Mental Health

I have set my goal to work in remote and rural Aboriginal communities in WA to help improve and implement health strategies. This includes primary health care and prevention of chronic health disease, by using education to empower and facilitate good health attitudes. One of the communities that I am keen to work in is Lombardina near Broome, which I have family connections. My motivation to complete the bachelor degree in nursing so that I can assist Aboriginal women to stay on country during the birth process and be there to support the women during this. Therefore helping them with their spiritual and cultural journey and keeping iwht their health belief model and their connection to country. As the first person in my family and extended family to go to university and the first Bindjareb women to enrol in the nursing degree I hope to inspire and motivate many other young Nyungar women to follow my lead so that they can excel and be stronger person within their communities and families.

Liesel Hool is planning to pursue a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of New South Wales to commence in June 2026 and has recently been awarded the following Australian Rotary Health PhD Scholarship to examine the lived experiences of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Groups (CALD) in Australia.

Ivan Nugraha (he/him) is a PhD candidate at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, where he is studying the intersection of language-literacy and suicide among young people in Tasmania. Ivan holds a Bachelor of Medicine and a Doctor of Medicine from Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia, and a Master of Science in Global Mental Health with a Specialism in Health Promotion from the University of Glasgow, UK. Ivan was awarded the Dr. Liz Campbell Memorial Prize for achieving the highest overall grade for his coursework and dissertation, a meta-ethnographic study titled Suicide and Self-Harm: Identity Validation among Sexual and Gender Minority Youth.

Hanna is a PhD candidate in Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne, focusing on understanding lifestyle correlates of cognitive function in bipolar disorder. She earned a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Neuroscience from the University of Otago, New Zealand, in 2021, where she received the Leaders of Tomorrow Entrance Scholarship with high distinction in 2018 and a Summer Research Scholarship in 2020.

Farjana I Aovi is a PhD candidate at the Translational Health Research Institute (THRI), Western Sydney University, specialising in population health and epidemiology. She has an academic background in Pharmacy and Public Health and prior experience as a university lecturer and researcher, with expertise in medication safety, maternal health, and child development.

I am a young person with lived experience of psychosis and other mental health challenges. It is these experiences that have lead me to work and advocate in the mental health space. I have volunteered for batyr as part of their University of Technology Sydney chapter, have been a youth ambassador for ReachOut and have been on both the national Youth Research Council and Youth Advisory Council for Orygen.

Alysa Bachmann, who earned her Bachelor of Psychological Science with First Class Honours from CQUniversity in 2020, is a passionate advocate for mental health. Her professional journey as a Provisional Psychologist involved conducting assessments for children as well as supporting individuals living with psychosocial disabilities. These experiences have contributed to her interest in researching mental health challenges.

Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor Tracey Wade has worked as a clinician and researcher in mental health for over 30 years. She is the director of the Flinders University Services for Eating Disorders. She has cowritten 3 books on cognitive behaviour therapy for eating disorders and perfectionism and has over 300 publications in peer reviewed journals. In 2015 she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.

Professor Caroline Donovan is a Clinical Psychologist and Professor within the School of Applied Psychology and the Centre for Mental Health at Griffith University. She has received over $12 million worth of funding throughout her career and has published 14 book chapters and 118 peer reviewed journal articles. Her research philosophy centres around a strong belief in early intervention, with research interests centering around child and youth sleep and anxiety problems.

Caroline Donovan is a Clinical Psychologist and Professor within the School of Applied Psychology and the Centre for Mental Health at Griffith University. She has received over $9 million worth of funding throughout her career and has published 13 book chapters and 95 peer reviewed journal articles. She is an Associate Editor of Anxiety, Stress and Coping, and is currently on the Editorial Boards of Child Psychiatry and Human Development and Australian Psychologist.