Janet E. Helms

Janet Helms is a research psychologist currently August Long Professor of Counseling Psychology at Boston University. She received her B.A. as well as M.A. in Psychology at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. She earned a Ph.D. in Psychology from Iowa State University.

Helms’ work in psychology focuses on her theory of racial identity, which seeks to explain how race, culture, and gender contribute to personality as well as counseling styles. Notably, she also researches issues with mental health and race or gender. When she first started in research psychology, these topics did not receive as much attention as she subsequently brought to them. Helms has been a thought leader in not just contributing to but, in a sense, creating this topic in official research psychology.

In 2006, Helms won the Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology, awarded by the American Psychological Association. She sits on the boards of several influential publications in psychology, including the Journal of Psychological Assessment, the Journal of Counseling Psychology, and The Counseling Psychologist.

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