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The Section of Youth Mental Health Psychiatry is pleased to present its latest newsletter.

Notes from the Chair

LATE BREAKING NEWS! CERTIFICATE OF ADVANCED TRAINING GETS THE GREEN LIGHT!

On November 4, 2023, at the NSW Branch conference I was able to announce that the Certificate of Advanced Training in Youth Psychiatry has been approved. I want to thank everyone involved, but in particular Iain Macmillan and Megan Kalucy, who started this journey with me over five years ago. There is much more work ahead in 2024, but trainees should be able to apply next September to start Advanced Training in 2025.

Over the recent years we have produced newsletters at various times, and I think we have finally worked out that two a year is about the right number, allowing for the other work that goes on throughout the year. We will aim to produce an autumn/winter edition around early May, and a spring/summer edition around early November.

In this issue, I’m particularly pleased to show off the new members of our committee. They are a very diverse and talented group from right across Australia (and originally overseas) who will bring an amazing amount of experience to our committee, and I look forward to working with them over the next three years.

SYMH Conference 2023

Dr Iain McMillan (VIC) and Dr Angelene Chester (WA) are Co-convenors of next year’s SYMH conference which will take place on the Gold Coast, tentatively July 4-6.

We will keep you updated on the progress.

SYMH Webinars 

Optimal Management of Early Psychosis

Date:  22 November 2023 6pm AEDT

Professor James Scott will talk about psychopharmacology care and Dr Iain Macmillan will discuss the psychosocial perspective with Dr Lisa Juckes as MC. See more information here

SYMH New Committee Members

SA Jurisdictional Member - Dr Karen Miller

Dr Miller is a Senior Staff Specialist for the Central Adelaide Local Health Network and predominantly works as a Public Community Based Psychiatrist for the Eastern Community Mental Health (ECMH) team in Eastern Adelaide.  Within this role, she has developed a youth focus and provide clinical leadership to a small Youth Team which provides community-based interventions for young people from age 16 to 24 who are experiencing severe and complex mental health issues. She also spends a day a week working at headspace Adelaide within the Early Psychosis Program. Dr Miller enjoys seeing young people and providing support and supervision to other clinicians working in this space. She is excited about the prospect of an Advance Training Certificate in Youth Mental Health, and she is hoping to create a youth training opportunity for SA registrars working across ECMH and headspace, alongside a similar program that has been established in the Northern region of Adelaide.

QLD Jurisdictional Member- Dr David Hartman

Dr Hartman trained as a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in the United Kingdom in the 1990’s and worked in an adolescent unit in the UK for about 5 years, before coming to Australia in 2003. He started his career in Townsville, North Queensland, he worked in the public sector in a range of roles at different times including CYMHS Clinical Director, and Consultant Psychiatrist for the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre, the Early Psychosis team, the Adolescent In-Patient Unit and the Assertive Mobile Youth Outreach Service (AMYOS). As a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, he has always gravitated towards working with adolescents, and over the last ten years or so his focus has shifted towards ‘youth’ and ‘young adults’. Dr Hartman also developed an interest in psychodynamic psychotherapy, initially Mentalization Based Therapy with AMYOS, and subsequently in private practice, immersing himself in the Conversational Model and Relational Psychotherapy. He started private practice at the Townsville Private Clinic around 2015, and in 2021 he moved to Brisbane to work at Belmont Private Hospital, where he was appointed as the Director of the Young Adult Unit. 

Dr Hartman enjoys the complex challenge of early intervention with young people, which requires a deep knowledge of neurodevelopmental diversity, trauma, disrupted attachment, and the influence of social context, and the capacity to engage in transformative therapeutic relationships with my patients. As a member of the SYMH Committee he is hoping to contribute to the development of this speciality, both at the local (Queensland) level and at the bi-national level.

TAS Jurisdictional Member - Dr Ana Lusicic

Ana is a psychiatrist with broad experience in managing different mental health issues, with particular interest in youth mental health and women’s mental health concerns. Ana moved to Australia after finishing medical school and psychiatry training at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. Post RANZCP Fellowship she held Consultant positions in ORYGEN Health Service, NWMH Victorian public mental health services and Clarity Healthcare private practice in Melbourne. She recently returned from academic and work experience in Canada, where she was affiliated with University of Toronto and worked in the youth psychiatry inpatient setting at the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. She gained a Masters in Affective Neuroscience in 2017 on the topic of TMS and OCD. Presently Ana is involved in development of public youth mental health services in Tasmania.

Trainee Representative- Dr Jarrad Paul

Dr Jarrad is a Stage 3 trainee from WA. He has a special interest in and passion for Youth Mental Health, he completed the Professional Certificate in Youth Psychiatry through Orygen and now sitting on the organising committee as a trainee representative. This is his second term as both BCT WA Representative and Chair of the WA APT. Over this time, he has developed the leadership and management skills necessary to fulfill these roles. He has worked for one of WA's two youth inpatient wards and helped develop and establish the North Youth Community Assessment and Treatment team. These experiences with clients and their families have formed his knowledge of current issues in youth psychiatry. He is planning to apply for an advanced certificate in Youth Mental Health should the proposal to the college for AT be successful. He is also on the board and has been a mentor for over 10 years for Wheatbelt and Beyond Youth Mentoring, a charity dedicated to mentoring youth in rural and remote regions of WA.

Community Member- Ms Casey Davis

Ms Davis is currently working as a peer support coach in the YESS services NSW and studying a Bachelor of Social Work. She has always had a great interest in youth mental health as she has had her own lived experience navigating through the mental health system. Her area of interest is around actively working with young people and advocating for the changes they would like to see in the delivery of mental health services. Ms Davis believes being a community member of the SYMH committee is an incredible opportunity to advocate for change and bring a lived experience perspective to conversations.

Thank you for reading.

,

Dr. Daniel Pellen
Chair, Bi-national Section of Youth Mental Health Committee
danielpellen@gmail.com

Next Edition 

If there is anything you would like to see included in future newsletters please contact membership@ranzcp.org