Almost half of all Australian adults will face mental ill-health during their lives. Suicide was the main cause of death for Australians aged 15 to 49 years in 2019. More than 3,000 Australians died by suicide in 2020, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s (AIHW) latest report: Suicide and Self-Harm Monitoring.
With a background in Information Technology in the corporate world, Phillipa changed careers around 2015, delving into the world of natural therapies. Building upon a passion for helping others, Phillipa completed a Graduate Diploma in Psychology at Monash University in 2021 and went on to undertake an honours degree in Psychological Sciences at Swinburne University in 2022. During her honours degree, Phillipa discovered a passion for research that was nurtured by her supervisors.
Phillipa is now undertaking a PhD in Clinical Psychology at Swinburne University with a particular interest in complex trauma, men’s mental health, and the mental health experiences of Australians living in regional and/or rural areas.
Read more >After completing her 4th year Psychology thesis in 2006 on the effect of resilience and hope on adolescent academic engagement, Mandy Gibson worked with the Department of Communities Qld, and Child and Youth Mental Health Services (Qld Health). Mandy has over a decade of clinical experience as a Psychologist providing suicide risk assessments to young people following near lethal attempts and treatment to young people experiencing suicidality, complex trauma, self-harm and other mental health issues.
Read more >Laura is currently managing the evaluation of the National Suicide Prevention Trial in Tasmania and has research interests working alongside people in regional and rural areas, including people with lived experience of mental illness and suicide, youth, and children. Laura has worked in research and project roles in government departments across Australia, including the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Laura has studied psychology, philosophy, and public health, and has interests in the use of mixed-methods and action research approaches to inform research questions, policy decisions, and program evaluations.
Tara Lal is a firefighter and peer supporter with Fire and Rescue NSW. She has an honours degree in Physiology as well as a Bachelor of Applied science in Physiotherapy. Tara has managed the psychological well-being program at Fire and Rescue and has collaborated on research projects aimed at building resilience in firefighters and promoting conversations around mental health between managers and employees.
Tara is a Mental Health First Aid instructor and has written a book about her own experiences following the loss of her brother to suicide.
Read more >Kylie King is a Senior Research Fellow at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University. She has expertise in male suicide prevention research and mental health program evaluation. She is interested in the capacity for public health interventions to have positive impacts on men’s mental health across the life span.
The project is being undertaken in collaboration with researchers at the University of Melbourne and Orygen, and with Tomorrow Man.
Read more >Dr Erin Kelly is a Clinical Psychologist at The Matilda Centre, University of Sydney. She completed her PhD at the University of New South Wales, for which she was awarded the Australian Rotary Health and the Alliance for the Prevention of Mental Disorders for Research Excellence Award, PhD Researcher Award (2018). Her research interest is prevention and early intervention for substance use and mental disorders, with a particular focus on adolescents.
She is the lead trainer of the Preventure program in Australia, a personality-focused brief intervention for preventing substance use and mental disorders in adolescents.
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