Support the show at: researchinghappy.locals.com 

Today I sit down with a great friend and colleague Dr Kathina Ali. Kathina is a clinical psychologist and researcher, passionate about understanding and breaking down the barriers towards seeking professional help which is such an important (but difficult) step for someone experiencing serious mental illness. 

We talk about her work in Eating Disorders, and learn that it’s always more complicated than it may appear! Kathina reflects on her clinical practice, noticing that sometimes the symptoms of Anorexia can produce happiness and a sense of purpose for an individual. 

We talk about research team dynamics, suggestions for prospective students, and a study that Kathina and I led on the mental health impact of the International Australian border closure. 

Support the show at https://researchinghappy.locals.com/

This week’s guest is Dr Meike Bartels, Professor in genetics and wellbeing, and president of IPPA - the International Positive Psychology Association.

This week I chat with Dr Mark Fabian, Associate Professor at the University of Warwick. We have a in-depth conversation on all things wellbeing. Topics covered include the challenges of multi-disciplinary research, Mark's efforts to pull together the academic literature from psychology, philosophy, economics and public policy. We hear Mark's clear picture for what he would like to see in the world, and come challenges in wellbeing measurement that we should try and improve in the future.

This week on Researching Happy I talk to Dr Addie Wootten, CEO of Smiling Mind, a mindfulness-based App.

Addie talks about the power of mindfulness as an intervention for managing mental illness, but also as a strategy for prevention and maintaining mental health. We discuss how strongly research backs the effectiveness of mindfulness across different cohorts, and where Addie would like to see more uptake and implementation from Governments.

Addie goes into the unique opportunities and challenges that come with a web-based format for a wellbeing intervention and being a non-for-profit organisation. She shares her perspective on the world of academia and her decision to move from that space into the business world.

All this and more in Episode 5, find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Youtube.

This week on the show I talk to Dr Stephen Carbone, CEO of Prevention United.

Stephen brings the nuance that the mental health and wellbeing sector sorely needs, (1) more funding is needed for mental health care services and (2) we need to do much more in terms of mental illness prevention and promotion of wellbeing. Somehow these two points are confused and presented as competing interests. At the heart of this conversation is the Dual-Continua Model of Mental Health (which you may remember from our episode with Prof Corey Keyes).

We discuss the difficulties of advocating to siloed government departments, and Stephen makes the case for serious commitments from State and Federal governments to expand funding for mental health services and promotion and prevention.

Learn more about Prevention United: https://preventionunited.org.au/

Read Matt's review of evidence and implications of the dual-continua model of mental health: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340439425_Mental_Health_andor_Mental_Illness_A_Scoping_Review_of_the_Evidence_and_Implications_of_the_Dual-Continua_Model_of_Mental_Health

In this episode of Researching Happy, I talk to Dr Fallon Goodman, Assistant Professor at George Washington University.

Fallon recounts how some of her work as a young researcher upset the wrong people, and what led to her decision to stand up to some big names and journals in positive psychology to defend her work. She reiterates the importance of productive, honest dialogue between researchers, and what it takes to create a positive culture for the next wave of up and coming researchers. You don’t want to miss this episode!

Shownotes:

Fallon on TedTalks: https://youtu.be/RqAOrr_FPxo