Joanne Mouthaan is an Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology at Leiden University. Her research focuses on the prevention, prediction, and (early) treatment of psychological responses to trauma, suicide prevention, and innovative approaches to clinical education. She has a particular interest in translating scientific knowledge into practical interventions and educational innovations that improve mental health care and professional training.

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Joanne Mouthaan is an Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology at Leiden University. Her research focuses on the prevention, prediction, and (early) treatment of psychological responses to trauma, suicide prevention, and innovative approaches to clinical education. She has a particular interest in translating scientific knowledge into practical interventions and educational innovations that improve mental health care and professional training.

Research on trauma and suicide prevention

Joanne Mouthaan's research focuses on the prevention, prediction, and early treatment of trauma-related psychological problems. In 2015, she received the Jan van Dijk Victimology and Victims' Rights Award for her doctoral dissertation, Injured Bodies, Injured Souls? Predicting and Preventing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder After Injury, which examined the prediction and prevention of posttraumatic stress symptoms following physical injury.

She currently leads the STAP study, a ZonMw-funded project investigating the cost-effectiveness of PTSD treatment delivered by primary care mental health professionals (POH-GGZ).

A second major research line concerns suicide prevention. Mouthaan previously led a national consortium that developed a longitudinal curriculum in suicide prevention skills for psychology students, spanning the entire educational trajectory from bachelor level to advanced clinical training. Her current work explores how artificial intelligence can enhance learning outcomes within this curriculum, for example through practice with AI-supported simulated patients.

In addition, she studies technological innovations in mental health care, with a particular focus on e-health and e-learning applications for education and professional development.

Projects

Joanne Mouthaan leads the project Blended Learning Suicide Prevention Skills for Psychology Students and Mental Health Professionals, which is part of the Dutch National Suicide Prevention Agenda 2021-2025.

In 2023, her team received the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FSW) Casimir Award for innovative educational implementation. In 2026, the national initiative From Unconsciously Incompetent to Consciously Competent: A National Suicide Prevention Skills Curriculum for Psychology Students received the Dutch Education Award (Nederlandse Onderwijspremie), the highest distinction for educational innovation in Dutch higher education, accompanied by a grant of €800,000.

Teaching

Joanne teaches courses in clinical psychology, research methodology, trauma, and mental health at both bachelor's and master's level.

As the Leiden University lead for the Master's-to-GZ Psychology Pilot, she collaborates with Erasmus University Rotterdam on an initiative designed to facilitate the transition from master's specialisations in clinical psychology to postgraduate training as a Healthcare Psychologist (GZ-psycholoog).

She also chairs the Master Admissions Committee of the Institute of Psychology.

Collaborations and professional activities

Joanne Mouthaan is an active member for national and international professional associations (European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Nederlandstalige Vereniging voor Psychotrauma, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies) and editor for the European Journal of Psychotraumatology.

She is involved in several international research collaborations, including the International Consortium to Predict PTSD (ICPP), the CONNECT Research Group, and the ESTSS-ADJUST Study Consortium, which investigated psychosocial responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Grants, awards and recognition

• Dutch Education Award (Nederlandse Onderwijspremie) for educational innovation in higher education (2026; €800,000)
• Leiden University FSW Grassroots Grant for the development of an AI chatbot for suicide prevention training (2025)
• Leiden University FSW Grassroots Grant for AI-supported group thesis supervision (2025)
• FSW Casimir Award for implementation of e-learning in suicide prevention education for psychology students (2023)
• Nomination for the DevelHub Impact Trajectory Award for the national suicide prevention e-learning curriculum for psychology programmes (2023)
• National Suicide Prevention Agenda 2021-2025 grant for the development of e-learning suicide prevention skills training for mental health professionals and students (2020)
• Leiden University FSW Grassroots Grant for the development of an online treatment training module (2018)
• Nominee, Institute of Psychology Teaching Award, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden University (2018, 2022)
• Jan van Dijk Victimology and Victims' Rights Award for the dissertation Injured Bodies, Injured Souls? Predicting and Preventing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder After Injury (2015)
• ZonMw Efficiency Studies Grant (Doelmatigheidsbeurs) (2005)
• Achmea Foundation for Victims and Society Grant (2005)

Publications