Mental Health in Practice

Music therapy has the potential to help people both feel better and get better. In the final episode of this music therapy series, our host Clinical Psychologist Professor Mark Creamer, and Registered Music Therapists: Dr Jason Kenner and Dr Jennifer Bibb explore what music therapy aims to achieve, treatment goals and why change occurs. Expand your knowledge by hearing about the difference between...

So much more than making music; music therapy provides a unique conduit to achieving client goals. In the second episode of this series about music therapy, our host Clinical Psychologist Professor Mark Creamer, and Registered Music Therapists: Dr Jason Kenner and Dr Jennifer Bibb explore what happens in a session. Tune in to learn how music therapists adapt their practice to help a broad range of...

Over millennia and across the world, people have used music as therapy. This three-part series features Clinical Psychologist Professor Mark Creamer and Registered Music Therapists: Dr Jason Kenner and Dr Jennifer Bibb, as they explore the practice of music therapy. In episode one, they offer an introduction to the field of music therapy, what it takes to practice in the field, its different forms...

In this episode of Book Club, Brisbane based psychiatrist, Associate Professor Warren Ward, and lived experience Recovery Coach, Lexi Crouch, discuss ‘The Eight Keys to Recovery from An Eating Disorder’ by Carolyn Costin and Gwen Schubert Grabb (2011); exploring the significance of the author’s brave accounts of their experiences with disordered eating. Tune in to learn why Warren and Lexi see the...

As the mental health impacts of climate change are becoming more widely understood, many practitioners might be considering how climate-distress impacts them both personally and professionally. In this episode, our experts highlight the role that mental health practitioners can play to support individuals and communities experiencing climate-distress, while looking after their own wellbeing. This...

With climate-related extreme weather events becoming more prevalent, it’s no wonder the evidence shows that today’s younger generation have significant concerns about the future. How can practitioners support young people when many of them feel that ‘humanity is doomed’? Tune in as our experts share tips and strategies for engaging and supporting young people as they navigate growing up in a world...

A ‘conspiracy of silence’ around climate change might be present in any conversation, even within mental health practice. In fact, this ‘elephant in the room’ may be bigger than you realise. Tune in as our experts share their top techniques for supporting conversations about climate distress in sessions with clients. Drawing on theories such as Attachment Theory, Polyvagal Theory, and Acceptance a...

While the practical ramifications of climate-related disasters may not be a mystery to many Australian communities, the cumulative mental health impacts on individuals and community may be less obvious or well understood. In this four-part podcast series, join Developmental Psychologist, Ann Sanson, Clinical Supervisor and Psychotherapist, Merle Conyer and Environmental Psychologist, Susie Burke,...

The impact of social isolation and loneliness has never been more prevalent than in a post-pandemic world. Tune in as Dr J.R. Baker, CEO of Primary and Community Care Services, and Dr Rosanne Freak-Poli, life-course and social epidemiologist, discuss the impacts of experiencing social isolation and loneliness. Combining the latest research with their own anecdotes, J.R. and Rosanne explore the imp...

“I have not experienced anyone speak, write, [or] live like Audre Lorde. The things that she was saying 40 years ago are things that I feel like as a society and as a community, we are grappling with today.” – Stephanie Mendis In this episode of MHPN Presents Book Club, social workers Stephanie Mendis and Alyssha Fooks discuss the profound impact that Audre Lorde’s book, ‘Sister Outsider’, featuri...

In this three-part series, Professor Mark Creamer chats with emergency medicine and psychiatry experts about mental health crises. Join Mark and his guests as they share valuable tips and strategies to effectively manage and/or avert a mental health crisis and explore how best to mitigate the negative impact they may have on practitioners. In the third and final episode hear from Dr Jacqueline Hub...

In this three-part series, Professor Mark Creamer chats with emergency medicine and psychiatry experts about mental health crises. Join Mark and his guests as they share valuable tips and strategies to effectively manage and/or avert a mental health crisis and explore how best to mitigate the negative impact they may have on practitioners. In episode two, psychiatrist Dr Tad Tietze provides insigh...

In this three-part series, Professor Mark Creamer chats with emergency medicine and psychiatry experts about mental health crises. Join Mark and his guests as they share valuable tips and strategies to effectively manage and/or avert a mental health crisis and explore how best to mitigate the negative impact they may have on practitioners. In the first episode of the series, you’ll hear from Dr So...

Join Tim McDonald, a mental health peer worker, as he and psychiatrist, Dr Ruth Vine, discuss the evolving field of peer support; what it is and what are some of the merits, opportunities and challenges Tim has experienced in the role.  Hear Tim’s insights about the importance of relationships in peer work – both within the clinical team and with the service users - and the role of hope. Expand yo...

In this episode of MHPN Presents, In the First Person you will hear a powerful story about family violence and maternal mental illness. Join Millie and hear about her lived experience of growing up in a family with a mother with schizoaffective disorder and a father who used violence. Millie describes challenging and adverse experiences in her family life, in particular during her teenage years, a...

Join Prof. Pat Dudgeon (a Bardi woman, from the Kimberley in Western Australia), Dr Stewart Sutherland (a Wiradjuri man) and Prof. Alan Rosen in the final episode of this four-part series as they discuss how, by living in harmony with nature, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are, at the same time, a strength and a priority in our response to the significant impacts of climate chan...

Join Prof. Pat Dudgeon (a Bardi woman, from the Kimberley in Western Australia), Dr Stewart Sutherland (a Wiradjuri man) and Prof. Alan Rosen in the third episode of this four-part series as they discuss how, by living in harmony with nature, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are, at the same time, a strength and a priority in our response to the significant impacts of climate chan...

Join Prof. Pat Dudgeon (a Bardi woman, from the Kimberley in Western Australia), Dr Stewart Sutherland (a Wiradjuri man) and Prof. Alan Rosen in the second episode of this four-part series as they discuss how, by living in harmony with nature, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are, at the same time, a strength and a priority in our response to the significant impacts of climate cha...

Join Prof. Pat Dudgeon (a Bardi woman, from the Kimberley in Western Australia), Dr Stewart Sutherland (a Wiradjuri man) and Prof. Alan Rosen across this four-part series as they discuss how, by living in harmony with nature, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are, at the same time, a strength and a priority in our response to the significant impacts of climate change and the Covid...

Tune in to the second episode in this two-part series as Sabin Fernbacher and Louise Newman build on their previous conversation and explore in more depth, the complex inter-relationship between family violence and mental health; and trauma and mental health.  Join them as they identify the potential significant social, developmental and mental health costs on adults, families, children and, in fa...

In this two-part series of A Conversation About… join Sabin Fernbacher and Louise Newman, peers and experts in this area as they share their insights into the complex nature and prevalence of family violence and its impact on Australian women, children and their mental health. Listen as they traverse the challenges of the field – the chicken and egg of intervention ( What came first, the experienc...

“When students have a high sense of school belonging, we see reduced mental health [concerns], improved well-being, even improved physical health and better school experiences, the benefits of a sense of school belonging are really quite compelling...” Get ready to put the research into practice about the key elements that contribute to young people feeling a sense of belonging. Discover the relat...

“I just remember thinking he could be someone else's baby and I was just holding him.” Ariane, mother of Henry, former elite dancer, child services caseworker, and psychologist and now advocate, shares her raw and unedited account of the experience and clinical treatment of postpartum psychosis. Listen in as Ariane shares her powerful story of being a first-time mum experiencing psychosis. Wh...

In this four-part series, host Professor Mark Creamer will be joined by expert clinicians, researchers, service providers, emergency workers and partners of emergency workers to discuss experiences and topics unique to this workforce, who provide a vital and valuable service to the community.  The series will cover how and why the nature of their work can put emergency workers at greater risk of m...

“No one can prepare you enough for what parenthood is like” - Natasha Lindros What is perinatal mental health? You might be surprised to learn it encompasses more than you think.  In this episode of A Conversation About…, Dr. Nicole Highet, psychologist, and Natasha Lindros, clinical psychologist, share their perspectives on what Perinatal Mental Health is; how and why the field - of which Austral...