Dr. Emily E. Cameron
PhD Clinical Psychology, Postdoctoral Fellow
About Me
Clinical Psychology | Lifespan Mental Health and Development
I am a clinician-scientist in the area of child psychology. Currently, I am a full-time SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of Manitoba under the mentorship of Dr. Leslie Roos and Dr. Tracie Afifi. I am a C.Psych Candidate completing my supervised practice under Dr. Jo Ann Unger, C.Psych. My preferred pronouns are she /her.
I completed my PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Calgary and Clinical Residency in the Department of Clinical Health Psychology at the University of Manitoba in 2020. My research interests focus on biological, psychological, and social influences on child development and later functioning, including the intergenerational transmission of mental and physical health. My background is in parental factors in pregnancy and the postpartum that influence child development, with a particular interest in paternal mental health. My postdoctoral work extends this line of research into additional sensitive periods of child development to inform the development, implementation, and rapid-cycle evaluation of programs that address youth and parent needs. I hope to continue this work with an academic appointment where I will research risk and protective factors to inform scalable program development and evaluation to support family wellbeing as a whole.
Education
University of Manitoba
2020 - Present
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Clinical Psychology
Specialization in Program Development and Evaluation
University of Calgary
2016 - 2020
Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology
Dissertation: Trajectories of Paternal Postpartum Depression
University of Calgary
2014 - 2016
Master's of Science, Clinical Psychology
Thesis: The Effects of Prenatal Cortisol Concentrations on Working Memory Performance in Preschool Children
University of Victoria
2008 - 2013
Bachelor's of Science Honours (with distinction), Combined Biology and Psychology
Thesis: Risk Factors and Partner Effects of Paternal Postpartum Depression
Clinical
My clinical training focused on the treatment and assessment of child and adolescent mental health and neurodevelopmental disorders, as well as adult mental health and family functioning. I completed my residency through the Clinical Health Psychology Child and Adolescent stream at the University of Manitoba. My residency training included breadth and specialty training across child and adolescent mental health and neurodevelopmental disorders, adult eating disorders and comorbid disorders, youth forensic psychology, child protection services, and family therapy. Through the hospital setting, presenting concerns included mental health and developmental concerns, as well as concerns related to health or medical diagnosis (e.g., diabetes, cancer, pain, severe allergies, metabolic conditions). I have experience with psychodiagnostic, psychoeducational, and neuropsychological assessments with children and adolescents across mental health and health settings. My therapeutic training includes multiple modalities from a cognitive behavioural orientation and biopsychosocial perspective that is attachment- and trauma-informed. My therapeutic experience has been with youth, parents, families, and adults.
Psychological Assessment
Psychodiagnostic & Psychoeducational Assessments
My psychological assessment skillset includes experience across neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, conduct disorder), mental health concerns (e.g., mood disorders, anxiety, psychosis, PTSD), personality disorders, and medical concerns (e.g., encopresis, enuresis). I am competent to complete psychological assessments with youth age 2 -18 years old and young adults. My training extends to experience in neuropsychological assessments, which informs my current approach to psychodiagnostic and psychoeducational assessments. I am fluent at conducting assessments within multidisciplinary teams, given my extensive training within the context of such teams, including psychology, social worker, speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, and physicians across specialties (e.g., pediatrician, psychiatrist, anesthesiologist). I am competent to conduct inpatient and outpatient assessments.
Presenting problems include but are not limited to:
- Neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, learning disabilities, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder)
- Mental health concerns (e.g., mood disorders, anxiety, OCD, psychosis, PTSD, encopresis, enuresis)
- Personality disorders (e.g., borderline personality disorder)
- Additional concerns: school readiness, school refusal, academic concerns, sensory sensitivity, executive functioning difficulties, social skill development, emotional reactivity, behavioural challenges
Individual and Group Therapy
Children, Adolescents, Parents & Adults
My doctoral training focused on evidence-based interventions for treating psychological disorders and emerging concerns across childhood and adulthood. I have worked extensively in both individual and group-based interventions across multiple modalities including, but not limited to, cognitive behavioural therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy, collaborative problem-solving, self-compassion therapy, motivational interviewing, mindfulness, and play therapy. I work from a trauma-informed, attachment-based framework that is inclusive of all individuals. In addition to treating children and adolescents directly, I deliver therapeutic interventions to parents to support parent mental health and parenting behaviours, including parent skills training and transition to parenthood for both mothers and fathers.
Presenting problems include but are not limited to:
- Neurodevelopmental concerns or disorders (e.g., ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disorder, learning disabilities, conduct problems)
- Mental health concerns (e.g., emotion regulation difficulties, mood/anxiety disorders, OCD, PTSD, eating disorders, adjustment concerns, encopresis, enuresis) or other concerns (e.g., insomnia, stress)
- Personality disorders (e.g., borderline personality disorder, avoidant personality disorder)
- Related concerns (e.g., interpersonal functioning, suicidal ideation, self-harm, school avoidance, grief and loss, self-esteem, life transitions)
- Psychological concerns related to medical diagnoses (e.g., chronic pain, metabolic/endocrine disorders, chronic illnesses)
- Parenting concerns and strategies
Psychological Consultation
Consultation with Clients, Health Professionals, & Schools
I am a strong advocate of professional consultation in my own psychological practice. Similarly, I engage in psychological consultation for other health professionals, school personnel, and individuals. This includes consultation on behalf of ongoing clients, such as consulting with school personnel or other medical professionals (e.g., psychiatrist, family physician, occupational therapy, speech-language pathologists). Consultation also includes consulting with other health professionals on their clients or populations from an expert clinical psychology perspective on psychological assessment or intervention. Lastly, consultation includes brief client consultation (e.g., 1-2 sessions) regarding ongoing attempts to intervene with mental health or developmental concerns.
Family Therapy
Psychotherapy for Families
Over the course of my residency training, I trained in family interventions for improving functioning in families with children across age ranges. Family therapy is a goal-based approach delivered to the whole family to improve communication, decrease conflicts, increase coping in the family environment, improve understanding of family functioning and dynamics, and support overall family wellbeing. Specific goals are identified with each family. Therapy may be delivered with various combinations of family members as relevant and appropriate to the identified goals. Family therapy approaches include but are not limited to structural, systematic, and strategic therapy.
research
My program of research began in 2012 at which time I began examining the impact of the transition to parenthood on new parents. I have continued this line of work to investigate risk and protective factors from a biopsychosocial and intergenerational perspective on child and adolescent development and later functioning as adults transitioning to parenthood themselves. By examining factors that influence development, I aim to inform the development and evaluation of scalable interventions for parents and children to promote overall family wellbeing and positive child development.
Child & Adolescent Development
Lifespan approach evaluating intergenerational transmission of stress and mental health
Child development begins in utero and is susceptible to biopsychosocial influences, including parental mental health. Parental factors continue to influence development throughout childhood and adolescence through direct and indirect means, such as parental mental health affecting parenting behaviours and parent-child interactions. Given the importance of the whole family system on child development, my program of research focuses on biopsychosocial risk and protective factors to inform program development and evaluation to promote positive child development. A portion of my work has focused on mothers and maternal-child functioning - the more commonly researched area of parent-child wellbeing given the significant importance and more direct mechanisms of influence. Yet, when my program of work began in 2012, my research focused on the study of paternal mental health and father-child functioning during the transition to parenthood. This work continued throughout my PhD dissertation and I continue to advocate for the inclusion of the whole family in investigating important factors influencing child and family wellbeing. Recently, I have expanded my research to include the most pressing environmental threat to families - COVID-19 and related stressors. My program of research going forward aims to continue examing biological, psychological, and social factors that influence child development and later functioning, inclusive of the whole family system.
Program Development & Evaluation
Psychological Interventions for Parents & Youth
To date, my program of research has highlighted the significant and detrimental impact parental mental health and family functioning has on child development and wellbeing. As such, there is a critical need for scalable interventions that mitigate the negative impacts of parental mental health on parenting behaviours through improved mental wellbeing. My postdoctoral work focuses on this important work through the developmental and evaluation of a mental health and parenting skills training program for mothers created and piloted by Dr. Roos. Together with a multidisciplinary team of experts across mental health and program development, we have submitted project grants to expand this work to fathers with specific attention to the current COVID-19 pandemic and virtual delivery of interventions. On a broader scale with Dr. Roos, I am evaluating the Manitoba-wide Families First program, a home visiting program from birth to school entry for at-risk families. While my program of research to date focuses on childhood, these programs are relevant and important for parent-child functioning following school-entry and into adolescence. As such, we have an additional grant submitted to expand the parenting program to children up to age 12. The long-term goal of my research is to continue developing and evaluating programs that will support parenting and family wellbeing with the ultimate goal of supporting child development.
In the News
The word around town
NYTimes: Experts Fear Increase in Postpartum Mood and Anxiety Disorders
New and expecting moms are facing pandemic-related fears on top of social isolation.
"Given that many mothers are caring for infants while home-schooling children, the study’s lead author, Emily Cameron, a doctoral candidate at the University of Calgary and a clinical psychology resident at the University of Manitoba, said there’s a clear need to develop affordable clinical services that take into account the increased parenting demands during the pandemic."
COVID-19 IN MANITOBA
Public Policy Responses to the First Wave
Freely available open access e-book. Sign up for notifications for the release early December! Check out our chapter entitled "Parental Mental Health during COVID-19" for a discussion of the impact of COVID-19 and related restrictions on parent and family functioning.
Café Scientifique Online: Parenting during the Pandemic
UM Café Scientifique brings together experts with non-researchers in a relaxed atmosphere, to learn about their research and the questions it raises
Watch an online forum on multidisciplinary perspectives and recommendations for parenting during the pandemic.
CBC Information Radio - MB with Marcy Markusa
Students share their mental health challenges during the pandemic
Listen to wise words directly from youth experiencing schooling in the COVID-19 era. I weigh in on clinical considerations most commonly seen in teens during these times.
Beyond self-care: Try these 5 therapeutic tools to manage stress better during COVID-19 restrictions
The Conversation Canada
As the world faces a second wave of COVID-19 lockdown, we need new strategies for managing stress that go beyond self-care.
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