Webinar
Experiences of childhood trauma (abuse and neglect) are disproportionately higher in those with opioid use disorder (OUD). Childhood trauma may affect the reinforcing and rewarding properties of opioid drugs and responses to pain, potentially via developmental changes to the endogenous opioid system. The current research explored this link with consequent implications on interventions for OUD and early preventions, as well as the prescribing of opioids.
My research expertise and interests are in the area of psychopharmacology and addiction, where I am interested in the acute and chronic effects of drugs on cognition, emotion and behaviour. As a Lives Lived Well Research Fellow at UQ, I am working on a trial that is developing and implementing a new trauma-informed model of care in residential treatment for young people with substance use disorders. Prior to this, I completed my Ph.D. at the University of Exeter, where I investigated the role of social risk factors/stressors in the onset and maintenance of opioid use disorder.