Dr Aino Suomi

Research Fellow, ACU Institute of Child Protection Studies

Dr Aino Suomi is a clinically trained psychologist and has been conducting research with vulnerable populations, with a family-specific focus, since 2006. Dr Suomi completed her PhD in 2012, which examined clinical family assessments at the Children’s Court Clinic of Victoria, with a focus on parents’ mental health problems, violence and addiction.

Within the ACU Institute of Child Protection Studies (ICPS), Dr Suomi manages the kContact Project, an ARC-funded study to develop and trial an enhanced model of managing and supporting contact between children in care and their birth parents. The aim of the kContact project is to reduce current and future distress related to contact, improve children’s relationships with their birth parents, and increase successful reunifications in the long term. As part of this research, Dr Suomi works directly with foster care service providers to support them to implement the intervention with families they are working with.

Selected Publications

• Cowlishaw, S., Suomi, A., & Rodgers, B. (2016). Implications of gambling problems for family and interpersonal adjustment: Results from the Quinte Longitudinal Study. Addiction.
• Dowling, N. A., Suomi, A., Jackson, A. C., & Lavis, T. (2015). Problem Gambling Family Impacts:
• Development of the Problem Gambling Family Impact Scale. Journal of Gambling Studies, 1-21.
• Dowling, N. A., Suomi, A., Jackson, A. C., Lavis, T., Patford, J., Cockman, S … & Abbott, M. (2015). Problem gambling and intimate partner violence: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse.
• Cowlishaw S., Evans L., Suomi A., & Rodgers B. (2014). Couple and family therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Protocol). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (9) Art No.: CD011257.
• Suomi, A. Dowling, N. A., & Jackson, A. C. (2014). Problem gambling subtypes based on psychological distress, alcohol abuse and impulsivity. Addictive Behaviors, 39(12), 1741-1745.
• Dowling, N. A., Jackson, A. C., Suomi, A., Lavis, T., Thomas, S. A., Patford, J., … & Bellringer, M. E. (2014). Problem gambling and family violence: Prevalence and patterns in treatment-seekers. Addictive Behaviors, 39(12), 1713-1717.
• Suomi, A., & Lawrence, J. A. (2013). Clinical Family Assessments for the Children’s Court of Victoria: Building Evidence Base in Court Child Protection Matters. Australian Journal of Family Law, 27(3) 220-234.
• Suomi, A., Jackson, A. C., Dowling, N. A., Lavis, T., Patford, J., Thomas, S. A., ... & Cockman, S. (2013). Problem gambling and family violence: family member reports of prevalence, family impacts and family coping. Asian Journal of Gambling Issues and Public Health, 3(1), 1-15.