A/Prof Maria Hennessy ~ Associate Professor Clinical Psychology

The nexus between research, clinical practice and teaching drives my passion for my job.  My research group is Positive Applied Neuropsychology Singapore (PANSi).  We use positive psychology frameworks to investigate the factors that influence health and wellbeing in the community, as well as after different types of neurological injury or mental illness.  

We are working on three main programs of research at the moment.  Firstly, what do health assets tell us about how an individual recovers after a brain injury like chronic subdural haematoma (bleeding on the brain). Secondly, do brief positive psychology interventions help prevent the onset of mental illnesses like depression and anxiety, after a mild or moderate traumatic brain injury.  And last but not least, what is the best way to measure wellbeing or positive mental health?  How does it vary across cultures or change over the course of someone's life?  We have also begun to investigage how interventions like mindfulness-based strengths practice provide positive long-term benefits for individuals.  

If you are interested in positive psychology and neuropsychology, feel free to contact us!

 

Teaching

• PY5001: Psychological Assessment (Level 5; SIN)
• PY5006: Clinical Neuropsychology (Level 5; SIN)
• PY6010: Evaluation and Research (Level 6; SIN)

Interests

Research

• Positive Psychology
• Clinical Neuropsychology
• Positive Health
• Well-being
• Rehabilitation
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Mental Health Outcomes

Experience

• 2018 to present - Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology, James Cook University (Singapore)
• 2012 to 2018 - Senior Lecturer, James Cook University (Townsville, QLD)
• 2013 to 2015 - Associate Professor, Research Leader, Community Rehabilitation North Queensland & MICCRH, JCU (Townsville, QLD)
• 2010 to 2012 - Health Research Fellow, Queensland Health (Townsville, QLD)
• 2006 to 2012 - Director of Psychology Services, Townsville Health Service District (Townsville, QLD)
• 2004 to 2006 - Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, University of Tasmania (Hobart, TAS)
• 2003 to 2004 - Senior Research Fellow, Centre for the Mind, University of Sydney (Sydney, NSW)
• 1997 to 2003 - Lecturer in Psychology, James Cook University (Townsville, QLD)
• 1995 to 1997 - Casual Lecturer and Tutor, Griffith University (Brisbane, QLD)
• 1993 to 1995 - Clinical Neuropsychologist, Princess Alexandra Hospital (Brisbane, QLD)
• 1991 to 1993 - Casual Lecturer and Tutor, University of Tasmania (Hobart, TAS)
• 1991 to 1992 - Research Assistant, Psychiatry, Royal Hobart Hospital (Hobart, TAS)
• 1990 to 1991 - Research Assistant, Psychology, University of Tasmania (Hobart, TAS)

Fellowships

• 2017 - Fellow, APS College of Clinical Psychologists
• 2017 - Fellow, APS College of Clinical Neuropsychologists
• 2010 to 2012 - Queensland Health Research Fellowship

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

• Marshman L, Hennessy M, Delle Baite L and Britton G (2018) Utility of retrograde amnesia assessment alone, compared with anterograde amnesia assessment in determining recovery after traumatic brain injury: prospective cohort study. World Neurosurgery, 110. pp. e380-e384
• Hennessy M, Patrick J and Swinbourne A (in press) Improving mental health outcomes assessment with the Mental Health Inventory-21. Australian Psychologist,
• McLellan J, Marshman L and Hennessy M (2017) Anterograde amnesia and disorientation are associated with in-patients without traumatic brain injury taking opioids. Retrograde amnesia (RA) is absent. RA assessment should be integral to post-traumatic amnesia testing. Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, 44. pp. 184-187
• Marshman L, Jakabek D, Hennessy M, Quirk F and Guazzo E (2013) Post-traumatic amnesia. Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, 20 (11). pp. 1475-1481

Book Chapters

• Hennessy M (2013) Understanding mental health outcomes following traumatic brain injury. In: Health and Healing after Traumatic Brain Injury: understanding the power of family, friends, community, and other support systems. Disability Insights and Issues. Praeger, California, USA, pp. 121-138

Other research outputs

• Hennessy M, Hunt N, Morris K and Sealey C (2016) Investigating the Comprehensive Inventory of Thriving (CIT) as a rehabilitation outcome measure. Abstracts from the Neuropsychological Rehabilitation Special Interest Group of the WFNR Conference. In: 13th Neuropsychological Rehabilitation Special Interest Group of the WFNR Conference, 11-12 July 2016, Glasgow, Scotland
• Birtles E and Hennessy M (2014) Evaluating participation in interprofessional community rehabilitation. Annals of the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine, 15 (3). p. 64
• Hennessy M and Birtles E (2014) Understanding positive health outcomes and unmet needs after traumatic brain injury in The Townsville Hospital and Health Service. Annals of the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine, 15 (3). p. 66
• Hennessy M (2014) Using positive psychology measures in clinical practice: a new way forward. Annals of the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine, 15 (3). p. 68
• Hennessy M (2014) Using positive psychology measures in clinical practice: reliability and validity in an Australian population. Abstracts from the 28th International Congress of Applied Psychology. In: ICAP 2014: 28th International Congress of Applied Psychology, 8-13 July 2014, Paris, France
• Hennessy M (2014) Using positive psychology measures in clinical practice: reliability and validity in an Australian population. Abstracts from the 7th European Conference on Positive Psychology. In: ECPP 2014: 7th European Conference on Positive Psychology, 1-4 July 2014, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Jakabek D, Marshman L, Quirk F and Hennessy M (2013) Assessing the end of post-traumatic amnesia from an executive attention paradigm. Brain Impairment, 14 (1). p. 191

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• Development of a positive health framework to improve the understanding of recovery after chronic subdural haematoma: A prospective study. (PhD , Primary Advisor)