Access our COVID-19 Well-Being Toolkit and Resources

Julie Poehlmann
Julie Poehlmann
Affiliated Faculty at the Center for Healthy Minds, Dorothy A. O’Brien Professor in Human Ecology, Professor of Human Development and Family Studies

Julie holds the Dorothy A. O’Brien Professorship in Human Ecology at the School of Human Ecology and Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research focuses on the role of family relationships in the development of resilience in high-risk infants, toddlers and preschoolers. She is interested in how emerging relationships interact with biological and environmental vulnerabilities in shaping the cognitive and social emotional development of children who experience a range of risks. Julie's research emphasizes how children and parents make contributions to their relationships with each other, rather than emphasizing parental characteristics like much of the existing attachment research. Her findings bridge attachment theory with ecologically-based transactional developmental theories.

Julie also serves as an advisor to Sesame Street on their Emmy-nominated initiative for children with incarcerated parents. She has served as a psychology supervisor in the Waisman Center’s Developmental Disabilities Clinic and teaches a service learning course in conjunction with campus and community early childhood education centers. Julie has consulted with Wisconsin Public Television on an outreach effort for families struggling with methamphetamine addiction and worked with Madison Area Urban Ministry to evaluate their mentoring program for children of incarcerated parents.

Julie is particularly interested in improving the self-regulation and empathy of high-risk children and their parents. Toward this end, she is conducting randomized controlled trials of interventions using contemplative practices for preschoolers and parents of young children.

Recent Publications

Education

Post-doctoral Fellowship, Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI

Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 1995

M.S. in Clinical Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 1990

Honors B.A., Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, magna cum laude, Psychology and History 1988

Marquette University Language Institute in Berlin, Germany 1987

Links

Related Studies

A Woman Sits Behind A Computer With A Young Boy Demonstrating Options For Improving The Interactions Children With Incarcerated Parents Have During Jail Visits

Improving Outcomes for Incarcerated Parents and their Children through Enhanced Jail Visits

How can researchers improve jail visits for children with incarcerated parents?