Emily Helder joined the 快猫短视频 Department of Psychology faculty in 2023. Her teaching responsibilities include Behavioral Disorders, Research Methods in Psychology, and Internship.

Her research focuses on the impact of early neglect, abuse and other adverse childhood experiences, as well as protective factors and interventions that can address these impacts. Additionally, her research and clinical work focuses on adoption and foster care. Her interests also encompass mental health policy and she serves as a board member of Network180 (the Kent County Community Mental Health agency).

Prior to coming to Hope, Emily was a faculty member in the psychology department at Calvin University for 14 years.

AREAS OF Expertise

Dr. Helder is a clinical neuropsychologist, a specialty which focuses on the way that changes in the brain impact thinking, behavior and emotions. Initially, her research examined the ways that institutional care, such as orphanages, impacts brain development and ways that family-based care (through adoption or foster care) can improve neurological functioning. Over time, her research has broadened to include a number of topics within adoption and foster care, such as religious meaning-making and social functioning.

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., clinical psychology, Wayne State University, 2009
  specializations in neuropsychology and development
• Clinical internship, University of Chicago Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience

HONORS, GRANTS & AWARDS,

• Michigan Health Endowment Fund, co-investigator, 鈥淚nterprofessional support groups for adults with dysphagia and caregivers鈥� (2022鈥�2024)
• Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship, Principal Investigator, 鈥淩eligious meaning-making in adoption: Perspectives of adult adoptees鈥� (2022鈥�2023)
• Michigan Health Endowment Fund, Community Impact Grant, Principal Investigator, 鈥淚ntervention to address social skills among adopted adolescents鈥� (2019鈥�2021)
• Advising and Mentoring Award, Calvin University (2021)
• Community-Based Teaching Award, Calvin College (2018)
• Faculty Lectureship Award, Calvin College (2013)

Selected Publications

• 鈥�Co-sleeping, regressive parenting, and onset of punishment as predictors of child adjustment five years after international adoption,鈥� with M.L. Gunnoe, Adoption Quarterly, 2022
• 鈥�Use of the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS) intervention to improve social skills and peer relationships among adolescent adoptees,鈥� with T. Rigterink, S. Hoeksema, R. Cush, C. Mettler and L. Guffie, Adoption Quarterly, 2022
• 鈥�Religious motivation to adopt as a predictor of adoptive family structure, parental discipline, and outcomes,鈥� with H. Timmermans and M.L. Gunnoe, Adoption Quarterly, 23(3), 2020
• The Routledge Handbook of Adoption, with G. Wrobel and E. Marr, London, UK: Routledge, 2020
• 鈥淩eligiosity and adoption,鈥� with E. Marr, in The Routledge Handbook of Adoption, eds. G. Wrobel, E. Helder and E. Marr, London, UK: Routledge, 2020
• Marr, E., Helder, E. J., & Wrobel, G. (2020). 鈥淗istorical and contemporary contexts of US adoption: An overview,鈥� with E. Marr and G. Wrobel, in The Routledge Handbook of Adoption, eds. G. Wrobel, E. Helder and E. Marr, London, UK: Routledge, 2020
• 鈥�Are disinhibited social behaviors among internationally adopted children mediated by attachment environment or by children鈥檚 difficulties with inhibitory control?鈥� with B. Gorter, Y.I. Oh and M.L. Gunnoe, Adoption Quarterly, 20, 2017
• 鈥淎ttachment disturbances delay language acquisition in internationally adopted children,鈥� with R. Jensen and M.L. Gunnoe, Adoption Quarterly, 19, 2016
• 鈥淧redictors and correlates of Inattentive/Overactive behaviors in internationally adopted children,鈥� with B. Brooker, L.R. Kapitula, B. Goalen and M.L. Gunnoe, Applied Neuropsychology: Child, 5, 2016
• 鈥淎 longitudinal investigation of children internationally adopted at school-age,鈥� with E. Mulder and M.L. Gunnoe, Child Neuropsychology, 22, 2016
• 鈥淟anguage impairment following early deprivation: Neuropsychological and functional neural correlates,鈥� with M.E. Behen, O. Muzik, A. Bhatt and H.T. Chugani, Child Neuropsychology, 20, 2014

Publications, presentations and more informatiom about research can be found at emilyhelder.com.

Outside the College

Emily enjoys spending time with her husband, Jon, and two children, Lily and Flint. They love hiking and exploring the National Parks. She also enjoys trying new cuisines, cooking, vegetable gardening and reading.