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Janet Helms

Janet Helms

Janet E. Helms is the Augustus Long Professor of Counseling Psychology and Director of the Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture at Boston College. Dr. Helms is a Fellow in Division 17 (Counseling Psychology) and Division 45 (Ethnic Diversity) of the American Psychological Association (APA).

Dr. Helms is Division 17's representative to the APA's Council of Representatives (a governing body) and is also the APA's representative to the Joint Committee on Testing. In addition, she is a member of the Association of Black Psychologists.

Dr. Helms serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Psychological Assessment and the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development. She has written more than 60 empirical and theoretical articles and four 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" and (with Donelda Cook) "Using Race and Culture in Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theory and Process" (MA: Allyn & Bacon).

The work of Dr. Helms has been acknowledged with awards that include 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. 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.

Primary Interests:

  • Culture and Ethnicity
  • Gender Psychology
  • Research Methods, Assessment
  • Self and Identity

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Books:

Journal Articles:

  • Helms, J. E. (1997). Implications of Behrens for the validity of the White Racial Identity Attitude Scale. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 44, 13-16.
  • Helms, J. E. (1994). How multiculturalism obscured racial factors in the therapy process. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 41, 162-165.
  • Helms, J. E. (1994). Racial identity and career assessment. Journal of Career Assessment, 2, 199-209.
  • Helms, J. E., & Talleyrand, R. (1997). Race is not ethnicity. American Psychologist, 52, 1246-1247.
  • Nickerson, K., Helms, J. E., & Terrell, F. (1994). Cultural mistrust and Black students’ attitudes toward seeking psychological help from White counselors. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 41, 378-385.

Other Publications:

  • Helms, J. E. (1996). Toward a methodology for measuring and assessing racial identity as distinguished from ethnic identity. In G. Sodowsky & J. Impara (Eds.), Multicultural Assessment in Counseling and Clinical Psychology (pp. 143-192). Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute of Mental Measurement.
  • Helms, J. E. (1995). An update of Helms’s White and People of Color racial identity models. In J. G. Ponterotto, J. M. Casas, L. A. Suzuki & C. M. Alexander (Eds.), Handbook of multicultural counseling (pp. 181-198). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Janet Helms
Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture
Boston College
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467-3818
United States of America

  • Phone: (617) 552-4080

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