Senior Lecturer/Nurse Consultant (Mental Health), School of Nursing, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Helen has had over 30 years of nursing practice in a variety of mental health settings. Helen’s Master’s thesis was prompted by her role as a liaison psychiatry nurse at North Shore Hospital and the topic was on panic disorder and non-cardiac chest pain. Helen graduated with 1st class honors in 2001. Since then her interests have moved towards recovery and social justice issues for people with enduring mental health problems.

Helen was fortunate to be awarded a 3 year Senior Health Research Scholarship from the University of Auckland to study full-time from 2007 to March 2010, when she returned to her role as senior lecturer/nurse consultant in mental health nursing. Helen is due to submit her PhD in March 2011, and is exploring post-doctoral opportunities to conduct research on the promotion of service users as researchers, teachers and facilitators of mental health services.

healthcare professional, lesbian couple, planned parenthood, queer theory, relationships, transition.