Maggie Toko is a Commissioner of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission who brings her lived experience of mental illness to her role. She has experience from a variety of positions ranging from work as a consumer consultant to roles in not-for-profit leadership. She is the former CEO of the Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC) and most recently, the Assistant Commissioner of the Mental Health Complaints Commissioner. Her experience as CEO of VMIAC gave her great insight into the consumer movement and the challenges that consumers face daily. This coupled with her work in homelessness, sexual assault and youth work makes her determined to fight for change and to raise the voice of the unheard. Maggie identifies as indigenous to Aotearoa and is of Ngapuhi – Ngati Whatua descent. She also identifies as same sex attracted and as someone with a lived experience of mental illness. Maggie is a fierce believer in human rights and has a strong commitment to ensuring that the voices of all consumers are not only heard but listened to.

Dr Jonathan (Jonty) Karro is an Emergency Physician and Clinical Toxicologist. He is the Director of Emergency Medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital (Melbourne) and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Melbourne. Jonty has been the key ED medical lead in the design, build, implementation and review phases of the award winning St Vincent’s Hospital Mental Health and AOD Hub and presented at the 2023 Mental Health Access and Quality in EDs Conference on ‘Redesigning a constrained ED environment to support acute mental health presentations and provide priority access’.Jonty completed a Sabbatical and Masters in Clinical Toxicology in 2012 working with the Victorian Poisons Information Centre and Austin Toxicology Service. His most significant area of toxicology research has been in the optimal sedation of the agitated/behaviourally disturbed ED patient.

Paisley Suggett is a Clinical Nurse Consultant working as a Coordinator in the St Vincent’s Hospital Mental Health and Alcohol and Drug Hub. Paisley has a Masters in Public Health and Tropical Medicine, as well as a Graduate Certificate in Addiction Studies. Commencing her nursing career working in Emergency and rural and remote healthcare, Paisley has spent the last several years working in the homeless and complex care space in both community and hospital settings. Paisley works primarily with clients from complex psychosocial backgrounds with co-occurring health, mental health, substance use and social complexities.

Dennis is a senior Social Worker (SW3) and senior Mental Health clinician with 26yrs of experience working in acute Mental Health in both community (CATT) and Emergency Dept Mental Health (EDMH) settings. Prior to Covid Dennis worked across several roles including Community Acute Response (CART – previously CATT), Psych Triage, and EDMH. Since the outset of Covid Dennis has been based in ED and principally working in an EDMH role including providing an acute Mental Health and Risk Assessment service and consultation to the Mental Health and AOD Hub since its opening, as well the main Emergency Dept.

Acting Senior Sergeant Brad Turney joined Victoria Police in 1993, gaining extensive experience across northern Melbourne. He established and led the Whittlesea Family Violence Response Unit from 2012 to 2014. Since then, he has served as the Whittlesea Mental Health Liaison Officer, overseeing the NPACER initiative and participating in various Northern Health committees. His work focuses on managing high-risk mental health patients and developing engagement plans with mental health providers. In 2022, he was seconded to the Mental Health Reform Team, providing expertise in shaping police responses to mental health crises and aiding in the implementation of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Act 2022. Brad’s commitment enhances community safety and well-being.

Adrian Armitage is the CEO of ACMHN having started early 2023. He comes from the AMA where he spent four years as CEO of 18,000 future doctors. He has considerable commercial experience spending years as a Regional Director for Asia Pacific managing the P&L of a $600 million organisation. He spent a further five years as a Global Manager with Cambridge University and British Council managing operations across 120 countries. Adrian managed the government engagement program for the Australian Computer Society (ACS) for seven years and sat on various Boards and was a judge in the national iAwards. He is a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia, has studied law at The University of Sydney, completed post graduate studies at Macquarie University, and held guest lecturer roles at The Australian National University. Adrian devotes volunteer time to the Emergency Services Authority in Canberra as a member of the Incident Management Team (IMT – CFU19) volunteering in COVID-19 tracking and also inoculation logistics for ACT Health.

Dr. Rahul Gupta is a Senior Staff psychiatrist with Hunter New England Mental Health Service and a Conjoint Lecturer at University of Newcastle, Australia. He did his Fellowship of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) in 2006 and has worked in senior roles in the MH Service. He has broad interest in Digital Health & in particular in Telehealth. He gained CHIA certification in 2021 from Australian Institute of Digital Health (AIDH). Rahul is currently the Clinical Lead in the innovative Telepsychiatry Project called the Northern Mental Health Emergency Care – Rural Access Program (NMHEC-RAP) funded by the NSW Ministry of Health. The Service commenced on Aug 2016 and is based on a hub and spoke telehealth model aiming to reduce the inequity of access to specialist mental health (MH) service in rural EDs of northern NSW. In addition to providing leadership in clinical matters, he along with other team leaders have evolved the operational guidelines, model of care and implemented the telehealth service in varied geographical sites across 3 LHDs. During the Covid pandemic, he was a member of Covid response working groups of NSW Health. Some of his telehealth guidelines and models of care are published by Agency of Clinical Innovation (ACI) as exemplar models. Rahul also works part time at an intermediate stay psychiatric rehabilitation service where he looks after patient with chronic and treatment resistant conditions in a recovery-oriented framework. He has set up the psychiatry training term in Telepsychiatry and successfully got it accredited by RANZCP – the first in Australia. He is a Conjoint Lecturer with University of Newcastle where he is involved in medical education, teaching, and review of UG curriculum in mental health and digital health. He is an examiner for both UG and PG students. Rahul has done many conference presentations on Telehealth and Digital Health. He has done clinical research on virtual care and digital health. His recent publications are on factors affecting the acceptability of virtual care and online patient self-report for MH triage and assessment.

Jami Jones (she/her) is the Director of Rainbow Health Australia at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University. Rainbow Health Australia promote LGBTIQ+ health and wellbeing through research and knowledge translation, training, resources, policy advice and service accreditation through the Rainbow Tick. Jami has a background in youth and community development and is passionate about bringing together different forms of knowledge to support better health and wellbeing outcomes for marginalized communities. In her role at RHA Jami oversees projects in the fields of LGBTIQ+ youth, aging, health, mental health, and family violence. These projects draw on current research as well as community and sector knowledge to help inform service delivery and policy in ways that affirm and support the health and wellbeing of LGBTIQ+ communities.

Tatum is a proud Indigenous FACEM, whose heritage hails from the Ngajanji tribe, the rainforest people from the southern Atherton Tablelands. Tatum grew up in Tannum Sands in Central Queensland but has always felt at home on Gimuy-Waluburra Yidinji lands (Cairns), close to where her ancestors called home. She works as an Emergency Specialist at the Cairns Base Hospital and also holds a retrieval position with the Royal Flying Doctor Service based in Cairns. She has always felt a strong need to give back to community, and hopes that her voice, knowledge and community standing can help to improve health outcomes for Indigenous consumers. She is the 7th identified Indigenous FACEM in Australia and the first in Queensland. In her spare time she loves going four wheel driving and camping with her 3 dogs, exploring the rainforest, rivers, islands and oceans of far north QLD.

Dr. Daniel Crompton is an accomplished emergency physician with over two decades of international experience across the UK, New Zealand, and Australia. Currently directing Victoria’s busiest Emergency Department, he leads innovations in patient care and department management. Dr. Crompton’s expertise spans clinical leadership, health system reform, and medical education. He successfully managed the COVID-19 pandemic as Clinical Director at a rural hospital and is now involved in designing Australia’s largest emergency department. His contributions to national healthcare standards and guideline development reflect his commitment to improving emergency medicine. Dr. Crompton combines frontline experience with strategic vision to drive positive change in health systems.

Matt Donato is a mental health nurse with over 30 years experience in the field. For the past 8 years he has specialized in Older Adult Mental Health, bringing a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the unique challenges faced by these populations. Matt is passionate about advocating for mental health services that address the complex needs of aging individuals. Throughout his career, Matt has worked in a variety of settings, always striving to provide compassionate, person-centered care. He is focused on promoting best practice and advancing the quality of mental health services for this vulnerable group.