Dr Kishani Townshend ~ Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Dr Kishani Townshend (PhD, MAPS) is a Post Doctorial Research Fellow and Registered Psychologist. Kishani has a diverse cultural background, having lived in Asia, Africa, England and Australia. This gives her a broad cross-cultural understanding of her clients, enabling her to help them each develop their unique capacity for healing and resilience. She completed a PhD on affect regulation at the University of Adelaide. Her undergraduate degrees have majors in psychology, human resource development and counselling. Over the last 16 years, her clinical practice works with those presenting with depression, anxiety, Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD), sexual assault, learning difficulties, grief, loss, narcissistic abuse and perinatal depression. As a Clinician-Researcher, her research interests include healthy ageing, resilience, mindfulness, developing culturally appropriate screening tools and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions. She is familiar with systematic review methodology and mixed methods research.

Interests

Research

• Healthy ageing, dementia risk reduction and delirium prevention.
• Developing culturally appropriate screening tools for depression and anxiety.
• Resilience, mindfulness, post traumatic growth and epigenetics.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of mental health screening tools and interventions.
• Perinatal mental health.

Experience

• 2022 to present - Post Doctoral Research Fellow, Healthy Ageing Research Team (HART) (CAIRNS)
• 2014 to present - Research Fellow, The Cairns Institute (CAIRNS)

Research Disciplines

• Clinical and health psychology (5203)
• Education systems (3903)
• Biological psychology (5202)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Provision of health and support services (2003)
• Learner and learning (1601)

Awards

• 2015 to 2018 - PhD Scholarship, University of Adelaide.

Memberships

• 2022 - Board Approved Supervisor for Psychologists
• 2022 - Committee Member on Research In Ethical Development (RED) at James Cook University (JCU).
• 2021 - Committee Member For Dare To Dream program.
• 2021 - Committee Member of Early Career Research Committee at James Cook University (JCU).
• 2019 - Member of the Australian Psychological Society (MAPS).
• 2009 - Registration with Psychology Board of Australia (PBA) and Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Bornschlegl M, Townshend K and Caltabiano N (2021) Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to identify variables related to academic help seeking in higher education. Frontiers in Education, 6.
• Singh N, Lancioni G, Medvedev O, Hwang Y, Myers R and Townshend K (2020) Using mindfulness to improve quality of life in caregivers of individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder. International Journal Of Developmental Disabilities, 66 (5). pp. 370-380
• Townshend K and Caltabiano N (2019) Self-compassion and mindfulness: modeling change processes associated with the reduction of perinatal depression. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 28 (7). pp. 1790-1802
• Townshend K and Caltabiano N (2019) The extended nervous system: affect regulation, somatic and social change processes associated with mindful parenting. BMC Psychology, 7.
• Townshend K, Caltabiano N, Powrie R and O’Grady H (2018) A preliminary study investigating the effectiveness of the Caring for Body and Mind in Pregnancy (CBMP) in reducing perinatal depression, anxiety and stress. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 27 (5). pp. 1556-1566
• Townshend K (2016) Conceptualizing the key processes of Mindful Parenting and its application to youth mental health. Australasian Psychiatry, 24 (6). pp. 575-577
• Townshend K, Jordan Z, Stephenson M and Tsey K (2016) The effectiveness of mindful parenting programs in promoting parents' and children's wellbeing: a systematic review. JBI Database of Systematic Reviews & Implementation Reports, 14 (3). pp. 139-180
• Townshend K, Jordan Z, Peters M and Tsey K (2014) The effectiveness of Mindful Parenting programs in promoting parents' and children's wellbeing: a systematic review protocol. JBI Database of Systematic Reviews & Implementation Reports, 12 (11). pp. 184-196

Book Chapters

• Townshend K and Caltabiano N (2019) A conceptual and methodological exploration of the cognitive processes associated with mindful parenting: reflections on translating theory to practice. In: Transitions into Parenthood: examining the complexities of childrearing. Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research, 15. Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, UK, pp. 123-148

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
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