Mental Health

On 1 Feb the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) announced that - from the 1st July 2023 - the medical use of MDMA and Psilocybin will be rescheduled from Schedule 9 (prohibited substances) to Schedule 8 (controlled medicines) of the Poisons Standard. This will enable authorised psychiatrists to prescribe these substances for treatment-resistant depression and treatment resistan

Dr Stephen Bright is a clinically trained psychologist and senior lecturer on addiction at Edith Cowan University. Dr. Bright is the director of PRISM, the Psychedelic Research in Science and Medicine organisation which is a not for profit, independent research charity developing medical and legal processes for the application of psychedelic medicines for improved well being in Aus

Today we’re speaking with Dr. Tracey Sletten, a senior research fellow from the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University. Dr. Sletten is an expert on sleep and in our conversation we do a deep dive into how shift work affects sleep and how to improve sleep as much as possible while still working as a shift worker. If you’d like to connect with Dr. Trace

At 16 Emma attempted suicide and was left paralyzed. Now, at 21, Emma is a passionate mental health advocate. She take us on a journey of what led up to her attempt and her thought processes immediately before, during and after and ultimately her recovery. Emma reflects on meaningful ways in which to reach out and support someone that may be at risk. She now uses her story as a pow

Today we continue speaking with Professor Sean Drummond, a Cognitive Neuroscientist and Clinical Psychologist at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University. In part 2 of our conversation, we explore the relationship between poor sleep and mental illnesses - how one can be caused by the other. We talk about cognitive based therapy for insomnia (CBTI), the

Today we’re speaking with Professor Sean Drummond, a sleep expert, Cognitive Neuroscientist and Clinical Psychologist at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University. We have split this conversation into 2 parts, in this, part 1 we cover the mechanics of sleep, how much sleep do we need, how much we actually get, the price for insufficient sleep, Sleep pa

Today we’re speaking with Dr. Jarrod White, a Clinical Psychologist working in private practice at The Viewpoint clinic in Caulfield Melbourne. During Dr. White's research he had the opportunity to conduct face to face interviews with holocaust survivors and Sudanese genocide survivors. During our conversation, Dr. White shares some of his research and the key themes of how traum

Today we speak with Professor Paul Fitzgerald who has been involved in the development, evaluation and clinical implementation of new treatments for mental health disorders for 2 decades. He pioneered the use of TMS in Australia and is internationally renowned as a leader in the field of brain stimulation and device based treatments in psychiatry. In our conversation we discuss wha

Today we talk to Phil Armstrong, CEO of the Australian Counselling Association (ACA), about the ethics of client patient dynamics and what happens when a clinician develops romantic feelings towards their client or visa versa. Phil, as the head of the ACA, is in the perfect position to provide some guidance and boundaries on these sorts of ethical questions. As you’ll hear from o

We’ll be taking a break over December and Jan and will post our next podcast in Feb. Thank you for your support and for tuning into conversations about mental health. We hope these conversations have sparked your curiosity and have given you new insights into your own lives and of those close to you. We wish you a safe festive season, take care of yourself and we’ll see you in