Mental Health SIG

The Mental Health SIG aims to take a population, rather than individual approach to advocating for mental health promotion and the prevention, treatment and management of mental disorders. At the same time, we recognise that certain populations are at greater risk of poor mental health and require more targeted support and advocacy. The Mental Health SIG committee, along with our members, responds to emerging and ongoing issues relevant to mental health primarily through generating evidence-based position and policy statements, submissions and supporting the work of other organisations.

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Mental Health SIG Committee: 

Co-Convenor: Dr Stephen Carbone
E: [email protected]

Dr Stephen Carbone is the Founder and CEO of Prevention United a mental health promotion charity based in Melbourne that has a national reach. Stephen has extensive experience in mental healthcare having worked as a GP and as a medical officer in Victoria’s specialist mental health services. He also has considerable experience in mental health policy and program and service development having held senior roles in the Department of Health and Human Services, Orygen Youth Health, headspace, and Beyond Blue. Through his work at Prevention United Stephen is focused on building the capacity and capability of the mental health promotion workforce, and advocating for greater government action and investment in initiatives to promote mental wellbeing and prevent mental health conditions from occurring in the first place. 

Co-Convenor: Dr. M Tasdik Hasan
E: [email protected]

Tasdik is a global mental health researcher & PhD candidate at Monash University Melbourne.  He co-designs digital mental health interventions for vulnerable communities in Bangladesh as his PhD project. He is a public health physician and educator with three primary areas of contribution. The first is generate mental health research evidence from low resource settings, which includes the burden of diverse mental health conditions, impact of the pandemic on mental health, mental health support needs of underserved communities, community -based psychosocial interventions and refugee mental health. His research draws on the theory of global mental health and complex systems thinking to promote health and wellbeing in LMICs.  His second area of contribution is structured mentorship. Through his academic teaching, he is mentoring a pool of mentees from different part of the world to train them implementing the principles of global mental health. His third area of interest is policy advocacy, and he is actively using science communication theories partnering with media houses, relevant ministries and policy makers advocating for promoting mental health. He recently contributed to the National Mental Health Strategic Plan 2020- 2030 in Bangladesh. He also led developing the action toolkit, Community Engagement during public health emergencies like COVID-19: An action framework and toolkit which has been nationally launched with endorsement from the Directorate General of Health Services in Bangladesh.

Committee:

  • Deena Mehjabeen
  • Maria Budimir
  • Sharnae Zanotti
  • Peter Anderson

Interested in getting involved? Become a member and start contributing to policies and position papers, participate in advocacy activities, attend an event and share ideas or network on the discussion forum.