Helena is a lived experience researcher. Her research includes involvement with the development of the Queensland and National Lived Experience Workforce Guidelines and publishing several articles on the Lived Experience workforce. She has qualifications in Social Work, Suicide Prevention, Forensic Mental Health and Mental Health Practice. She is currently completing her PhD on subjective experiences of mental health crisis and crisis care. Her research and peer practice are the culmination of her personal experience, collective lived expertise, work experience, and formal study and training- including, Intentional Peer Support, eCPR, Open Dialogue and Certified Personal Medicine. Helena is driven to work in ways that build our collective community capacity to hold and respond to distress. She is committed to centring first person perspectives within all areas of her practice and to address injustice. Helena loves seeking out creative projects that involve avenues for greater collective connection and belonging.

Deb has extensive experience working from a consumer expertise perspective to inform her systemic advocacy and leadership roles. She has a proven track record of managing complex projects, that includes using co-production to challenge systems of power in the mental health sector. Having held leadership positions in various clinical, community mental health and community health organisations, including the peak Victorian consumer organisation the Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC) where she held executive roles including Acting CEO. Deb is experienced training mental health professionals, providing supervision and developing programs from a consumer perspective.

Deb’s extensive history as an advocate for consumer-driven mental healthcare, her lived experience, combined with her expertise and leadership skills, positions her as a powerful voice for positive change in the mental health system.

A/Prof Simon Stafrace is a Fellow of the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP). He is Program Director of Mental & Addiction Health at Alfred Health in Melbourne and Clinical Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Monash University.

His clinical interests include emergency psychiatry, addiction health, psychological trauma, and family & systemic therapies. In 2020-22, he was Chief Adviser at the Victorian Department of Health, contributing to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System and its implementation.

He is currently Chair of the Community Collaboration Committee of the RANZCP, which brings the voice of lived experience to the College’s policy, education, and advocacy work.

Simon Katterl (he/him) is a consultant that advises governments, mental health and legal services on human rights, mental health, co-design and regulation. In addition to his studies in law, politics, psychology and regulation, Simon has lived experience of mental health issues and working from this perspective. 

Simon has previously worked at and advised the Mental Health Complaints Commissioner, as well as Victoria Legal Aid, the Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council, and the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System. Prior to this Simon was an advocate for people who were involuntarily detained under the Mental Health Act 2014 (Vic) at Independent Mental Health Advocacy.

Simon’s research focuses on various aspects of mental health and human rights, including regulating closed environments and the use of compulsory treatment, restorative justice and reparations for human rights breaches, mental health stigma and vilification laws, as well as regulation of digital mental health technologies. Simon also publishes work in the Age, the Guardian and other popular outlets.

Associate Professor Michael Ben-Meir is the Director of Austin Emergency Department. The department treats approximately 90,000 patients per year of which 18,000 are under 16 years old. He has a keen interest in improving the patient and staff experience of being and working in an ED, and in the research and development of systems and processes that allow for timely, quality care.

He chairs the ED/Mental Health committee at Austin Hospital and is involved in local and hospital wide OVA committees and responses.

He holds Clinical Associate Professor roles with Monash and Melbourne universities and is a Board Director of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (Vic). He sits on multiple Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) committees being on the executive of the Telehealth section and the Private Practice Section and is the ACEM representative to the AMA. He holds a Masters in Bioethics and Business Administration.

Georgina has a long involvement with medicine in the Pacific Islands region, which began with a two year placement with the Australian Volunteers Abroad program in 1996, in the remote atoll nation of Kiribati, where she worked as an emergency specialist.

She has travelled to the Solomon Islands and PNG many times to provide professional support and development for local trainee Emergency Physicians, attend the PNG annual Medical Symposium, and facilitate Primary Trauma Care courses. She has also hosted Pacific Islands health professionals during their travels to Melbourne.

Georgina has an interest in research and has published articles exploring the emergency department care of complex patients with mental illness, substance abuse and social vulnerability. She has maintained her links with development organisations working in the Pacific region, and takes an active interest in issues of sustainability and social justice.

Dr Ryan is a consultation-liaison psychiatrist at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital and an Associate Professor at the Universities of Sydney and New South Wales. Though primarily a clinician, his academic interests are mainly at the interface of law, ethics and psychiatry. He also provides medicolegal opinions on matters where issues of restrictive practices may arise.

Dr Cathy Daniel is a Senior Lecturer and the Coordinator of Post Graduate Mental Health Nursing at The University of Melbourne and Scientific Chair for Australian College of Mental Health Nurses. Cathy has continued to work in a clinical role at The Royal Melbourne Hospital in Consultation Liaison Psychiatry and has over 30 years’ experience in mental health nursing. Cathy has completed a Masters Research Degree in minimising mechanical restraint in acute health in 2010. In 2015 she completed a PhD at The University of Melbourne that explored how the how the risk of violence can be accurately identified at ED triage. Cathy is also a credentialled mental health nurse and is committed to supporting nurses to develop specialist mental health nursing practice and is passionate about reducing restrictive interventions and stigma for all people who access health care. Cathy is part of a research group that have adapted and evaluated Safewards in Emergency Departments, Acute Health, and Aged Care settings. In 2023 Cathy was elected as a Board Director for the Australian College of Mental Health Nursing.

Dr Paula Matheson is a passionate mental health nurse with a career spanning over 30 years. Paula is the Director of Nursing: Mental Health at Grampians Health. She has worked in metropolitan services, but mostly in regional and rural mental health services. The breadth of her clinical experience from bed-based services to CATT and triage and case management in rural services has been most valuable in her current Director of Nursing role. She has the opportunity to pursue many of the diverse opportunities that mental health nursing affords. Her career has been devoted to public mental health service across the lifespan, mental health nurse lecturing, book publications, presenting at national and international conferences and senior executive nursing leadership. Paula’s authentic leadership, her strategic thinking and collaborative skills have been instrumental in the transformational work for Grampians Health.

Dr Loren Sher is an Emergency Specialist and Program Director of the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department. Loren has led the development of Australia’s first virtual emergency department model, a new model of care that is now funded as a Victorian state-wide service. Prior to this, she was the Director of Northern Hospital’s Paediatric ED. Loren’s other career highlights include the development of a Paediatric HIV clinic in South Africa and the development of the Paediatric Emergency Department at Northern Hospital, Epping.

Loren is constantly seeking opportunities to deliver equitable, safe, and gold standard care, particularly for vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. Her more recent medical adventures include exploring and creating efficiencies through the marriage of technology and medicine.

Loren is enrolled in a PhD though La Trobe University researching digital solutions in Health care.

Luke Wiseman a dedicated healthcare professional with a wealth of experience spanning over two decades in the public health sector. His career has a proved record of leadership and management success, particularly in guiding clinical teams towards achieving excellence. I am skilled in developing innovative solutions to address complex challenges and use authentic communication to cultivate a culture focused on continuous improvement and leadership development. Throughout my career, I have held diverse roles across hospital clinical settings, corporate, and pre-hospital care environments.

Currently serving as the Associate Director of Clinical Operations for the NSW Ambulance Hunter New England Sector, I oversee service delivery across a vast region of 131,785 square kilometres. This role involves managing a dedicated team of approximately 750 staff across 46 stations, complemented by 10 Volunteer CFR Units. My approach is deeply rooted in maintaining a strong focus on staff that will deliver high performing teams that operate with psychological safety and that put our people at the centre of everything we do.

Mandy serves as the Mental Health First Responder and Virtual Care Coordinator at HNE Mental Health. In this role, she collaborates extensively with HNE Health, NSW Ambulance, and NSW Police on the coordination of roll-out and training, playing a central role in developing key infrastructure to support the program. Her responsibilities also encompass program development, communications, stakeholder management, and project analysis. Mandy’s work was recognised with the program being awarded the HNE MH Virtual Care Initiative of the Year 2023 and was also a finalist at the 2023 HNELHD Excellence Award in the Value Based Healthcare category.  Mandy and has skills in planning, relationship building, and collaboration within and across systems. With over 18 years’ experience spanning both community and inpatient mental health settings, Mandy’s previous roles include Clinical Coordinator at Hunter Valley Mental Health Service, where she focused on clinical governance and evidence-based practice. She has also held both leadership and clinical roles at the Mental Health and Substance Use Service, Concord Hospital, and the Deaf Society of NSW. Mandy will discuss the practical aspects of virtual care and digital health at the conference.

Violet Evans is a Noongar, Yamatji and Wongi woman from Carnarvon. Her father is from the Hill family from the Busselton/Bunbury area. Her grandfather is a Wongi man from the Laverton/Leonora area and her grandmother is a Gumula woman from Tom Price, as is her mother. She works as an Aboriginal Mental Health Coordinator in Geraldton Midwest Mental Health & CADS. Currently employed with the WA Country Health Service, been working in Mental Health for 11years.

I pride myself on the ability to take initiative both within my workplace. I believe that appropriate health care is an essential element of closing the gap, it is therefore essential that clients are in a therapeutic environment in which they feel valued as individuals and free from discrimination. I consistently ensure that I incorporate equal opportunity principles through the use of inclusive language and diverse individualised program for all clients. I ensure that I have model fair and equitable practice in all facets of my position at all times.

Dr Paula Matheson is a passionate mental health nurse with a career spanning over 30 years. Paula is the Director of Nursing: Mental Health at Grampians Health. She has worked in metropolitan services, but mostly in regional and rural mental health services. The breadth of her clinical experience from bed-based services to CATT and triage and case management in rural services has been most valuable in her current Director of Nursing role. She has the opportunity to pursue many of the diverse opportunities that mental health nursing affords. Her career has been devoted to public mental health service across the lifespan, mental health nurse lecturing, book publications, presenting at national and international conferences and senior executive nursing leadership. Paula’s authentic leadership, her strategic thinking and collaborative skills have been instrumental in the transformational work for Grampians Health.

Bill Kuluris, Senior Lead Clinician with over 30 years’ experience as a Registered Psychiatric Nurse within a number of MH settings primarily in Community Mental Health. Currently Working at Echuca Community Mental and Wellbeing Health Service (Bendigo Health) which is located within Rural Victoria on the Murray River. Bill has been instrumental in setting up the ECAT program with Echuca Regional Health ED department. Bill also played a large role initially setting up the Njernda Mental Health and Wellbeing Clinic, he continues to Manage the ECAT program and has now grown it to link with the ERH Primary Mental Health and Wellbeing Stream and with linkages to the Njernda Mental Health and Wellbeing clinic and the ERH Aboriginal Liaison Officers.

A/Prof. Lakshmana is a General Adult Psychiatrist with areas of clinical interest being inpatient psychiatry, perinatal psychiatry, telehealth, collaborative care with General Practitioners , Specialists and other primary care practitioners, and Neurostimulation. He has been in leadership roles in mental health since 2003 and has keen interest in service delivery models, consumer participation in mental health and mental health policy. He has completed his Masters in Health Administration in 2010 to complement his work.
He also works as the Director of Training for the Victorian Specialist International Medical Graduates (SIMGs) and as Additional Director of Psychiatry with Goulburn Valley Health. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Oceania University of Medicine, and a tenured Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry with the Department of Rural Health, University of Melbourne. He is actively involved with undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and has published in scientific peer reviewed journals.

A/Prof. Lakshmana has worked in broad range of clinical settings and has assisted in developing clinical guidelines for management of complex clinical situations and use of certain treatments in mental health.

Belinda is an occupational therapist with over 20 years of experience working in mental health in public and private settings.  She currently works as a sole trader with adults and children who experience mood disorders and/or dual diagnosis.  She also works part time in a specialised behaviour support role in Logan Hospital (Queensland Health) assisting patients in the emergency department and/or acute medical wards with strategies to minimise risk of harm to self and others whilst in hospital.  Belinda has a passion for positive behaviour support strategies which reduce the need for restrictive practice.  A large part of her role includes staff education on a number of areas including sensory modulation.

Julie is an endorsed occupational therapist specialising in adult mental health, with experience in private and public mental health services in clinical, project, operational and supervisory roles. She currently works with people with a range of mental health and complex psychosocial presentations, to help with their long term goal of return to work. With Carolyn Fitzgibbon, Julie has written and published ‘The Sensory Modulation Resource Manual’ and delivers training and consultations on using sensory modulation to enhance occupational functioning and quality of life.

Currently work as a Senior Staff Specialist in Emergency Medicine at St Vincent’s hospital, Sydney. Also work as a VMO in Sexual assault at RPAH, Sydney, and do a little bit of ED telehealth work. I am passionate about our more vulnerable patient groups (including patients experiencing mental ill health, homelessness, domestic violence etc) and staff wellbeing. I had never dabbled in the field of clinical redesign until Paul asked me to take on this project and tbh if it wasn’t for the fabulous team I worked with it would never have gotten off the ground!

Kim has worked in the Mental Health sector for over 30 years. During this time, she has worked in private practice, emergency, community, child and adolescent, adult psychiatry and addiction psychiatry. She has also presented at numerous national and international conferences. Kim has extensive knowledge and experience working with adults, children and adolescents in acute mental health settings within Emergency departments and other acute settings in the community. Kim has been part of developing numerous models of care to further enhance the assessment and treatment of the mental health population within emergency departments. Some of these have been a MH rapid response model which after extensive evaluation was able to reduce the instances of code black (aggression) by 22% as well as adding the implementation of a rotation of psychiatric registrars from QLD health through a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, the reduction of seclusion in emergency departments and the role out of MH nurse navigators for frequent MH presentations to the ED.

Kim currently works within the emergency department in assessing and managing acute mental health at Gold Coast University Hospital and alongside police and the ambulance service as one of their MH co responders, undertaking emergency assessments with both services in the community, with the aim of ED avoidance or assistance to facilitate transfer and assessment by the mental health team in the ED to enhance the patients journey and decrease the length of stay and help facilitate a seamless process towards admission if required.
Kim also works as a Neurodevelopmental Specialist nurse within a neuroscience clinic with high functioning patients who have ADHD and ASD. She has extensive knowledge of the co-existence of distressing cognitive, psychological and physical problems in individuals with ADHD and ASD. Kim has been proactive working alongside the Director of the clinic providing joint education session around ADHD and ASD and they have developed training modules together, in particular for GP’s .

Kim works from a family, systematic and patient centered approach and understands the importance of incorporating these individuals in the assessment, care and treatment. Kim brings expertise, research focus and passion to all her roles.