Get to know me
through my blog
Lived experience in evaluation: We’re not lab rats
It’s increasingly becoming ‘business as usual’ in the mental health sector to speak of the role of lived experience when conducting evaluations. I’m particularly passionate about the role of lived experience in evaluation, as someone who at various times has worn the...
Some thoughts about workforce reform
When the final report from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System was first released, I had lots of initial thoughts – some positive, some negative. But the area where I felt most disappointment was workforce. At the time I planned to write...
Masterchef… and men’s mental health
I’m a big Masterchef fan. I love food, I love stories, I love Melissa Leong’s choice in BIG earrings – what isn’t there to love?! So it was with some trepidation that I approached the last 15 minutes of tonight’s episode. Channel 10 had been promoting an emotional...
Interviewing with a lived experience
I’m a qualitative researcher by background and doing one-on-one interviews is my research happy place. I’m currently knee-deep in interviews across a couple of projects, and I’ve been reflecting on how my lived experience as a mental health consumer helps make me a...
Stop proving me right
I had intended that my next piece of writing be from my long list of ideas, about suicidal ideation or about the Royal Commission report. Alas, the last few weeks have compelled me to write something else. I have been sexually assaulted at least twice in my life. Once...
Commission submissions
I have a list as long as my arm of blog posts I have been meaning to write of late, not least a reflection or two on the recent Royal Commission Report into the Victorian Mental Health System. Unfortunately, they are all on the backburner a bit as I focus on client...
A year
A year ago this week, I made a brave and potentially very silly decision. I felt in my gut that there was a space for me to create a career and life I was proud of by combining my lived experience, knowledge of the mental health sector, and policy and evaluation...
Evaluating telehealth
Telehealth looks set to stay, but having been implemented in the mainstream very rapidly, it's important to build in evaluation to make sure we get it right for the long-term. I co-authored this blog on evaluating telehealth with Jo Grzelinska from Larter Consulting.
Making inclusive choices
Last week, I was privileged to be invited to participate in a webinar organised by ARTD to discuss inclusive choices in evaluation, particularly in the context of Covid-19. By far the highlight for me was learning from the others on the panel - Julie Duong (Empowering...
Fostering evaluative thinking upfront
I've been doing a lot of work recently on evaluation capacity building, and supporting program designers to consider monitoring and evaluation up front. I keep coming back to an article I wrote in 2018 with Dr Caroline Tomiczek following a presentation we did at the...