I am a Social Worker, educator, guest lecturer and researcher based in Melbourne Australia. I have been a member of MINT since 2015 and also MINT Oceania. I have recently completed a PhD based on the Reasons For Use package of which I am a co designer. This resource is influenced by MI and is aimed to assist consumers and staff to have therapeutic conversations about mental health and substance use.
My work history has included work in Aged Care, Child Protection and working with people with learning difficulties. Since arriving in Australia in 1991 from the UK, I mainly concentrated on clinical mental health roles in Australia and since 2006 have provided workforce development activities and consultation around co-occuring mental health and substance use.I have introduced hundreds of different professional groups to the ideas of Motivational Interviewing and believe MI can play a pivotal role in developing a recovery focussed approach. I have facilitated MI courses for Undergraduates at a number of Universites in Melbourne and ran bespoke training both online and face to face in Melbourne, Victoria, Hong kong and with nations in the Pacific including Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Marshall Islands and Tonga.