Our team

Multidisciplinary teams work in acute and rehabilitation inpatient services, community mental health services and residential services, including community rehabilitation units, hostels and nursing homes.

Disciplines

Our clinicians are trained in a range of disciplines:

• Occupational therapists assess and treat functional skills to enable people to participate in activities of daily living and promote health and wellbeing
• Psychiatric nurses care and treat people with a mental illness, with a focus on the person's physical health
• Psychiatrists are registered medical practitioners who diagnose, treat and help people manage mental illness
• Clinical psychologists assess and treat mental health conditions with the aim of teaching consumers how to think, feel, behave and react in more helpful ways
• Social workers perform counselling and advocacy, including negotiating access to social and community supports (particularly housing and finances)
• Lived experience (consumer and family/carer peer support workers) have a lived or living experience of mental illness and/or a lived or living experience of caring for someone with mental illness. These workers can provide support and connection, and can help people navigate the mental health system.

Multidisciplinary teams

Your treatment and care staff may include the following:

• Key clinicians have a range of backgrounds and qualifications, including clinical psychology, social work, occupational therapy or mental health nursing
• Consultant psychiatrists are registered, qualified senior medical practitioners who have undertaken further extensive specialised training in the diagnosis, treatment and management of mental illness
• Psychiatric registrars are registered, qualified medical practitioners in training to become psychiatrists and working under the supervision of the Consultant Psychiatrist. As registrars are usually required to move locations every six months to complete their training, your treating doctor may change. We try to make the transition process as smooth as possible
• Junior medical staff have recently graduated and have not yet commenced formal specialist training
• Duty workers are mental health professionals within the Community Team who can provide support to you and your family or carer when your key clinician or doctor is unavailable during business hours
• Peer support workers are people with a lived or living experience of mental illness or of caring for someone with mental illness who can provide direct support to consumers and families

Leadership team

Our leadership team consists of the following:

• Director of clinical services and area manager work in partnership to lead and provide accountability for high-quality clinical services. The director of clinical services is also the Authorised Psychiatrist under the Mental Health and Wellbeing Act and can delegate duties, functions and powers under the Act to consultant psychiatrists
• Consultant psychiatrists, program managers and team leaders provide clinical and operational leadership to the programs and manage the day-to-day running of the program
• Discipline seniors (nursing, occupational therapy, clinical psychology, social work) provide professional discipline leadership, development and supervision of the workforce
• Consumer consultants and carer consultants are staff members with a lived experience of a mental illness or of caring for a family member with a mental illness who work at a systems level to help improve service delivery
• Administration officers complete a variety of office duties, including greeting you at reception and providing clerical support to staff

There are also senior staff who provide targeted support and specialist input to clinical services, such as:

• Mental health tribunal coordinator
• Forensic clinical specialist
• Integrated alcohol and other drug workers
• Clozapine coordinators
• Quality and improvement consultants
• Health information managers