Current Funding

Dr Dave Pasalich is a Senior Lecturer and clinical psychologist in the Research School of Psychology, Australian National University. His research and clinical expertise is in evidence-based practice to promote child and family mental health and wellbeing, particularly in families exposed to adversities.

This has involved partnerships with child welfare services to deliver and trial parent interventions in out-of-home care. He has received several awards for his work, including the ACT Young Tall Poppy Scientist of the Year Award and an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award.

Professor Sonja March is the Director of the Centre for Health Research and a Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern Queensland. Sonja has a PhD in Clinical Psychology and leads the Innovative Mental Health Solutions Research Program at UniSQ.

Her research focuses on the use of innovation and technology to improve access to evidence-based psychosocial assessments and interventions in childhood and adolescence. Prof March has developed world-first digital assessments and programs that are being translated into open access public health services, having significant impact in the Australian community.

My primary research interests are translational research, neurodevelopment, and contemplative science. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at Telethon Kids Institute (FASD Centre of Research Excellence) and have an adjunct academic position at Curtin University. I trained at the Stanford University Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE), the UCSD Center for Mindfulness, and the Institute for Mindfulness-Based Approaches.

Natalie Peach is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney. She currently works as the Project Coordinator on the COPE-A clinical trial, investigating the efficacy of integrated exposure-based therapy for co-occurring post-traumatic stress and substance use disorders in adolescents.

She completed a combined Masters/PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Melbourne and Orygen Youth Health in 2017. Her PhD focused on phenomenological relationships between childhood trauma, PTSD symptoms and psychotic symptoms in young people with early psychosis. Her research interests include adolescent mental health, early intervention, PTSD, substance use, comorbidity and psychosis.

I am a trained teacher and mum of 2 young boys and taught in the independent school system for a number of years.

I joined the University of Melbourne as a research assistant in 2018 to work on a NHMRC funded randomized controlled trial and evaluation of teen Mental Health First Aid in ten schools around Victoria. I also volunteer in community development in a disadvantaged neighbourhood in Geelong. I have a research interest in mental health literacy, student well-being, community education and effective use of mental health promotion and intervention in schools.

Michelle Gossner is currently a PhD student at Central Queensland University under the supervision of Dr Cassandra Dittman and Dr Lisa Lole. She began her career as a primary school teacher working across various educational contexts in Australia and the United Kingdom. Michelle recently completed her Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours) and received a First-Class classification. Prior to commencing her PhD, Michelle undertook an undergraduate Summer Research Scholarship and interned on various research projects.

She has a strong interest in child and adolescent development, particularly the influence of family context, parenting practices and parental mental health. Michelle is passionate about conducting research that can impact the community in a meaningful way.

Sophie completed a Bachelor of Psychology with First Class Honours in 2016, and worked in the mental health sector before continuing onto postgraduate studies. Currently, Sophie is a Psychologist conducting research in a Clinical Psychology PhD at the University of Wollongong. Sophie has worked casually in research throughout her studies and is passionate about mental health.

Sophie has a particular interest in parent-child interactions and how this can influence childhood mental health and family well-being. Sophie is looking forward to the years ahead and hopes that her research will improve the mental health of children and families in Australian communities.

Dr. Carly Johnco is a Macquarie University Research Fellow and Clinical Psychologist at Macquarie University. Her research is focused on understanding the cognitive and environmental mechanisms that impact the development and treatment of anxiety (and related disorders) in childhood and older age. She has published more than 55 journal articles and book chapters and received over $3.5million in research funding.

She has received several awards, including the 2019 Australian Psychological Society Early Career Research Award, 2018 Australian Association of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies Tracey Goodall Early Career Award, and 2017 Macquarie University Early Career Researcher of the Year Award.

Associate Professor Ashleigh Lin is an NHMRC Career Development Fellow and Program Head of Mental Health and Youth at the Telethon Kids Institute. Her research is focused on better understanding the mental health needs of young people, and then developing novel interventions to address them.

She has a specific focus on marginalised groups of young people who tend to have poorer mental health than their mainstream peers, but also less access to acceptable and effective interventions.

Doctor Lauren McLellan is Director of the Centre for Emotional Health Online Treatment Programs, with expertise and special interest in understanding and effectively treating anxiety in youth. Her research aims to use technology to increase access to treatments for anxious youth, especially for those in rural and remote communities.

Her other research interests include improving outcomes of anxiety treatments by developing and evaluating novel intervention or assessment methods to identify youth that don’t respond as well as others to standard treatments. Lauren is also a clinical psychologist and lectures on the Masters of Clinical Psychology postgraduate program at Macquarie University.