Meet Embrace's new Co-Director

Embrace has appointed Professor of Clinical Psychology Jeneva Ohan as its new Co-Director alongside Professor Helen Milroy AM.

Professor Ohan, whose academic promotion at UWA’s School of Psychological Science was confirmed this week, will also lead the newly formed Healing Kids, Healing Families (HKHF) team.

On joining the Embrace @ Telethon Kids Institute collaborative unit in February, the leading childhood and family mental health researcher announced her plans to expand the childhood trauma research group into childhood and family wellbeing. This will be a key objective of the HKHF team.

Professor Ohan, who shares her time between Embrace and UWA, where she remains director of clinical psychology, said the creation of HKHF would “increase the scope and capacity of the excellent research already underway at the Institute”.

“We will be better able to support children and families when they’re affected by adversity and trauma in their life,” she said.

“As we support families in their recovery, we will also be seeking to change health systems to be more responsive and supportive. Families need support to improve their wellbeing so that it doesn’t sit only on the shoulders of the families themselves.”

Telethon Kids Institute’s Brain and Behaviour research theme head Professor Ben Jackson, who served as acting Co-Director until Professor Ohan formally joined Embrace, said he was “thrilled” for Professor Ohan to step into the role.

“I’m such a big believer in Helen and Jeneva’s work and will continue to support them and the Embrace unit,” Professor Jackson said.

“By giving HKHF formal status as a team, we’re bringing attention to the mental wellbeing of children and families as an area of importance to the Institute going forward.

In naming the HKHF team, Professor Ohan said she hoped to emphasise the role of the family unit in the mental health and wellbeing of children.

“We want to emphasise that recovery is possible with support, and ensure our healthcare systems look at the broader picture of a child and family in a way that is inclusive of mental health and psychological wellbeing,” Professor Ohan said.

We’re shifting the narrative away from a focus on problems or disorders, to include the variety of ways that children and families might be affected and how we might intervene where wellbeing is challenged, and support recovery for those who have been seriously affected. That’s what we should be reaching for in our team, and in mental healthcare systems more broadly.

Professor Helen Milroy AM said she was “very excited to have Jeneva joining the Embrace group”.

“In the few months Jeneva has been at the Institute, she has already demonstrated how valuable she will be in shaping the Embrace program of work, as well as expanding our research capacity with her leadership of the HKHF team,” Professor Milroy said.

The Embrace Co-Directors already have years’ experience working together supervising PhD students and publishing research on intergenerational trauma and cultural responsiveness.

“Helen and my own aspirations are aligned and our ability to work productively together is something I treasure. Both these points will, I think, help Embrace to flourish,” Professor Ohan said.

Professors Helen Milroy and Jeneva Ohan with members of the Healing Kids, Healing Families team.