Associate Professor in Behavioural Health
College of Medicine and Public Health
I am a registered psychologist and lead a translational research program focused on the development, evaluation, and implementation of scalable, low-intensity and digitally enabled cognitive behavioural and behaviour-change interventions to improve mental health, wellbeing, and functional outcomes. My research is grounded in health psychology and implementation science and addresses persistent gaps in access to care through the testing of pragmatic interventions in real-world health, community, and workplace settings. I have established and sustained partnerships with health services, government, and industry to ensure research is co-designed, embedded, and readily translated into practice. This program delivers practice-ready evidence that informs service design, supports sustainable models of care, and achieves measurable impact for priority populations, including improved wellbeing, engagement, and return-to-work outcomes.
Bachelor of Social Science (2004)
Bachelor of Health Sciences (2005)
Master of Psychology (Clinical) (2009)
Doctor of Philosophy (2009)
2022 Flinders CMPH Student-led Teaching Award
Chair Student Appeals Committee (alternate)
Placement coordination (Counselling programs)
My research and teaching involves four integrated lines of interest (a) accurately measuring and describing the wellbeing of individuals (health promotion), (b) how character strengths can be developed in populations deemed to be ‘at-risk’ of future psychological distress to build a sustainable state of wellbeing, (c) the benefits of a strength-based compared to a deficit approach to treating mental illness, and (d) the practice of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
I have been a member of the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency since 2009, I was the chair of the Positive Psychology course development Advisory Group for TAFE SA , have provided consultation and expert mental health advice to a broad range of agencies (e.g., University of Malaya, South Australian Catholic Schools Association, Department for Education, The Adelaide Football Club, and YMCA Australia), and my research has featured in press atticles (Advertiser, Sydney Morning Herald), radio interviews and podcasts (ABC radio), and national television programs (Weekend Sunrise). I am also an elected member of the Holdfast Bay Council (Brighton Ward).