Janet E. Helms

Janet E. Helms is an American research psychologist known for her study of ethnic minority issues and, above all, for her racial identity theory, which has been applied in education, law and counseling. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, she took her bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology at the University of Missouri and her PhD in counseling psychology at Iowa State University in 1975. She taught at Washington State and Southern Illinois University, then at the University of Maryland, College Park from 1981 to 1999, and since 2000 has been the Augustus Long Professor of Counseling Psychology at Boston College. Her research examines how race, culture and gender shape personality and counseling, finding that how people are treated, rather than race itself, affects mental health. She received the American Psychological Association award for Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology in 2006.