the Child Welfare System to Improve Outcomes for Children and Youth Whose Parents Have Mental Illness.” The William T. Grant Foundation. 10/01/05 to 9/30/07.

Administrative Activities

Acting Director, UMMS Center for Adoption Research

Associate Director, CMHSR

Director, Child and Family Core, CMHSR

PI with oversight on “Family Care Management for Parents with Mental Illness and their Children.” AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals.

Office: BRYAN BUILDING 8C-8
Phone: 508 856-8712
Fax: 508-856-8700
E-mail: Joanne.Nicholson@umassmed.edu
Keywords: Mental Illness, Mental Health Policy, Parental Mental Illness, Mental Health Services, Systems Change

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