Mental Health Month Speaker Series

Learning Outcome:

-Knowledge of various psychotherapies and their indications.

Dr Brahmesh Goyal is a psychiatrist who specialises in managing various psychiatric conditions including depression, grief, anxiety, personality disorders, substance use disorders or substance dependence, psychosis and mood disorders. He has a special interest in helping people who suffer psychological distress in the midst of acute or chronic physical/medical symptoms.

Learning Outcomes:
-Discussion on diagnosis of BPD, co-morbidities and differential diagnosis
-Clarifying myths and brief introduction to treatment approaches.

Dr Bhattacharyya obtained Fellowship with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry (FRANZCP) in 2010, followed by Advanced training in 2013. Dr Bhattacharyya began working with Hunter New England Area Health Service in 2003, managing patients with various psychiatric disorders including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, substance abuse disorders and personality disorders among groups ranging in age from adolescents to geriatrics.

While she practices all general adult Psychiatry, she has a keen interest in long term Psychotherapy with patients suffering from Complex Borderline Personality Disorders (BPD).

Learning Outcomes:
-Statistical Changes in Presentations Among Adolescents.
-What Can We Learn From the Rise in Teen Self Harm.
-What is Role of Technology Among Adolescent Psychiatric Presentations?
-Challenges of Telehealth Consultations Among Teens

Dr Ahmed is a general psychiatrist who treats patients between the ages of 13 and 70. He sees medications as an important but not the ‘be all’ to end all of psychiatric recovery. Dr Ahmed has worked in rural areas, has a parallel job in the public hospital system, and visits jails to offer medico-legal opinions.

Dr Kim Hurst is a Senior Psychologist who specialises in child, adolescent and young adult eating disorders. She has been delivering Maudsley Family Based Treatment (FBT) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Enhanced (CBT-e) for over ten years and is a credentialed FBT therapist who provides training, supervision and consultation to clinicians across Queensland.

Dr Hurst is on the Executive Committee (Treasurer) for the Australian & New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders (ANZAED) and was a member of the Queensland StateWide Eating Disorders Advisory Group. Dr Hurst is the Clinical Lead in Robina Private Hospital’s Eating Disorders Day Program for Adolescents and Adults

Learning Outcomes:
-Learn how to assess stage of change, level of severity of drug dependence and possible detox risks using evidence based approach.
-Provide targeted evidence based intervention based on assess stage of change and detox risks using current evidence based guidelines.

Dr Olm studied Medicine in Brisbane at University of Queensland. Prior to commencement of her specialty she completed her junior doctor training at Toowoomba Hospital and worked in intensive care at St Vincent’s Hospital.

Dr Olm has experience in the diagnosis and treatment of a broad range of mental health issues and is passionate about positive mental health outcomes for all Australians. She has developed a particular interest in preventative health and wellbeing, addiction psychiatry, and pain management, but also enjoys all facets of psychiatry such as general depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, eating disorders and trauma related disorders.

Learning Outcomes:
-Understand that in some occupations there is an accumulation of trauma over years.
-Understand that coping mechanisms such as alcohol use commonly begin years before presentation.
-Understand that the “straw that breaks the camels back” is often a perceived betrayal from their management or organisation.
-Medications can ameliorate some symptoms to some degree but are often inadequate in the absence of trauma work.
-Treatment of PTSD involves the patient comprehending their trauma, integrating the meaning of what happened and deriving lessons.

Dr Al Griskaitis is a consultant psychiatrist at South Coast Private Hospital and an Associate Lecturer at the University of New South Wales. Dr Griskaitis is general psychiatrist who mostly works with anxiety disorders, occupational PTSD and mood disorders, with much of his work being with military personnel and athletes.

His psychiatry training was primarily in Sydney at the Anxiety Disorders Clinic (St Vincent's Hospital). He has an integrative approach preferring to limit medications and advocate for lifestyle changes such as physical activity and stress modification.

Learning Outcomes:
-What constitutes treatment resistant depression
-Safety and efficacy of TMS

Dr Jane Hay is a Consultant Psychiatrist specialising in Adult General Psychiatry with a special interest in Perinatal Mental Health, Mood Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Veterans Mental Health and Workcover cases. She also has experience in Psychosis, Substance Misuse Disorders and Forensic Mental Health Issues.

Dr Hay completed her psychiatry Fellowship in Sydney at the Prince of Wales Hospital, where she gained experience in specialist mental health services including early psychosis, neuropsychiatry, psychogeriatrics and mood disorders, which included clinics at the Black Dog Institute.

Learning Outcomes:
-To explore the interface of mental and physical health in pregnancy
-To recognise risk factors for mental illness in the perinatal period
-To consider screening for every perinatal couple
-To recognise major mental illness in the perinatal period.

Dr Lyndall White is a consultant psychiatrist with a special interest in perinatal mental health and education, and is a member of the Reference Group for the Queensland Centre for Perinatal and Infant Mental Health.

Dr White is chair of the Special Interest Group in Perinatal and Infant Psychiatry of the Queensland Branch Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. In June 2020 Dr White was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her significant service to medicine, psychiatry and perinatal and infant mental health.