Helen Minnis

Last updated
Helen Minnis
Alma mater University of Glasgow
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Known for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Scientific career
Institutions University of Glasgow
Maudsley Hospital

Helen Minnis is a Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Glasgow. She studies reactive attachment disorder and other developmental conditions.

Contents

Early life and education

Minnis earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry at the University of Glasgow in 1985. [1] She remained there for her medical studies and completed a bachelor of medicine, bachelor of surgery in 1988. [1] In the 1990s Minnis worked as a doctor in an orphanage in Guatemala. [2] Here she worked with children that had been abused and neglected. [3] It was whilst she was in Guatemala that she became interested in attachment disorder. [4] She noticed that children in orphanages would cling to visitors, whilst children in nearby villages hid from strangers. [3] When she returned to Glasgow she noticed that children there were suffering from similar conditions; which she attributed to neglect. [5] She moved to the Maudsley Hospital, where she trained in psychiatry and focussed her research on children with reactive attachment disorder. [5] She was awarded a Wellcome Trust Clinical Fellowship to work at the Institute of Psychiatry Social, Genetic and Developmental Research Centre from 1995 to 1999. [1] In 1996 she was award a master's degree in epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. [1] She earned a PhD in child and adolescent psychiatry in 1998. [1]

Research and career

Her research today considers the clinical aspects and behavioural genetics of attachment disorder. [2] [6] [7] She completed her psychiatric training in the University of the West of Scotland before joining the University of Glasgow as a lecturer in 2003. Minnis has studied the mental health of adopted children in Scotland. She found that nurturing parents were incredibly important in a child's psychological development. She has shown that children who suffer from early neglect sometimes have problems with their frontal lobe. [8] In Glasgow she has been piloting the New Orleans Intervention Model, [9] which provides attachment-based assessments for the caregiving relationships of children under five. [8] [10] The process takes a few months, including intensive trials of treatment to improve the relationships of people in their homes. [8] She is Chief Investigator of the BeST? randomised controlled trial that compared the New Orleans Intervention Model with social work services. [11] She has been involved with the Scottish Government Scottish Attachment in Action which looks to train and support people about the importance of attachment relationships. [8] [12] She has investigated how reactive attachment disorder impacts other developmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder.

Minnis is part of the Autism Innovative Medicine Studies-2-Trials that studies the biology and development of autism in an effort to inform new treatments. [13] [14] Minnis is a member of the United Kingdom's Black Female Professors Forum. [15] She delivered a TED x talk Lead by admitting you don't know where she spoke about attachment theory and family relationships. [16] In 2011 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. [1]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Helen Minnis is appointed Guest Professor at the Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre - University of Gothenburg, Sweden". Göteborgs universitet. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  2. 1 2 "University of Glasgow - Research Institutes - Institute of Health & Wellbeing - Our staff - Professor Helen Minnis". www.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  3. 1 2 Health (ACAMH), Association for Child and Adolescent Mental. "In conversation... Professor Helen Minnis on Attachment – Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) – Podcast". Podtail. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  4. ↑ "Minnis, Helen - Gillberg centrum, University of Gothenburg, Sweden". Göteborgs universitet. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  5. 1 2 "BBC Radio Scotland - Brainwaves, Series 1, Episode 5". BBC. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  6. ↑ "Dr Helen Minnis talks about attachment formation". www.celcis.org. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  7. ↑ "Children on the edge". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Why Attachment Matters - an interview with Professor Helen Minnis". Scottish Attachment In Action (SAIA). Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  9. ↑ Tarren-Sweeney, Michael; Vetere, Arlene (2013-09-11). Mental Health Services for Vulnerable Children and Young People: Supporting Children who are, or have been, in Foster Care. Routledge. ISBN   9781136213977.
  10. ↑ CELCIS (2011-12-09), Dr Helen Minnis , retrieved 2019-10-12
  11. ↑ "King's College London - The BeST? Services Trial: effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the New Orleans Intervention Model for Infant Mental Health". www.kcl.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  12. ↑ "Delivering Innovation through Research - Scottish Government Health and Social Care Research Strategy - gov.scot". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  13. ↑ "About Us". 2018-12-06. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  14. ↑ "University of Glasgow". 2018-09-17. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  15. ↑ "Helen Minnis – Black Female Professors Forum" . Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  16. ↑ Lead by admitting that you don't know | Helen Minnis | TEDxGlasgow , retrieved 2019-10-12
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