Dr Alan Avery is a Senior Lecturer and
Coordinator of Mental Health,
School of
Health,
University of
New England,
Armidale,
Australia. Dr Avery's teaching,
research and scholarship interests include mental health promotion and
education, aged and dementia care, critical thinking, adult learning and
education and disability care. Dr Avery is a Registered Nurse and has been
involved with nursing for 29 years. He has Bachelor degrees in Commerce
Economics (UNSW) and Health Science (Distinction, RMIHE), a Master of Education
(Uni of Wollongong) and Doctor of Education (mental,
social and environmental health and community adult learning, UNE). He is
currently studying Counselling.
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Dr Adam Lane
Adam Lane is the Program
Manager/Deputy Director & Clinical Psychologist of the Mental Health
Rehabilitation Unit (MHRU) at the Prince of Wales Hospital in
Sydney,
Australia. Adam completed his Doctorate of Clinical
Psychology at the
University of
Queensland in 2005 during which time he worked as the Psychologist for the
Medium Secure Unit at the Park Centre for Mental Health in
Brisbane. Whilst at the Park, Adam coordinated the
Unit’s drug and alcohol program and developed an interest in assessing and
enhancing readiness to change in people with a mental illness. In 2006 Adam commenced work at the MHRU. In this position Adam has continued to study
change readiness and is currently developing a number of programs in
conjunction with the
University of
New South Wales geared towards enhancing readiness in people with severe and
persistent mental illness and helping consumers become ready to engage in their
own recovery journey.
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Prof
Tony Jorm
Prof
Tony Jorm is a Professorial Fellow at ORYGEN Research Centre at the
University of
Melbourne. His current research focuses on public
knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders, and particularly on interventions
to improve the public’s helpfulness towards people developing mental
disorders. Prof Jorm
is the author of 12 books or monographs, over 300 journal articles and over 25
chapters in edited volumes. He has been
awarded a Doctor of Science for his research and elected a Fellow of the
Academy of
Social Sciences in
Australia. He is a member of the
Research Committee of the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund. He is a past President of the Australasian
Society for Psychiatric Research. He has been listed in ISI HighlyCited.com as
one of the most cited researchers in Psychology/Psychiatry of the past 20
years.
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Professor McFarlane is currently the Head
of the
University of
Adelaide Node of the Centre of Military and Veterans Health. He is an international expert in the field
of the impact of disasters and post traumatic stress disorder. He is a Past
President of both the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and
the Australasian Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. He is the recipient for the Robert
Laufer Award for outstanding scientific achievement in the
study of the effects of traumatic stress
He is currently the Senior Adviser in
Psychiatry to the Australian Defence Force and the
Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health. He holds the rank of Group Captain in the
RAAR specialist reserve. He has acted as an advisor to many groups in post
disaster situations, including the Kuwait Government, and the United
Nations. He has lectured and run
workshops in
Europe,
United
States of America,
Asia and
South Africa.
Apart from his interest in post traumatic
stress disorder in relation to disaster victims, military personnel and other
civilian accidents, he has broadened the relevance of this knowledge to the
area of those suffering severe mental illness.
His research has focused on the epidemiology and longitudinal course of
PTSD as well as the neuroimaging of the cognitive
deficits in this disorder.
He has published over 250 articles and
chapters in various refereed journals and has co-edited three books.
He is a member of several international
advisory boards in the field of traumatic stress.
He has also been involved in
a medico legal cases in a number of jurisdictions on matters relating to
traumatic stress. He frequently appears
in the media as a commentator on the impact of war and disaster.
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Dr
Cate Howell
Dr Cate Howell is
a Lecturer in the Discipline of General Practice at the
University of
Adelaide where
she is Director of the Primary Care Mental Health and Grief and Palliative Care
Units. She is a General Practitioner
at Parklands Medical Practice, President of the
Australian
College of
Psychological Medicine and Chairperson and Mental Health GP Advisor at the
Adelaide North Division of General Practice.
She coordinates the ‘South Australian
Mental Health Education Initiative’, and is involved in teaching mental health
skills across
Australia and overseas.
Cate has undertaken or been involved with a number of
research projects examining mental health issues in recent years, including her
doctorate study of a primary care depression relapse prevention program.
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Carolyn
Quadrio
is Associate Professor in Psychiatry at the
University of
New South Wales. She practises
in Forensic and Child and Family Psychiatry, particularly related to
intrafamilial violence (abuse of women and children). She is well known for teaching in marital and
child and family therapy and for her work in Women’s Mental Health and in
introducing a feminist and gender analysis to mainstream psychiatry in
Australia. Her major research has been on: women in
psychiatry - as patients and as practitioners; sexual abuse of patients in
therapy; and the long-term sequelae of childhood
sexual abuse. Her current interests are
in the role of childhood trauma in relationship to adult psychiatric
dysfunction and domestic violence and its impact on children.
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Cindy Turner is the
Manager of Mental Health
and Exceptional Needs Services in Life Without Barriers SA. Life
Without Barriers is a non-government organisation
which is a key provider of: Psychosocial Rehabilitation Support Services, The
returning Home Program and Exceptional Needs program in metropolitan
Adelaide and
several country regions of
South
Australia. As a national
organisation LWB is also a major provider of services in
Disability and Out of Home Care. Cindy has a Nursing background and a Masters
in Primary Health Care with extensive experience in program and service
development in the Government and non-government sectors Women’s Health, Youth
Mental Health and currently has had a key role in the design and implementation
of Adult Mental Health Service delivery in Life Without Barriers. This includes
a strong interest in research, quality and evaluation of services.
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Trish Jean is currently working with
Quality Management Services, a not-for-profit organisation
that specialises in providing quality improvement,
review and accreditation services to human service organisations
in SA, WA, Tas, ACT and NSW.
Trish is working with the mental health sector in
South Australia to
develop service standards for psychosocial rehabilitation support services.
Trish has worked in direct service, research and policy positions in human
service organisations and for local, state and
federal governments in the areas of ageing, disability reform and community
services, and has a particular interest in quality and evaluation. Trish’s
qualifications include a Bachelor of Education and a Masters in Disability.
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Ms Emma Robson
Emma Robson is an occupational therapist
with a broad range of experience in mental health services. More recently Emma
has worked in the area of psychiatric rehabiltation
including vocational programs. Emma is currently working with Joanne on the
Vocational Education Training and Employment service.
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Mr Evan Lewis
Evan has had a varied career in many
agencies in the Australian Public Service, across policy and national
programme areas, and has been Mental Health Branch
Manager in the Department
of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs since June 2006. The Mental Health Branch has responsibility
for implementing $554.7 million of new mental health initiatives over five
years, including respite care, community based funding
projects, and the Personal Helpers and Mentors Programme. Evan has a keen interest and practical
experience in mental health and has formal qualifications in this area.
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Prof Gordon Parker
Prof. Gordon Parker is currently
Scientia Professor of Psychiatry,
University of
New South Wales and Executive Director of the Black Dog Institute, Sydney. He was, for nearly two decades, Head of the
School of
Psychiatry at
UNSW and Director of the Division of Psychiatry at Prince of Wales and
Prince
Henry
Hospitals. He has had a number of responsibilities for
the
College of
Psychiatrists, including being Editor of the Journal and Chair of the Quality
Assurance Committee. He has been an
active researcher, and has held a number of positions with legal
organisations, including the NSW Guardianship Board and the
NSW Administrative Appeals Tribunal. In
2004 he received a Citation Laureate as the Australian Scientist most highly
cited in the field of ‘Psychiatry/Psychology’.
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Prof Whiteford is the Kratzmann
Professor of Psychiatry and Population Health at the
University of
Queensland,
Australia.
He has held senior clinical and administrative positions, including those of
Director of Mental Health in the
Queensland and Federal governments in
Australia
and at the World Bank in
Washington
DC. His expertise and research interests are in mental health policy,
financing and service delivery.
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Ms Helena Stewart
Helena Stewart is the Director of
Multicultural Youth South Australia Inc, the state representative advisory,
advocacy and service delivery body for young migrants and refugees aged between
12 and 30 years.
Helena chairs the South Australian Refugee Youth Issues Policy Network and
is the South Australian state representative on the National Multicultural
Youth Issues Network. She has presented at state, national and international
conferences and has provided advice and training on migrant and refugee youth
issues in a range of government, non-government and community forums.
Helena has worked
in the refugee sector for over five years and is currently completing her PhD
in the area of refugee child and adolescent mental health.
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Ms Jenny
Adermann
Jenny
Adermann
has worked for Education Queensland for 25 years as a teacher,
teacher-librarian, media production officer and guidance officer with Year 1 to
Year 12 students in a range of urban, rural and remote settings. Spanning a 20
year period, she has returned several times to work in
Cape York and
Torres Strait communities and
has more than ten years experience working with Indigenous students and their
families.
Jenny holds a Graduate Diploma in Education
and a Master of Education Degree. She is currently a Guidance Officer based at
Trinity
Beach near
Cairns and
undertaking PhD studies at QUT focussing on anxiety
and Indigenous youth.
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Ms
Jacinta
Hawgood
Ms
Hawgood is a
Lecturer at the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention
(AISRAP) at
Griffith
University, where she lectures in the Graduate Certificate in Suicide
Prevention Studies and Master of Suicidology, and delivers
the Suicide Prevention Skills Training workshops. Jacinta is also involved in
several research projects at AISRAP, and she has publications in suicide
prevention education and research. Ms Hawgood is also
a Clinical Psychologist, whose main client population are suicidal young
adults.
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Dr
Jacqui
Triffitt
Dr.
Jacqui Triffitt is a Clinical and Sport Psychologist in private practice in
Hobart,
Tasmania. She
works on a consultancy basis with State and Federal Government departments and
private sector organisations. She is Consultant Sport
Psychologist with the Tasmanian Institute of Sport and has worked with the
Tasmanian Tigers Cricket team . She has had extensive
experience in developing, facilitating and evaluating training
programms in the areas of stress management, performance
enhancement and personal development. She has developed a successful
programme called Back in the
Drivers Seat to help people overcome their fear of driivng
and also written and the Back in the Driver's Seat book.
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Ms Jillian
Ikin
Ms Ikin is a
NHMRC Postgraduate Research Scholar and Research Fellow with the
Monash University Centre for Occupational and Environmental
Health. She is currently undertaking a PhD titled "War stressors, mental
health and well-being outcomes in Australian veterans and service personnel”.
Her research is based on the DVA funded national studies of
Australia's
Korean War and 1991 Gulf War veterans.
Ms Joanne
Sherring
Joanne
Sherring
is an occupational therapist with extensive experience in the area of
psychiatric rehabilitation, specifically in early intervention and vocational
programs. Joanne is currently working on the implementation of the Vocational
Education Training and Employment service in the Hunter New England Region of
NSW.
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Mr John Carr
John Carr is a registered mental health
nurse who's clinical area of choice is Acute
Care/Assessment and Critical Intervention. John is the Queensland Health
Statewide Co-ordinator of the Mental Health
Intervention Project with responsibility for the delivery of training to
Queensland Health staff, and the co-ordination and support of District Mental
Health Intervention Co-ordinators (MHIC's).
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Mr
Joukje Mulder
Joukje Mulder is a social worker that has worked
clinically in the adult mental health field, both in the government and
non-government areas. She has a keen interest in the development and delivery
of psychoeducation and support groups to families and
carers of consumers of mental health services.
Joukje completed an action research project on the delivery
and development of three psychoeducation and support
groups between 2003-2006. Joukje
also has a keen interest in the provision of supervision to colleagues, both
within social work and across disciplines.
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Dr
Karolina
Keysinska
Dr
Karolina Krysinska is a Research Fellow at the Australian Institute
for Suicide Research and Prevention at
Griffith
University. She is a Psychologist and has been working
in the field of suicide research for 12 years. She graduated from
Adam
Mickiewicz
University in
Poznan,
Poland in 1994 and lectured in Psychology there until 2004. In 1997 she was a visiting scholar at
George
Washington
University in
Washington,
DC and in 2001
obtained her PhD at
Adam
Mickiewicz
University in
Poznan.
Karolina has published several papers and book chapters on different aspects
of suicide and its prevention, incl. cognitive and motivational risk
factors, help seeking and social support, elderly suicide,
medical staff attitudes towards people who engage in suicidal
behaviour, and suicide and the Holocaust. She has presented papers at national and
international suicidology and psychology conferences.
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Dr. Lynette Evans is a lecturer in the
School of
Psychological Science at La Trobe University.
She works as the Clinical Postgraduate
Coordinator and teachers Postgraduate Doctoral students in psychology. Dr. Evans is also a clinical psychologist and
as part of her clinical work she has run an outpatient clinic in the Veterans
Psychiatry Unit at the
Repatriation
Hospital at Austin Health for 8 years.
The clinic's focus was working with couples
where one partner was a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder. Clients
attending the clinic had had trauma experiences related to the Vietnam War,
peacekeeping duties from various parts of the world and police and
fire-fighters in the course of their work.
Dr. Evans interests in research and
clinical work have combined in her interest in PTSD and relationship
functioning. She has collaborated with other staff from Veterans' psychiatry
and the PTSD program to examine these issues.
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Ms Lyn Littlefield
Lyn Littlefield is the Executive Director
of the Australian Psychological Society (APS), the national peak professional
body for psychologists, with over 15,700 members across
Australia. Previously Lyn was Head of the
School of
Psychological Science at La Trobe University. She is a clinical psychologist with over 20
years of experience in mental health in hospital and community settings, as
well as in academia.
As the Executive Director of the APS, Lyn
is a member of a number of Government advisory, reference and working groups to
do with mental health policy, practice standards and service delivery, and has
been extensively involved in innovative mental health initiatives including:
‘Better Access to Psychiatrists, Psychologists and general Practitioners
through the Medicare Benefits Schedule’, ‘Better Outcomes in Mental Health
Care’, the National Suicide Prevention Strategy, and in implementing National
Practice Standards for the Mental Health Workforce.
These initiatives have required the
development of partnerships between the professions working in mental
health. Lyn will draw on this experience
in her address.
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Lorna is a senior academic within the
School of
Nursing and
health studies at CQU. She is a registered nurse and an endorsed mental health
nurse. Lorna completed her PhD in mental Health and is passionate about mental
health nursing. She sits on numerous community committees and if a
Feloow of teh Australian
College of
Mental Health Nurses.
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Michael Free is a lecturer in clinical
psychology at
Griffith
University,
Brisbane,
Australia and maintains a half-time private practice in
Ipswich. He trained as a Clinical Psychologist at the
University Of
Canterbury in
Christchurch,
New Zealand, gaining a Master of Arts degree in Psychology in 1978 and a
Diploma in Clinical Psychology in 1980.
He then worked for the Queensland Health Department in a variety of
positions in adult psychiatry for 12 years before obtaining his present
position in 1993. He obtained his PhD in
1997 for research on the relationship between biological and psychological
processes during recovery from depression.
He has published a number of research papers on depression, and a book,
“Cognitive Therapy in Groups”, in 1999.
He has just finished a second edition of this book, published in January
2007, and is working on a book that integrates the teachings of Jesus with the
principles of cognitive therapy.
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Dr
Margaret McAllister
Margaret McAllister is a leader in nursing, recognised for
her contributions to the advancement of the science of human caring. She is a
qualified nurse and mental health nurse and gained a doctorate of education in
1996. As a Fellow and Deputy Chair of the
Australian
College of
Mental Health Nurses Research Board, she is involved in and committed to the
promotion of social justice for people with mental health problems. McAllister
has completed several research projects within education and nursing practice,
linking the concepts of critical social theory with nursing and teaching. She
has published over 60 peer reviewed international and national publications and
her first book, Solution Focused Nursing: Rethinking Practice, is in press.
Currently, McAllister is working on another book on Transformative Education in
Nursing and Allied Health.
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Nicole Allen is the Team Leader with
SUMITT, the Substance Use & Mental Illness Treatment Team, in
Victoria. Her
career has focused on improving service response and treatment outcomes for
individuals with a dual diagnosis for the last four years.
Nicole’s background is psychiatric nursing
with postgraduate qualifications in alcohol and other drug studies. She has
worked in various roles in public mental health service provision over the last
13 years, including intensive outreach, case management and acute inpatient
psychiatry. She is currently undertaking a Masters in Health Administration.
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Dr
Philip Morris
Dr Morris has medical qualifications MBBS (Hons), BSc(med) (Hons), and PhD. He is qualified in psychiatry and addiction
medicine in
Australia and is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of
Psychiatrists (FRANZCP) and a Fellow of the Australasian Chapter of Addiction
Medicine (FAChAM).
He is qualified in general adult psychiatry and geriatric psychiatry in
the
USA and is Board Certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and
Neurology (ABPN). He is a Certified
Independent Medical Examiner (CIME) with the American Board of Independent
Medical Examiners (ABIME). Dr Morris is
a Distinguished Fellow and Board Member of the Pacific Rim College of
Psychiatry.
Dr Morris is Executive Director of the Gold
Coast Institute of Mental Health. He is
Medical Director of Mirikai, a young adult drug and
alcohol rehabilitation program on the Gold Coast, and is Medical Director of
the Gold Coast – Tweed Memory Disorders Clinic.
He has a private psychiatric and medico-legal practice on the Gold Coast
and in
Brisbane. He is a member of the
Repatriation Pharmaceutical Reference Committee.
Dr Morris has held professor positions in
psychiatry at the
University of
Melbourne and the
University of
Queensland, and at the
School of
Health Sciences at
Bond
University. At the
University of
Melbourne he
was the chairman of the Department of Psychiatry Research Committee. He has been Medical Superintendent of
Macquarie
Psychiatric Hospital, North Ryde NSW, and Director of Mental
Health for the Gold Coast District Health Service. He was the Foundation Professor/Director of
the National Centre for Post Traumatic Mental Health in
Melbourne. He has been a member of the Queensland
Compensation (Q-Comp) Medical Assessment Tribunal – Psychiatric, and was
chairman of the RANZCP Continuing Professional Development Subcommittee.
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Ms
Rebecca Coleman
Rebecca joined the Inspire Foundation in
2007 as the Project
Manager of Reach Out! Pro. She has a BA in
Political Science and History, as well as a sub major in Information Systems
from the
University of
NSW and is currently doing post-graduate studies in Project Management
at
University of
Technology Sydney. Not shy of a challenge Rebecca has worked across a number of
sectors including defence, corporate recruitment,
financial services, information distribution and website management. However
over the last 5 years Rebecca has concentrated her efforts on implementing
education and health promotion projects in the Not-for-profit and Government
sectors, with a particular focus on young people and their Alcohol and Other
drugs use. Rebecca is excited to be taking on the Reach Out
Pro project as a way to enhance the capacity of professionals to interact and
engage with young people through their preferred information medium – the
internet.
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Dr Richard Hicks is Professor at
Bond
University. He
has published more than 150 articles and papers across a variety of applied
areas, mostly in occupational and counselling
psychology.
His
curent
interests are in stress and its effects. He has supervised more than 30
doctoral, masters and post-graduate diploma students in the areas of stress,
personalit and behavioural
affects.
The current research he is repoprting was conducted by the co-author, Sandra
Lorensini, under his
supervision, for the award of Doctor of Psychology.
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Mr Richard Baker
Richard Baker is currently employed as an
Addiction Counsellor for the Addiction Resource
Centre Taupo Trust,
Taupo,
New Zealand. He recently obtained his degree in Applied Social Science through
the
Australian
College of Applied Psychology. As part of the degree he was required to
complete a certain number of hours as an intern for a community
organisation. He was fortunate to obtain an internship with
the Mental Health Association (Queensland) Incorporated at their Gold Coast Branch. As part of his
internship, he was required to research a topic within the workplace
environment. Richard chose to research the benefits of Support Groups for
people with mental disabilities. Some of the findings from that research are
presented here today. Prior to the research project Richard had been involved
in Support Groups through his work within the New Zealand Police which included
peer support, victim support and community networking.
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Rob worked as a school
counsellor
in Sydney and regional NSW from 1981 to 1999. Rob’s PhD, which he completed in
1999 at
Newcastle
University, investigated stress, depression and anxiety and their relationship
to resilience and coping behaviours in senior
secondary students. Anthony has conducted training courses internationally as
well as in
Australia in mental health and related issues for over 20 years. He has also
managed adolescent mental health services and worked at the family court. From
2000 Rob and Anthony have been Statewide Training Coordinators within NSW
School-Link initiative, developing and delivering training courses on
adolescent mental health to school and TAFE counsellors
and other mental health workers through NSW. Recent publications have focused
on adolescent depression, self-harm, attachment in adolescence,
comorbid mental disorder and substance use in adolescence
and the effective use of Interpersonal Psychotherapy with adolescents.
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Prof
Sharon Dawe
Sharon
Dawe is a
Professor in Clinical Psychology at
Griffith
University.
She has been working as a researcher and clinician in the field of substance
misuse and mental health for over 20 years at the
Institute of
Psychiatry,
University of London (UK), National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW and
now
Griffith
University,
Brisbane on a range of clinical interventions for heroin, alcohol and other
substance misuse.
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Her most recent work involves the
development and evaluation of the Parents Under
Pressure (PUP) program in collaboration with Paul H Harnett (University of
Queensland).
This program targets multi problem families where there is a parent with a
substance misuse problem, anxiety, depression and child maltreatment. The work
has been funded by the NH&MRC (randomised
controlled trial), the Department of Health, Drug Programs Bureau, NSW and most
recently Queensland Health, ATODS.
Sharon
Dawe is
also leading a consortium investigating “Drug Use in the Family: Impacts and
Implications for children” funded by Australian National Council on Drugs (2005
– 2007). She retains a strong interest
in child abuse and protection issues in mulitproblem
families and has been an expert witness in both the
UK and
Queensland.
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Mrs Sharon Booth
Sharon Booth: Clinical Nurse Consultant for
Psychiatric
Emergency
Care
Center (PECC) at
Wyong
Hospital on
the
Central
Coast of NSW.
Sharon has worked
as a Mental HealthNurse for 30 yrs and has a special
interest in acute adult psychiatry and Dual Diagnosis. She is a
credentialled Mental Health Nurse with the Australian and
New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses and has a Masters Degree as a Nurse
Practitioner. She also works in private practice supporting a G.P. assessing
and counselling mental health patients in the
community.
Valda Miller: Registered Nurse for the Acute Assessment Team at Northern
Sydney
Central
Coast Area
Health. Valda has worked in Mental Health Nursing for
over 3 decades in both clinical and management roles. She has set up services
and managed teams both in hospitals and in the community. She is currently the
Team Leader for the assessment team on the Central Coast of NSW and is involved
in the commissioning and policy development of the Psychiatric Emergency Care
Centre.
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Mr Tony Swift
Tony Swift is a Psychiatric Assistant who
has worked within the Mental health field for 26 years
in various mental health settings both the private sector and public sector.
National certificate in Advanced Mental
Health Support Work
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Dr
Tahereh
Ziaian
Dr
Tahereh Ziaian is a Health Psychologist and currently is a lecturer
with the
School of
Nursing and Midwifery, at the
University of
South Australia. She has been engaged in cross-cultural psychology and public
health research, in both qualitative and quantitative research methods for more
than 19 years and has made substantial contributions to the public discourse on
migrants’ and refugees’ mental health in Australia through publications,
consultancies, project management and also in the significant public lectures
she has been invited to deliver. She is active in national and international
networking and collaboration in the area of transcultural
mental health. Her latest contribution to the research in this field is her
role as the lead investigator of a 3 year ARC Linkage collaborative project, the
largest study of its kind undertaken in
Australia
on the mental health of refugee children and adolescents.
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Mr Timothy Coombs
Tim Coombs is a General and Geriatric
trained nurse with a Masters Degree in Nursing and a
Honours in Psychology. He has been involved in the training
and implementation of routine outcome measurement in mental health services
across
Australia and
New
Zealand. He is
currently coordinator of Training and Service Development for the Australian
Mental Health Outcomes and Classification Network and based at the New South
Wales Institute of Psychiatry.
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A/Prof Vijaya Manicavasagar
Vijaya Manicavasagar is a Senior Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor
within the Black Dog Institute, School of Psychiatry at the University of New
South Wales. As the Director of Psychological Services within the Black Dog
Institute she is responsible for developing and implementing a range of
education programs for training mental health professionals in the diagnosis and
treatment of mood disorders. These include programs for general practitioners,
nurses, psychologists and school counsellors. More recently, she has been
involved in developing a workplace program for the NSW Police Force for senior
officers. Vijaya is also involved in the development of clinical psychology
services within the The Black Dog Institute Clinic which will eventually offer a
range of individual and group treatment programs for patients with mood
disorders.
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Dr Aaron Groves is the Director of
Mental Health in Queensland. He graduated in Medicine from the University of
Western Australia in 1985 and became a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New
Zealand College of Psychiatrists in 1991. In 2001 he became the Chief
Psychiatrist and later the Director of Mental Health in Western Australia before
moving to Queensland in 2005.
He has a significant involvement at the national level as Deputy Chair of the
Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council’s Mental Health Standing
Committee; and Chair of 3 subcommittees.
Dr Groves has been on several committees of the Royal Australian and New Zealand
College of Psychiatrists; including the Board of Practice Standards, the
Committee for Training, the Ethics Committee and the Chaired the Boundary
Transgressions Project.
Dr Groves has experience in Adult, Old Age, Forensic and Emergency Psychiatry
and has particular interest in Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum Disorders and
Affective Disorders. He was previously the Western Australian Board Member of
beyondblue: The National Depression Initiative. He was also the Western
Australian Mental Health Coordinator for the Mental Health disaster response for
Western Australians affected by the 2002 Bali Bombings and the 2004 Tsunami.
In his current role in Queensland, he is leading the development of the Qld
Strategic Mental Health Plan 2007-2017, a blueprint to guide the future of
mental health services over the next ten years.