DoctorLisa Emerson

My research and clinical interests converge on the area of child and family wellbeing. Through my research I aim to contribute to our understanding of how systems (e.g. family and school) contribute to child wellbeing and mental health. I am particularly interested in anxiety during childhood and adolescence. From a positive psychology perspective, I am interested in the implementation and effectiveness of mindfulness-based approaches for children and families.

I am interested in community partnership and inclusion in research. In 2021, I have been leading a project that aims to determine what the Autistic and autism communities priorities are for future autism research. This project uses a partcipatory research design.

Across my other projects, I am seeking to include community partners to inform the design, conduct and interpretation of the research. Projects include co-design of digital mental health supports for Autistic young people, and parent co-facilitation of mindfulness-based parenting support for caregivers of Autistic young people.

My current Masters and PhD supervision includes projects on mindful parenting for childhood anxiety, childhood psoriasis, and children on the autism spectrum.