Pebble in the Pond

With 20 years' experience in the community, health, justice and corporate sectors principally in the areas of sexual, domestic and family violence policy, practice and law reform Hayley Foster is a passionate leader in the family and domestic violence sector. CEO of Full Stop Australia, Hayley chats with us today about how her wide scope of experience has solidified her commitment to making system...

On today’s episode of Pebble in the Pond we chat with Lyndon Reilly. Lyndon is a Badtjala (But-chulla) Mununjali man. Lyndon has lived a majority of his life in the North Central Coast of Queensland Township Mackay. Since 2012, Lyndon had been working full time for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Queensland Section as a Mental Health Promotion Officers. Currently, Lyndon is employed fulltim...

On today’s episode of Pebble in the Pond we chat with Dr Joel Davies, Psychologist and Senior People Scientist at Culture Amp. Joel works tirelessly to help people reach their full potential and his career to date has spanned across academia, organisational development, learning and development, and tech product development.   Joel works with Culture Amp's APAC customers to design employee fe...

Today we chat with Professor Bronwen Dalton. Bronwen is the Head of the Department of Management and the Director of the Masters of Not-for-Profit and Social Enterprise Program at the University of Technology, Sydney. She is also a North Korea expert. In 2012-14 Bronwen was the National Manager, Research at Mission Australia.   Bronwen was an expert adviser on the evaluation of the Commonweal...

Today we have the trail blazing Pat Dudgeon on the podcast. We discuss with Pat how she started out in her studies, her motivations and the projects she’s been a part of. We discuss the big events of the last few years, the progressive ideas which have led to different models and programs as well as considerable change for the Indigenous community.   Pat talks about the importance of connecti...

Chris May – Founding Director of Mayden, the company behind iaptus, the world's most popular EHR for psychological therapies, is our guest on the podcast today.  Having worked in healthcare analytics for over 30 years, Chris is passionate about using the power of data to improve service provision and patient outcomes. Today we chat about how the latest technology developments in the UK aim to...

In today’s podcast episode we chat with Associate Professor Chris Wilkins from SHORE & Whariki Research Centre, the College of Health at Massey University in New Zealand about the preferences for different cannabis law reform options among the general population and key national stakeholders in New Zealand. To provide some background, several countries including Australia and New Zealand are d...

Alistair is an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company and a leader of the People and Organisational Performance Practice. Alistair works with clients to transform culture, orchestrate and lead change, develop leadership and talent and reimagine operating models and organisational design. Alistair is a leader of the McKinsey Health Institute and one of the drivers of McKinsey’s thinking on cre...

Mary O’Hagan was a key initiator of the psychiatric survivor movement in New Zealand in the late 1980s and was the first chairperson of the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry between 1991 and 1995.  She has been an advisor to the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Mary was a full-time Mental Health Commissioner in New Zealand between 2000 and 2007. Mary is curre...

For the past 10 years headspace Schools have been working across the country, supporting Australian schools across the spectrum of mental health literacy, suicide prevention, risk management, and recovery. Kristen Douglas is the National Manager and Head of headspace Schools. Kristen joins us as today’s podcast guest to chat about the importance of a whole school approach in promoting student well...

Sam Frost is an Australian actress, media personality and author. First winning hearts after appearing on The Bachelor Australia in 2014, then starring in the very first Bachelorette Australia in 2015, Sam has been described as the Aussie girl next door.   In 2015 she became a national radio host working alongside comedian and TV personality Rove McManus before joining the cast of Australian...

In recent years, there has been increasing public, political and media attention around the world to the question of drug law reform. Jurisdictions across the Americas, Europe and the United Kingdom are debating and enacting reforms relating to cannabis and other illicit drugs. In Australia, too, the debate around drug law reform continues. But while some states and territories have decriminalised...

Systems of violence are complex, and solutions require more than just physical techniques. One holistic approach to personal safety is Empowerment Self Defence (ESD), an evidence-based primary violence prevention system that teaches individuals how to recognise and interrupt violence by listening to the intuition assessing their options, asserting boundaries, using de-escalation strategies and pro...

Leadership is no longer about individual strength, but group strength.  So what does leadership look like today when we’re facing complexity and challenges in every direction?   By activating a distributed leadership model with the methods to help people operate out of their comfort zone, model inclusive culture, and sharpen their critical curiosity for the unknown you’ll be taking steps to s...

Prior to COVID-19 the AOD sector struggled to attract, recruit, and retain the workforce required to deliver quality care. The situation is now critical. However, it’s not all doom and gloom. The AOD workforce are caring, professional, and passionate people, who advocate for those who access services. Despite the challenges we face as a sector, the workforce demonstrates a resilience and commitmen...

For mental health to progress, we must continually strive for greater visibility, and have all voices heard, recognised, and encompassed within practice. This week’s guest Emily Unity is a mental health professional, software developer, and multidisciplinary creative. They are also a queer, culturally diverse, and neurodiverse young person. With a diverse portfolio in the mental health and human r...

Recognition of gambling addiction and the harm it causes has come a long way. Gone are the days when public and even clinical perceptions of gambling addiction focused on the personal responsibility paradigm. But in terms of treatment, support, prevention and even stigma we still have a long way to go to. This week’s guest Tony Clarkson is the Vice-President of the Psychotherapy & Counselling...

It is recognised that the Northern Territory has one of the highest rates of suicide in Australia, if not the world. But why? Joining us to explore factors behind these shocking statistics is this week’s guest Robert Parker. Initially completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Archaeology before working on the Tiwi Islands in the NT for three years as an art and craft advisor, Robert began his career...

Help seeking trends among children and young people are rapidly changing. Generations Z and Alpha, have their own unique preferences and expectations for help seeking, particularly in relation to their mental health and emotional wellbeing. In recent years, Australia’s national helpline for children and young people, Kids Helpline, has seen seismic shifts in trends and patterns of help seeking by...

The journey to sobriety is paved with many challenges. For many people with a substance use disorder, stigma may stem from the inaccurate beliefs that addiction is a moral failing, instead of what we know it to be—a chronic, treatable disease from which you can continue to lead a healthy, happy life. Holding a master’s degree in communications and media studies, this week’s guest Lotta Dann worked...

Schools offer a unique opportunity to both identify young people with mental health difficulties and work with them in the preventative, intervention, and support space. There is so much that can be done in schools so that we can stop watching students fall through the crack and start making a difference and changing the mental health statistics. Joining me this week to discuss how we can better i...

This week’s guest Lieutenant Colonel Jacqueline Costello was commissioned into the Australian Army in 2002 and has undertaken a diverse range of clinical, organisational, operational, command and staff appointments during her service. Jacqueline holds a Masters in Organisational Psychology and currently leads the Human Performance Optimisation team at Headquarters Forces Command. She has served as...

In 2018 as part of the National Suicide Prevention Trial, it was identified that the national approach to promoting help-seeking, mental health, and suicide prevention in schools needed to be strengthened to include place-based approaches relevant to and appropriate for First Nations young people living in the Darwin region. headspace Schools were commissioned to co-design a resource which support...

To encourage people to successfully engage in alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment, services need to be safe, welcoming, and non-judgmental. One strategy used by many AOD service providers is to empower and utilise the voices of individuals with lived experience. Growing in popularity and prevalence within the sector, lived-experience workers (or peer support workers) play an important role in c...

Surf lifesavers and paid lifeguards are an under-researched, yet vital, part of the first responder workforce. Having patrolled beaches to keep the public safe for over 113 years, surf lifesavers and lifeguards often risk their own lives, placing the duty of care to others above themselves. Continued exposure to traumatic or catastrophic rescue and first aid incidents during their time as members...