ACMHN International Conference Sydney

Well, the International conference is over for another year! Big congratulations to Jon Chesterson and the NSW conference organising committee and the scientific committee for what was a fabulous conference.

Congratulations also to the winners of the various awards:

2009 Mental Health Nurse of the Year: Donna Hodgson

Donna Hodgson is a Registered Nurse with post graduate qualifications in Mental Health Nursing. Prior to working in Mental Health, Donna spent several years working in Paediatrics at the Royal Canberra Hospital. Working with adolescents with Cystic Fibrosis inspired Donna to learn more about Mental Health. Since commencing with Mental Health ACT (MH ACT) services in 1991, Donna has worked in a variety of roles including establishing the Clozapine co-ordination role under the first National Mental Health Plan at both The Canberra Hospital and Calvary Hospital, and the NSW Eurobodalla Region. She has been the Clinical Nurse Consultant of the acute adult inpatient unit (PSU) in the ACT, and worked as a community clinical manager in the community. Donna is the co-author of Australian longitudinal research on the neuroleptic Clozapine.

In her current role within MH ACT, Donna co-ordinates the Post Graduate Registered Nurses who are studying Graduate Diplomas in Mental Health, and oversees the Mental Health Clinical Development Nurses (CDN). Donna is also the Principal Academic to the Mental Health Dedicated Education Unit, which is a collaborative venture between MH ACT and the University of Canberra (UC).

Donna is an energetic participant in many professional activities for Mental Health Nurses, and currently is the ACMHN ACT Branch Secretary. Donna has held significant roles in the past including Vice President of the ANZCMHN and ACT Councillor. Donna was awarded ANZCMHN fellowship in 2002, and became Credentialed in 2003. Donna has a strong focus on consumer rights, and promotion and prevention of mental illness in the community. Some of this advocacy for consumers stems from Donna's personal experience after acquiring a permanent disability following a car accident in 2000.

Stan Alchin Award 2009: Osama Diabat

Winner

Osama Diabat for his paper ‘Practice development nurse in mental health nursing: Evolution of a new role in Dubai’

Runners-up

Stephen Carroll for ‘The hard word: Male sexual dysfunction and the role of the mental health nurse’

Kathleen Hossack & Toni Garrity for ‘Connecting with carers is everybody’s business: Training nursing staff to promote best practice in providing a family and carer friendly public mental health service’.

About the Award

The Stan Alchin Award is presented during the closing ceremony of the Conference. The Award honours Stan Alchin's commitment to mental health and mental health nursing. It was inaugurated and funded by Rozelle Hospital, where Stan Alchin undertook his influential work in Australian mental health nursing education.

The Stan Alchin Award is presented to honour and recognize the primary place of clinical practice in mental health nursing. The Stan Alchin Award goes to the outstanding clinical paper presented at the conference by current practicing clincian/s. Two runners-up prizes are also offered.

Presenters must indicate if they would like their paper to be nominated for the Award when they submit their abstract.

Stan Alchin Award: AUD$1500.00 and trophy Encouragement awards (2): AUD$250.00

All papers eligible for the Stan Alchin Award will be judged using the following criteria:

1. The presentation relates closely to the conference theme

2. The paper is related in some major way to clinical practice

3. The paper makes a significant contribution to new or existing knowledge

4. The implications for clinical mental health nursing practice are clear and explicit

5. The presentation has a clear focus

6. The key concepts are clearly defined

7. The presentation demonstrates a logical progression of ideas

8. The presentation was couched in everyday language

9. The overall conference presentation is of a high standard,
and

10. All presenters are currently practicing clinicians.

Research Award 2009: Ann Edmonds, Nadine Bartholomeusz-Raymond, Therese Fitzpatrick, Judy Finn

Research Winner

Beyond Blue Team:

Ann Edmonds (lead), Nadine Bartholomeusz-Raymond, Therese Fitzpatrick, Judy Finn

Paper Title: 'Engaging Young People in the Primary Care Setting'

Research Runners-up

Marc Broadbent for his paper titled ‘The factors that influence the interactions between mental health triage nurses and emergency department triage nurses’

Andrew Watkins for the paper titled ‘Re-turning the blind eye: Addressing metabolic complications in young mental health consumers’

Poster Award 2009: Tamara Vallido, Debra Jackson & Louise O'Brien

Winner

Tamara Vallido, Debra Jackson and Louise O'Brien.

ACMHN Seventeenth Annual Oration by Professor Gail Stuart
Professor Stuart addressed College members and invited guests at the ACMHN Annual Oration.

A satisfied customer reports!

My interest in attending the ‘Mind to Care’ Conference of the ACMHN held this year in Sydney was piqued when I heard that there would be an ‘arts aspect’ to the event. Being held in my hometown, I decided to: 1) send an abstract outlining my art project 2) apply for some conference leave and 3) apply for the Janssen-Cilag Scholarship. When the trifecta materialised, all that was left to was to finalise my presentation, which involved a photo montage slideshow entitled ‘Inverted Maslow- Alarms Must Be Worn.’ The work comments upon the work of creativity in the modern mental health unit space, ‘surveillance culture’, the loss of green space, the modern ‘warehouse’ MHU, and veiled warning for those who fail to ‘read the signs.’

Although the work was designed with a bent more a-tune to punk than genteel romanticism, feedback that I received by those who saw the work was positive. Some recognised mirrors to their own experiences that resonated with the presentation. This was encouraging. There were also some blank faces, which, as in all things ‘art’, goes with the territory...

I enjoyed several of the other sessions that I attended. One of these examined the use of humour in care settings (O’Neil), which mentioned the way that clinicians employ ‘gallows humour’ as a way of coping with stressful situations. Two other things particularly impacted me: 1) the song by the consumer choir at the conference opening, due to the heartfelt performances by all involved and, 2) A quote by John Sharples of HNEAHS in his presentation, ‘The filth and the furey,’ really summed things up for me: “...generalist nurses touch the untouchable. Mental health nurses have to be willing to do the same in a psychological sense.”

'Mind to Care' Archive

At the 2009 Members Forum, College members asked that we provide access to keynote presentations from our international conferences...so here they are (the ones that we received)! For the 2010 conference in Hobart, the plan is to capture audio files of the keynote addresses and have these available on the website.

We do have almost all the 2009 conference papers in our archive, if anyone wants a copy of any of the presentations please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with the specific details of the presenter, the title of the paper and the day it was presented.

Professor Gail Stuart (USA)
No Health Without Mental Health

Professor Dawn Freshwater (UK)
Narratives of Collaborative Failure: Identity, Role and Discourse in an Interdisciplinary World

Professor Maxwell Bennett AO (AUS)
Mental Illness and Cognitive Neuroscience

Professor Kathleen Delaney (USA)
Neuroscience and Neuro-imaging: Useful Bridges for Attuning to the Mind

Dr Eng Kong Tan (AUS)
Mindfulness is Much More Than You Think