Leading Reform Summit 2024 Speakers

Dr Rosenberg was a public servant in both state and federal departments of health for 16 years, before joining the Mental Health Council of Australia, as Deputy CEO, from 2005-2009. His PhD considering accountability for mental health in Australia was completed in 2017.

He has worked as a consultant on several mental health and suicide prevention projects in Australia and overseas and been a member of several boards, councils and committees. He is currently a member of the Right Care, First Time, Where you Live Project Advisory Committee.

Sebastian’s expertise is in mental health policy, leading the Economics and Systems Science stream at BMC. He has more than 50 published journal articles and is a regular contributor to public debate about mental health policy in Australia.

Jannette is a credentialed mental health nurse working throughout different clinical and education contexts over 18 years, both in Queensland and Ireland. Most recently she worked as a mental health nurse educator with Metro North Mental Health-RBWH, with an conjoint teaching appointment at ACU. Jannette is passionate about partnering for change, developing workforce capacity and wellbeing, workplace culture, and supporting the transformation of mental health contexts to be contemporary Mental health services delivering on community expectations and promoting human rights.

Kobie is an experienced nursing leader, clinical supervisor, and mental health and alcohol and other drug educator. She is a credentialed mental health nurse and a Fellow of the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses.

Kobie is dedicated to building positive and supportive workplace cultures that promote compassionate, recovery oriented, trauma informed care. Prior to commencing with the Office of the Chief Nurse Officer, Kobie lead the Least Restrictive Way Project in the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist and she continues to work closely with the Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drug Branch to support the implementation of Better Care Together: A plan for Queensland’s state-funded mental health, alcohol and other drug services to 2027.

As CEO, Geoff is responsible for leading QuIHN and its workforce of multidisciplinary teams to provide holistic care across Queensland. QuIHN is a specialist Alcohol and Other Drug service providing a continuum of care across Harm Reduction, Therapeutic, and Clinical services.

Geoff has worked in the AOD and related sectors for over two decades. He holds professional qualifications in Health Science, Public Health, and Business Administration. He is passionate about creating meaningful differences through positively impacting health outcomes for individuals and populations. Geoff is also a proud father of a 4-year-old daughter, who does not share his keen interest in dad jokes and secret handshakes.

Michelle Sanders has 27 years’ experience working in designated lived-living experience roles across a variety of locations and services, specialising in
Lived-Living Experience (peer) Workforce development in the community and non-government sectors as well as public mental health and alcohol and other drugs services. She is the Commission’s first Director of Lived-Living Experience, appointed in August 2023, and leads a newly established designated Lived-Living Experience team to support the Commissions’ commitment and activities to strengthen Lived-Living Experience leadership,
peer workforce development and lived-living experience engagement.

Peggy is a psychiatrist who was one of three Commissioners appointed to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. She formerly held roles including Senior Clinical Advisor at the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care; Chief Executive Officer of the National Mental Health Commission; and Director-General, ACT Health. She has also served on several Boards including the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, Health Workforce Australia and the National eHealth Transition Authority.

In January 2018, she was admitted as an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to medical administration in the area of mental health through leadership roles at the state and national level, to the discipline of psychiatry, to education and to health care standards.

Dr Porter implemented and managed the first W.A. Therapeutic Community for complex/comorbid AOD presentations, then helped implement and manage the first Multisystemic Therapy (MST) program within Australian Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), for families with children & youths having conduct disorders. This intensive outreach service has been recognised with leading State and National awards for crime and violence prevention, drug and alcohol abuse prevention, mental illness treatment, and overcoming health inequities.

Dr Byrne is a leading international expert on Lived-Living Experience, acknowledged as a thought-leader in workforce development and the change management strategies required to build authentic, effective and impactful Lived Experience workforces. Louise’s work is informed by her Lived and Living Expertise and multiple, first-hand, life-changing adverse experiences which have had a profound impact on her life. Over the last 20 years Louise has worked in a broad variety of designated Lived-Living Experience roles.

Louise’s seminal 15-year program of research has supported the growth in understanding, awareness and development of Lived Experience workforces, nationally and internationally, and helps shape the perspective of Lived Experience work as a respected, credible, evidence-based discipline. Louise’s work as a strategic consultant and trainer assists meaningful translation of the research findings and promotes an evidence informed approach to implementation.

In recognition of her significant contributions, Louise was recently recognised in the Stanford Top 2% of Scientists list – the world’s most highly cited researchers, and the recipient of the prestigious 2024 Australian Mental Health Prize: Lived Experience.

Gerry Naughtin has worked in the psychosocial sector for over fifteen years through his roles as Chief Executive of Mind Australia from 2009 to 2018, member of the NDIA Independent Advisory Council and in the last six years, working in the NDIS, as strategic adviser. Gerry’s professional training was in social work and he completed a PhD in 2008.

His work involves providing psychosocial subject matter expertise advice and stakeholder liaison. In 2023, he was seconded to the secretariat for the NDIS Review Panel and provided advice to the Review Panel on matters psychosocial. Since returning to the NDIA, he has worked in the Strategy, Design and Implementation Group, within the NDIA.

Dr Bear is a treaty partner from Aotearoa New Zealand who lives and works on the Sunshine Coast's unceded Land, the Custodians of which are the Gubbi Gubbi peoples. Dr Bear is the inaugural Policy Director for MHLEPQ. MHLEPQ is the peak body for people with lived and living experience of mental ill-health, distress and suicidality, a member-based organisation involved with systems advocacy, contribution to the Consumer movement and connecting stakeholders with lived experience, expertise and leadership.

Cate brings a profound depth of knowledge and extensive lived expertise from her eight years of work with NGOs and HHS as an Advanced Peer Support specialist. Her dedication to Lived Expertise advocacy at both state and national levels has been instrumental, particularly through her significant contributions to the MHLEPQ and the human rights discussion paper, “Shining a Light.” Working alongside individuals who have endured dehumanising, traumatising, and trust-violating experiences within systems meant to protect them has been both rewarding and distressing for Cate. This journey has only strengthened her unwavering commitment to addressing critical human rights issues and advocating for those whose voices need to be heard.

Simone Heald is a visionary leader with 18 years of executive management experience in the health sector and holds qualifications in nursing, midwifery, a Graduate Diploma in Childbirth Education, a Graduate Diploma in Adolescent Health and Welfare, a Master of Business Administration, and a Master of Health and Human Services Management. Her extensive background spans acute, primary, and community healthcare, with a proven record in health system reform and service sustainability.

Simone’s leadership is rooted in a profound understanding of the healthcare system’s complexities and the unique needs of the communities it serves. Her commitment to addressing health inequities through a social determinants of health framework drives her work, ensuring improvements that positively impact underserved populations. Her collaborative approach to leadership not only tackles current health disparities but also fosters long-term, sustainable improvements in community health and wellbeing

Simone oversees Melbourne’s Supervised Injecting Room (MSIR), where NRCH has held the lease since its inception in 2018. Recently, NRCH successfully secured the tender to continue operating this vital service in partnership with three other health providers under the North Richmond Health Partners consortium. This collaboration brings an enhanced model of care to clients and leverages the strengths of each partner to ensure comprehensive, integrated services.

Dr Nathan Stam is an experienced clinician, academic and public health expert with a specialisation in acute opioid toxicity, morbidity and mortality associated with problematic drug use, and public health interventions designed to reduce overdose-related deaths. Nathan is a Principal Research Fellow and currently leads the research and evaluation program at North Richmond Community Health (NRCH) while also working as the Acting Director of Education (Teaching and Learning) at the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne.

Nathan has broad ranging clinical and public health experience in this field through his roles as the previous Executive Manager of the Medically Supervised Injecting Room/AOD programs at NRCH, having worked as a Paramedic with Ambulance Victoria, worked with Victoria Police in the Medical Advisory Unit and through extensive work investigating drug-related deaths with the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine.

Since April 2019, Sara Walsh has significantly contributed to the work of the Western Australian Mental Health Commission, focusing on policy development and Stakeholder Engagement. Currently, in the System Development Division, she champions the expansion of the Lived Experience (Peer) Workforces across the Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drug and Suicide Prevention sectors. As a committed ally, Sara actively supports inclusion, diversity, and the reduction of stigma within the LGBTIQA+SB and Lived Experience communities, promoting a culture of acceptance and understanding.

Tony Lee (he/him) is Yawuru of mixed Asian heritage from Broome, and is an advocate for suicide prevention and positive SEWB in the WA Aboriginal community and the Rainbow community. He shares his lived experience of being a Blak, gay Asian man who has lived in remote, rural and urban communities, who has lost loved ones, cared for community and had his own mental health challenges shaped by his intersectional identities.

Tony has worked in Aboriginal affairs for 50 years in a range of different portfolio areas including native title, community and economic development, health, youth mental health, education, employment and training, policy and strategic development, mediation and conflict resolution, public sector management, Ministerial advisor as well as running his own consulting business and continues to do this through various boards and committees.

He was part of Sydney WorldPride 2023, First Nations Advisory and in 2022 founded Kimberley Blak Pride Limited, a Blak Queer not for profit organisation. Tony has always been a strong advocate and champion for positive changes for Australia's First Nations mob for 5 decades and continues this as the Co-chair of BDI's Indigenous Lived Experience Centre's Advisory. Tony was one of the co-authors of the "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lived Experience-led Peer Workforce Guide"

With a master’s degree in social planning and community development, Farina has significant NDIS experience, first as a Local Area Coordinator in both Melbourne and Brisbane, and later, leading a Queensland-wide team of NDIS Psychosocial Recovery Coaches. She brings this and more than a decade’s experience in social policy research and the grassroots not-for-profit sector to her role at the Queensland Alliance for Mental Health, where she leads the peak body’s response on psychosocial supports for people both within and outside the NDIS.

Dr Rubin is also an adjunct Senior Lecturer at Monash University, and a previous Chair of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry’s Victorian Branch. Kerryn has over 2 decades of experience in public and private mental health services. His areas of interest include general adult psychiatry, psychotherapy, and trauma focused care. Kerryn has clinical and academic expertise in Supported Decision Making, reducing restrictive interventions and compulsory care, recovery oriented services, and co-production processes. Kerryn is a passionate advocate for trauma-informed care, and the reduction of restrictive interventions, whilst maintaining safe and therapeutic hospital environments. Whilst Kerryn has been Clinical Director at Peninsula Health they are the first public mental health service in the state to have eliminated the use of seclusion in all of their inpatient units.

Dr Sam Manger is a clinical and academic General Practitioner and industry healthcare consultant with a focus on lifestyle and social determinants. He is the Academic Lead of the Postgraduate Degrees in Lifestyle Medicine at James Cook University College of Medicine and Dentistry, as well as the Immediate Past-President of the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine. He is an Ambassador for the Federal Government initiative Equally Well Australia, Advisory Group Member of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, host of The GP Show podcast for health professionals and was awarded the RACGP QLD GP of the Year in 2021.

Marina has developed a wealth of expertise in family carer peer work through 10 years identified roles specialising in advocacy and provision of support to families, kin, unpaid carers and other supporters in public health, mental health and alcohol and other drug service environments.

Marina has augmented her lived-living experience as an unpaid family carer with recognised qualifications in mental health peer work and a commitment to ongoing professional development and peer practice supervision. Marina additionally brings many years of community volunteering with Lifeline, Care for Life suicide prevention network, and the Hearing Voices movement to her current professional role as a Senior Carer Peer Coordinator.

Irene has been the Chief Executive Officer of Arafmi since 2019. Arafmi is the Queensland Peak Body for Families, Unpaid Carers and Kin of people impacted by mental health issues (Mental Health Carers). In addition to systemic advocacy, Arafmi also provides capacity building programs to mental health carers, including a 24/7 support line, group and 1-1 supports, education workshops and respite.

Originally from Glasgow in Scotland, Irene now calls Brisbane home. Irene has 25 years’ experience working in mental health and disability leadership roles in Queensland and Scotland, working in NGO’s and policy advocacy roles in local government.

She also is someone with a lived experience of recovery from mental illness and is a mental health carer. A retired hockey umpire, with over 100 international ‘caps’, including a Commonwealth games, Olympic qualifying tournaments and two indoor world cups, Irene gives back to the sport by coaching emerging and elite umpires at an Australian and international level.

Amelia Callaghan has worked in the health sector for over 25 years, with experience in both government and non-government services.

Amelia has a background in service delivery in both mental health services and alcohol and other drugs services and is a passionate advocate for early intervention services aimed at reducing the long-term impact of mental illness on children, young people and families.

As an Executive Director at the Commission, she provides strategic leadership in policy and program direction and is responsible for ensuring the implementation of Shifting minds and its accompanying sub-plans, Every life and Achieving balance.

Amelia has also held national, state and territory management roles prior to joining the Commission.

Ivan Frkovic was appointed Commissioner from 1 July 2017 and brings substantial policy, academic and patient-centred experience to the role, having worked in the Queensland mental health system for over 30 years.

With a focus on strengthening partnerships and collaboration, he oversees delivery and implementation of the State's strategic plan for mental health, alcohol and other drugs - Shifting minds.

Ivan’s experience across government and non-government organisations provides valuable insight to help bring all sectors together to focus on delivering better mental health outcomes for Queenslanders.

He has made a significant contribution to community mental health through published papers and articles.