Helen’s PhD explores motivation and social cognitive causes of depression. Her theory of Conditional Goal Setting explains how misunderstandings of motivation can lead to a lifelong vulnerability to depression and anxiety. During this period in her life, Helen also became a member of the Western Buddhist Order which supports the understanding and practice of Buddhism within western culture. Following three and a half years of research and personal practice, Helen left Sheffield making a clear distinction between the artificial pursuit of wellbeing and the art of living well.

Conditional Goal Setting theory has since become an internationally recognized theory of depression vulnerability. It has been applied to the understanding of depression in eating disorders, chronic illness and drug abuse among other issues. In 2003 Helen wrote the book 'Standing Without Shoes' with George Burns. The book explains Conditional Goal Setting theory in detail and suggests that a better understanding of motivation can lead to greater wellbeing and contentment. The final draft of the book was read by His Holiness the Dalai Lama who loved it so much, he wrote a foreword.

Helen also organised a one-day conference on goal setting, motivation and wellbeing while living and working in Sheffield. The success of the event led to her first visit to Australia in 1996. This visit was the beginning of a warm relationship with the red country and led to a permanent move in 1998. It was then that Helen arrived in Queensland to take up a position as a psychology lecturer. During her time in Queensland, Helen became a registered psychologist and built on her academic foundations by furthering her research into motivation, goal setting and wellbeing in young people and adults.

In 1999 Helen moved to Perth to take up an academic position in the School of Psychiatry at The University of Western Australia. Helen taught medical and dental students in addition to continuing her research and writing. Over more than twenty years as a academic, Helen has published over sixty academic papers, several book chapters and four books.

Soon after arriving in Perth, Helen met her partner, Neil Porter. Helen and Neil have since worked together to develop the Positive Schools Initiative which advocates for educational reform to better support equity, motivation and wellbeing in young people.

One of the three pillars of The Positive Schools Initiative is The Positive Schools conference series which has grown from strength to strength since its conception in 2009. The events are held across Australia and SE Asia and have become known as highly respected and much loved mental health and wellbeing events for educators. They are a proud reflection of Helen's passion for education reform.

Over the past ten years, Helen has becoming increasingly interested in finding genuine ways to better support wellbeing, motivation and engagement in young people within the school environment. She has, continually, courageously campaigned for schools to reduce extrinsic reward systems, excessive grading and homework; and to spend more building cohesive communities and equitable educational practice.

As an advocate of supporting teacher wellbeing, Helen wrote 'LifeOverload in 2011'. She also co-edited 'Better Than OK' in 2014. In Better Than OK, Helen stresses the importance of focusing our efforts to support young people on the creation of more equitable, more evidence-based education systems.

In 2016 Helen wrote two academic chapters bringing together her ideas about contextual reform into a single model of 'Contextual Wellbeing'. Helen stresses the need for educators and policy makers to pay more attention to school context in their consideration of social emotional learning. In addition to supporting teacher wellbeing and policy change, she has campaigned for greater consideration of the physical environment and a need to better understand the development of healthy social norms in schools.

During the past fifteen years, alongside her roles at The University of Western Australia and Positive Schools, Helen has been a regular advisor to the Health Department of WA's Centre for Clinical Interventions and the WA Association of Mental Health. She has written and presented regularly on TV, radio and in other media, including a year spent as the show psychologist for Channel Ten's morning TV show 'The Circle'.

Helen has also worked with schools and colleges around Australia and internationally in countries including England, Wales, Germany, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Helen continues to be a powerful advocate for school contextual reform and the revolutionizing of traditional education systems. She works with schools around the world, and presents regularly at conferences. She also continues to edit The Positive Times as a free online resource for teachers, and to run the Positive Schools events in a bid to develop a better world for tomorrows schools, today.

Helen is currently an honorary associate professor in the graduate school of education at The University of Western Australia, the chair of Positive Schools with Neil Porter, and most importantly of all, a keen painter, and besotted mother of three beautiful girls.

Helen firmly believes that the only way we can sustainably, effectively support youth wellbeing in education is through the development of Contextual Wellbeing in our schools and colleges. Our role as educators is not to tell someone how to be well, or to reward them for behaving well. We need to provide young people with a context in which they can flourish.

Helen’s best-selling book ‘Contextual Wellbeing – creating positive schools from the inside out’ was released in 2018 and continues to be embraced by schools internationally.