Black Dog Institute Podcasts for Health Professionals

With increasing rates of chronic disease and comorbidity, a cohesive, team-based approach to address a broad range of mental health and wellbeing issues has never been more crucial. This webinar explores how GPs can effectively collaborate with other healthcare professionals within integrated care teams, breaking down silos and ensuring better patient outcomes.

Whether you’re a GP looking to enhance collaboration with your team or simply seeking to understand the latest trends in integrated care, this webinar will provide you with the knowledge and tools to transform patient care in your practice.

Facilitator: Dr Phoebe Holdenson Kimura

Guest: Dr Paul Fung

People with mental health challenges, particularly those with complex needs, often require more support than conventional health services can provide. But where can they turn for additional help? In this insightful webinar, Dr. Jan Orman is joined by Rachel Green, CEO of SANE Australia, to explore the power of digital mental health services and online psychosocial support.

Learn about Guided Recovery programs, moderated, clinically governed online communities, and other accredited services that provide a safe, supportive environment for individuals and their families. These services, offered by trusted organizations like SANE Australia, can be an invaluable complement to primary care, offering more accessible and targeted support than unmonitored social media groups.

Perimenopause is the transitional phase leading up to menopause, a time of declining and erratic hormonal activity often impacting both physical and mental health. Common symptoms include fatigue, hot flushes, irritability, loss of joy, anxiety, depressed mood, intrusive thoughts, and insomnia. Only 1 in 5 women seek help for menopause, stigma and shame are common, anxiety and depression risk increase significantly, and this is the highest point of suicide risk in a woman’s life. 

Join us for this short webinar where Clinical Psychologist Dr Sarah Barker and GP Dr Ceri Cashell will discuss how GPs can learn to consider whether perimenopause could be a contributing factor to mental health conditions such as anxiety or depression that patients are experiencing. 

Discover the transformative impact of integrating digital mental health resources into clinical care. While these tools are effective on their own, their full potential is realised when clinicians play an active role in guiding, coaching, and engaging with patients. Join Dr. Jan Orman and clinical psychologist Dr. Sarah Barker as they explore how incorporating these resources into your practice can elevate patient outcomes, boost engagement, and offer a more holistic approach to mental health care.

This important webinar is designed to equip health professionals and leaders with the tools, insights, and strategies to foster mental wellbeing in their teams during crises and beyond.

This session will:

* Present key research findings on healthcare workers' mental health needs during crises like COVID-19.

* Introduce an insightful report and checklist as actionable resources for enhancing mental health support in healthcare settings.

* Demonstrate how addressing mental health can strengthen teams and improve organisational outcomes.

* Use compelling data to outline what needs to change and the steps leaders can take to drive improvement.

* Empower healthcare leaders with clear, implementable recommendations for creating mentally healthy workplaces.

Facilitator: Dr Peter Baldwin – Senior Research Fellow and Clinical Psychologist, Black Dog Institute | Co- Investigator, Future-Proofing the Frontline guide

Panellists: Prof Natasha Smallwood – Respiratory Physician, Department of Respiratory & Sleep Medicine at The Alfred Hospital; Head Chronic Respiratory Disease Group and Respiratory Research Training Lead                                          Respiratory Research @ The Alfred School of Translational Medicine, Monash University; and Chief Investigator, Future-Proofing the Frontline report

 Dr Bethan Richards – Chief Medical Wellness Officer / Director SLHD MDOK Centre | Rheumatologist, Co- Director Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, PhD Health Professional

Jess Maher- Lived Experience Representative, endorsed enrolled nurse                

Future-Proofing the Frontline: Organisational strategies to support frontline healthcare workers and leaders during times of crisis, is a guide that brings together insights from diverse perspectives and multiple sources of data to understand the best organisational strategies for supporting the mental health of healthcare workers.

The guide and Organisational Checklist are available here: https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/news/future-proofing-the-frontline/

As the new school year begins, it's the perfect time to focus on supporting children's mental health. Join this webinar to discover powerful, evidence-based tools that help children manage depression, anxiety, and unhappiness. In this insightful session, Professor Sonja March will speak with Dr. Kathy O'Grady about the exciting opportunities in digital mental health and how personalised care can make a real difference. Learn how Momentum Hub is supporting children aged 7-17 years old, providing them with the resources they need to thrive this school year and beyond. Don’t miss out – register today to empower both you and the young people in your care.

Professor Sonja March is the director of the University of Southern Queensland’s Centre for Health and Research, where she is also a Professor in the School of Psychology and Wellbeing and leads the Momentum Hub team.  Momentum Hub is a platform developed by a team of researchers, mental health experts, and web designers from across the country, and supported by the federal government under the Medical Research Future Fund.  The hub extends from Professor March’s work with Griffith University researchers – professors Caroline Donovan and Sue Spence with the popular BRAVE Self-Help program – which has reached more than 80,000 young people with anxiety.

Hosted by Dr Kathy O'Grady.

The federal government has made vaping illegal without a prescription for very good reasons. We know that vaping and nicotine can have an impact on brain development, affecting your memory, attention, learning and mood. Vaping can also make mental health issues like anxiety and depression worse. It is also highly addictive.

There are two issues for health professionals to consider

·      people don’t understand vaping’s health impacts.

·      Generally the advice for those who are concerned is to  “talk to your GP or a trusted health professional”

Why is that a problem? Because most of us don’t have effective strategies for helping people stop.

In this recording, GP Dr Chris Lee will increase our understanding of the risks of vaping and provide some very practical advice about talking to people about their habit. 

Newborns are wonderful things, but their arrival can cause enormous upheaval for their parents. Dads, as well as Mums, are at risk of psychological distress in the neonatal period. In this webinar, Dr Jan Orman is joined by Associate Professor Richard Fletcher from the School of Health Sciences at the University of Newcastle.  Richard leads the Fathers and Families Research Program and is the founder of SMS4dads, a service designed to provide support for dads until their baby is one year old. 

Despite decades of government investment, significant research endeavour, and a growing commitment to mental health training and response activities in schools and workplaces, rates of mental health in Australia are rising.

The scale of this issue is staggering: a recent report shows that 494,000 Australians with moderate to severe mental health problems are not receiving the support they desperately need. Long wait times and a shortage of mental health professionals are leaving vulnerable Australians without access to timely and appropriate care, particularly those in rural and remote areas. When people finally get care, it doesn’t always help.

We know the current system is broken. We know what we need – a robust mental health system that is well-staffed, adequately funded and integrated across the country that will lay the foundations for a mentally healthier future. But how do we get there? How do we plan for a better future? And what is the role of Health Professionals?

Listen to our Mental Health Month edition of Expert Insights were Black Dog Institute’s Dr Peter Baldwin, Senior Research Fellow and Policy Research Manager, will share findings from BDI’s recent mental health poll and discuss the key issues facing the health sector. 

Panel Members: -

Dr Peter Baldwin - Senior Research Fellow and Policy Research Manager, Black Dog Institute

Dr Laura Kampel - Head of Clinical Services and Senior Clinical Psychologist, Black Dog Institute

Matt - Lived Experience Representative

Facilitator: -

Dr Sarah Barker - Clinical Psychologist

eMHPrac (e mental health in practice) Project Director Heidi Sturk recently spoke at the 12th Annual Scientific Meeting International Society for Research on Internet Interventions (ISRII) in Limerick, Ireland and at the Digital Mental Health Congress in Ottawa, Canada. She returned with a lot of exciting news about what's going on internationally in the digital mental health space.

In this webinar, Dr. Jan Orman will speak with Heidi Sturk about the conference learnings and some of the developments she found most exciting. It seems there is a lot happening and talking to Heidi will help us all keep up!