Webinar resource

This 1 hour 29-minute webinar was the seventh session in the Mental Health Update series and wraps up 2023 by launching new mental health request pages on the Tasmanian HealthPathways platform.

The webinar also provides an update on Statewide Mental Health Service reforms, an overview of PHT’s commissioned mental health services and other free community mental health services, along with updates on the IAR project. 

Are you unsure about where to send patients for mental health care?

Are you frustrated by endless emails and newsletters about changes to mental health services that you don’t have time to open?

Watch our mental health wrap up: your chance to get all the latest information about in mental health for Tasmania.

This session includes representatives from Baptcare, the Richmond Fellowship Mental Health Nurse Program, Mindfulness Programs Australia, RAW, SANE, Head to Health and the Tasmanian Health Service. They will be providing an overview of their services and what they can offer in support of your patients.

The leaning outcomes covered in the meeting include:

1. Describe the Statewide Mental Health Services reforms relevant to primary care including Access Mental Health, the Southern GP liaison Clinic, the Peacock Centre and HITH.
2. Describe PHTs current suite of commissioned mental health services and other free mental health supports for Tasmanians.
3. Review the Tasmanian HealthPathways Mental Health Request pages to access local supports and referral pathways.
4. Understand how services fit within a stepped care system with reference to the IAR (initial assessment and referral guidance for mental health care).

Speaker information:

Dr Honor Pennington originally trained in the UK but has lived and worked in Australia since 2000. She is currently the Clinical Director for community based mental health services in the South of the State and for the Mental health reform program.

Hannah Nolan’s speciality is mental health, she is a qualified mental health nurse having completed her training in the UK. She moved to Tasmania in 2016, after what was intended to be a short holiday, has now been in Hobart for 6 years. Hannah now has a fiancé and baby in Hobart, and she doesn’t think she will be returning home anytime soon. Hannah has mainly worked in acute settings. She has worked within the mental health hospital in the home and had the opportunity to help develop and establish the Acute Care Team. She has a passion for working with acute mental health needs clients and providing non-judgemental, holistic care. Breaking down the stigma and ensuring clients know that they are entitled to receive care and compassion plus the help they need. Hannah likes to provide others with the care and empathy she would wish her family to receive. Her main goal for the GP Clinician Liaison role is to help provide continuity of care for clients with complex mental health needs whilst also enhancing communication channels and becoming a direct point of contact for GPs with complex mental health clients requiring support, developing a trusting relationship between primary and secondary care.

Audrey van Wyk, who is based in Launceston, has an extensive international background in the health industry, spanning clinical nursing, aged care, community nursing, health promotion, and occupational health and safety with a strong foundation in quality assurance and project management in the public health sector. She leads state-wide teams delivering community based mental health programs in her role as clinical and community programs manager for Richmond Group, where she has worked for the last 5 years. These programs include the Mental Health Nurse Program (South), Mental Health Homelessness Outreach Program and the TasRec program.

Richard Lewandowski who is the Richmond Fellowships Tasmania Clinical Lead, has been a Social Worker for over 20 years and has worked in diverse roles from Child Protection in Northern Territory, to Hospital and Health in Western Australia and Defence. Recently he managed a Community Mental Health Program and an Aboriginal Community Support program in Western Australia that focussed on mild to moderate mental health and recovery for the whole of lifespan.

Nikki Riley is the statewide Program Coordinator for Baptcare’s Horizons Program. Nikki has worked in the Community Mental Health Sector for 10 years, starting in a Step Up, Step Down Facility in Melbourne before moving back to Tasmania and working as a Mental Health Practitioner and then Team Leader at Baptcare, with previous roles in employment services and project work. The Horizons program is a Commonwealth Funded Psychosocial Support Program providing short-term outreach support to people experiencing severe and episodic mental health issues across Tasmania.

Suzy Canadi is Partnerships Manager at SANE, working with healthcare and community sector partners to deepen the impact of SANEs work through system and service integration. Suzy has worked with SANE since 2021 on the roll out of SANE's guided service through PHNs, primary, tertiary and community care and work with NGOs across the MH sector. She also manages the SANE Forum Partnerships, working with over 50 partners who syndicate the SANE Forums on their websites. Suzy enjoys working for SANE because it allows her to connect service providers with options that improve outcomes for people who might otherwise fall through the gaps, and is driven by her vision to reducing health inequity and ending stigma around mental health.

Darren McKay has worked in various roles in the community and clinical settings for over 20 years. Darren has worked mainly in Alcohol and Other Drug Services and in Mental Health. He has also worked in residential and homelessness services and in a variety of roles from frontline clinician to team leader and manager positions. Darren is currently the Clinical Services Manager of Head to Health Launceston.

Kristy Mayne is RAWs Country Outreach Manager. Kristy has worked in the Aged Care and disability industries and is trained in Mental Health First Aid, CORES. Kristy has grown up in a few different communities over Tasmania, starting life in the city then moving to the Derwent Valley then settling in the Central Highlands. Kristy enjoys working for RAW because it allows her to reach out and support those whom are finding life tough. She enjoys being able to connect people to their communities and enriching their lives with practical support to be able to make positive choices to improve their mental health.

Miranda Stephens is a registered teacher of Mindfulness programs in the health and education sectors. Miranda has been teaching mindfulness group programs for medical and health professionals as well as the general community including in rural areas since 2011. Miranda is a Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years of experience in clinical and consulting psychology, working with a range of national organizations. She is the Owner and Director of both Psychology Matters and Mindfulness Programs Australasia.

Dr Anna Seth is a GP with a mental health interest, originally from the UK.  She graduated from Newcastle Upon Tyne in 2003, completed RACGP fellowship in 2010 in Far North Queensland, and has worked in Tasmania since 2011 initially in the Huon Valley and now in Kingston and North Hobart. Anna has worked for PHT since 2021 as a clinical editor for HealthPathways and as clinical trainer for the IAR (initial assessment and referral project).