Board Member Mr Michael Blair
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Mick Blair is a Credentialed Mental Health Nurse, a Fellow of the College. He was elected to the Board in 2010 and is an active member of the New south Wales Branch. Mick is currently employed with Justice Health in New South Wales having moved recently from Cairns in Far North Queensland, prior to this he spent many years serving as a Mental Health nurse in Victoria and has been an active member of the college in all three of the eastern States.
Mick has been a previous convenor of the International conference for the college in Cairns and has also convened and co convened many of the tropical symposia in Far North Queensland. He has a background in Health Planning and Capital Works as a project officer and has spent many years as a Nurse Manager in the health industry. His hobby of computers has been put to good use for the college, as he has set up the facebook group, and was active in assisting with the new format for this web site.
Mick has completed his Post Graduate diploma in Mental Health Nursing and has a Masters in Nursing Studies, although as a "hospital based" trained Psychiatric Nurse he is an advocate for the move of nursing to tertiary institutions. He says, "we must accept that tertiary training is here to stay - if we want to improve the quality of mental health nurses we must improve the clinical placements for undergraduate students and improve the curricular in nursing to include more mental health component", this is a task all of us can contribute to.
Mick believes that the mental health nursing profession needs a strong voice to ensure that it is part of the national debate on mental health, and that the College needs to demonstrate a strong commitment to attracting new nurses to the profession.
Mick previously held positions as President and Vice President of the North Qld Sub Branch of the college and is a sitting member of the Finance and Audit committee. |
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