Faculty Directory
Janet Helms
Professor Emerita
Janet Helms
Ph.D.
Education
- Ph.D., Iowa State University
Research Interests
Integration of race, culture and assessment; Racial identity theory, research and practice; Racial and cultural factors in education; Test fairness in educational and occupational testing; Race, culture and trauma and health outcomes; Intersectional invisibility theory and racism; Transcultural Psychiatry
Department
Profile
Professor Emeritus Janet E. Helms was previously the Augustus Long Professor in the Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology and Director of the Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture at Boston College. She is past president of the Society of Counseling Psychology (Division 17 of the American Psychological Association [APA]). Dr. Helms is a Fellow in Division 17 (Counseling Psychology), Division 45 (Ethnic Diversity), and Division 35 (Psychology of Women) of the APA. In addition, she is a member of the Association of Black Psychologists, the American Psychological Society, and the American Educational Research Association.
Dr. Helms has served on the Commission for the Recognition of Specialties and Subspecialties, the Joint Committee on Testing Practices, and the APA Committee on Psychological Tests and Assessments, and she provided expert testimony to the Supreme Court in the case of Ricci v Destefano. Her service on editorial boards include the Psychological Assessment Journal and the Journal of Counseling Psychology. She has authored or co-authored nearly 100 empirical and theoretical articles and books on the topics of racial identity and cultural influences on assessment and counseling practice.
Her books include A Race Is a Nice Thing to Have, 3rd Edition (Cognella Press) and (with Donelda Cook) Using Race and Culture in Counseling Psychotherapy: Theory and Process (MA: Allyn & Bacon).
Dr. Helms’s work has been acknowledged with awards that include the national Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman Award for mentoring students, an engraved brick in Iowa State University’s Plaza of Heroines, and the “Distinguished Career Contributions to Research” Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues (Division 45), the American Psychological Association’s Awards for “Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology” (2006) and the Award for “Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy” (2008). She was a recipient of the Association of Black Psychologists’ 2007 Award for Distinguished Psychologist. In 1991, she was the first annual recipient of the “Janet E. Helms Award for Mentoring and Scholarship in Professional Psychology.” This award was inaugurated in her honor by Columbia University Teachers College. Dr. Helms was the recipient of the 2002 Leona Tyler Award awarded by Division 17 in recognition of an outstanding research career.
More recently, Dr. Helms was the recipient of the 2017-2018 Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award from the Society of Counseling Psychology (Division 17, of the American Psychological Association), the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award from APA's Society for the Psychological Study of Culture Ethnicity, and Race, and the APA/APF Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Public Interest. Additionally, she delivered the American Psychological Foundation's 2019 Arthur W. Staats Lecture on Unifying Psychology.
Select Publications
- Helms, J.E. (2020). A Race Is a Nice Thing to Have: A Guide to Being a White Person or Understanding the White Persons in your Life. (Third Edition). San Diego, CA: Cognella Academic Publishing
- Goodman, L.A., Wilson, J.M. Helms, J.E., Greenstein, N., & Medzhitova, J. (2018). Becoming an advocate: Processes and outcomes of a relationship-centered advocacy training model. The Counseling Psychologist., 46, 122-153.
- Helms, J.E. (2018). White Racial Identity Theory: White White People Do Not Talk About Race (with Implications for Japanese). Journal of Intercultural Communication, No. 21, 2018, 7-13.
- Jernigan, M.M., Green, C.E., & Helms, J.E. (2017). Identity models. In S. Kelly (Ed.), Diversity in Couple and Family Therapy: Ethnicities, Sexualities and Socioeconomics (pp. 363-392). Santa Barbera, CA: Praeger.
- Helms, J.E. (2017). The Challenge of Making Whiteness Visible: Reactions to Four Whiteness Articles. The Counseling Psychologist, 45(5), 717-726.
- Helms, J.E. (2017). Counseling Black Women: Understanding the effects of multilevel invisibility, pp 219-233. In M. Kopola and M. Keitel (Eds.), Handbook of Counseling Women. Sage Publications.
- Helms, J.E. (2015). Taking action against racism in a post-racism era: The origins and almost demise of an idea. The Counseling Psychologist, 43, 138-145.
- Helms, J.E. (2014). An examination of the evidence in culturally adapted evidence-based or empirically supported intervention. Transcultural Psychiatry, 00, 1-27. Published online prior to the print version. doi: 10.1177/1363461514563642
- Helms, J.E., (2014). A review of White racial identity theory: The sociopolitical implications of studying White racial identity in psychology. In S. Cooper & K. Ratele (Eds.), Proceedings of the 30th International Congress of Psychology (pp. 12-27). London and New York: Psychology Press.
- Helms, J.E., & Mereish, E.H. (2013). How racial-group comparisons create misinformation in depression research: Using racial identity theory to conceptualize health disparities. In L. Gomez & N. Lopez (Eds.), Mapping "Race": Critical Approaches to Health Disparities Research. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.
- Helms, J.E. & Ford, D.Y., (2012). Testing and Assessing African Americans: "Unbiased" Tests are Still Unfair, The Journal of Negro Education, Summer Issue, 81, 186-189.
- Helms, J.E., (2012). A Legacy of Eugenics Underlies Racial-Group Comparisons in Intelligence Testing. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 5, 176-179.
- Helms, J.E., Nicolas, G., & Green, C.E. (2012). Racism and Ethnoviolence as Trauma: Enhancing Professional and Research Training. Traumatology, 18, 65-74.
- Helms, J.E. (2010). Cultural Bias in Psychological Testing. In I.B. Weiner and W.E. Craighead (Eds.) The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology, 4th Ed., Vol. 1, 443-445, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
- Jernigan, M.M., Green, C.E., Helms, J.E., Gualdron-Murhib, L.G., & Henze, K. (2010). An Examination of People of Color Supervision Dyads: Racial Identity Matters as Much as Race. Training & Education in Professional Psychology, 4, 62-73.
- Helms, J.E., (2009). Defense of tests prevents objective consideration of validity and fairness. American Psychologist, 64, 283-284.
Select PRESENTATIONS
- Helms, J.E. (2016, June). Visiting Scholar, Marie Fielder Center for Democracy, Leadership and Education at Fielding Graduate University, Summer Session, Public Forum, "Current Issues of Diversity and Inclusion on American College Campuses: Implications and Opportunities for Fielding." Fielding Graduate University, Chicago, IL.
- Helms, J.E. (2016, June). Invited Talk, "Building and Leveraging Partnerships across Campus," 2016 Diversity and Inclusion Summit, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA.
- Helms, J.E. (2016, May). Invited Talk, "Inclusion, Diversity, and Cultural Sensitivity in Our Schools," Middlesex Partnership for Youth Conference, Nashoba Valley Technical High School, Westford, MA.
- Helms, J.E. (2016, May). Keynote speaker, "White Racial Identity," Annual Pastoral Care Conference, Metro Health Medical Center, Cleveland, OH.
- Helms, J.E. (2016, April). Invited Talk, "Using White Racial Identity Theory to Avoid Re-Victimizing Survivors of Racial Trauma," California Psychological Association Convention, Irvine, CA.
- Helms, J.E. (2016, February). Invited Talk, "Having a Conversation about Racial Trauma," Lunch and Learn Lecture Series, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA.
- Helms, J.E. (2014, June). Plenary speaker: Identity and Trauma. Danielsen Institute, Boston University, Boston, MA.
- Helms, J.E. (2012, July). Key note speaker: Review of White racial identity. International Congress of Psychology, Cape Town, South Africa.