I am a senior research fellow at Intergenerational Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), Melbourne, where I lead the Resilience and Mental Health research program. My research is focused on women and children’s health, and in particular, the impacts of family violence and intergenerational trauma longitudinally. I work with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities and communities with refugee backgrounds to better understand which resilience strengths and resources support child mental health, as potential intervention target. I have co-designed child resilience and partner violence measures using community-based participatory methods to ensure cultural relevance and acceptability.

A lead investigator of the Mothers' and Young People's Study (formerly the Maternal Health Study), a longitudinal study of 1,507 first time mothers enrolled in early pregnancy and their oldest child. We have just completed a follow up with our mothers and their 18 year old. We are exploring a range of factors, including intimate partner violence and resilience, and how they interact with mothers' and young peoples' physical and mental health.

My Childhood Resilience Study is investigating resilience in children aged 5-12. Our aim is to learn more about what help families and children to do well despite hardship and trauma. The study is used socially inclusive research methods and tools to develop a method of measuring childhood resilience that is culturally appropriate in a range of community contexts. We co-developed the measure with Aboriginal parents, carers and children (under the guidance of an Aboriginal Governance Group) and parents and children from refugee communities including Afghan, Assyrian Chaldean, Sierra Leon, Tamil and Karen communities. Using the new Child Resilience Questionnaire (CRQ) have collected data with over 10,000 parents, children and 400 teachers. The CRQ maps child resilience over the personal, family, school and community/culture domains. We are working to better understand child resilience in different contexts and settings, to highlight areas of strengths and vulnerabilities, and demonstrate how higher resilience scores are associated with positive mental health. In partnership with Foundation House, we are also working with schools to develop a School Toolbox of resources to help build resilience in students with refugee backgrounds.

I have worked for over 10 years with the Aboriginal Families Study, with the Aboriginal Governance Group, supporting measure development, data analyses and publications. The study was developed to understand how to better respond to the perinatal needs of women having an Aboriginal baby in South Australia. Two waves of followup have extended the study to include the health and wellbeing of the children. My involvement in the study included supporting the development of the Aboriginal Women's Experiences of Partner Violence Scale and the Aboriginal Children’s Social and Emotional Wellbeing Tool.