Personal profile

Biography

I am a Research Fellow in the Lived Experience Research Unit at the Centre for Mental Health Research (CMHR), The Australian National University. Prior to joining CMHR, I was a Research Fellow in the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health at the University of Newcastle [2014-2021], and completed my PhD in the Sydney School of Public Health at the University of Sydney with a thesis examining narrative and the ways it is used to structure knowledge and experiences of suicide.

My research is grounded in the sociology of health and illness, public mental health, and applied ethics, and uses both qualitative and mixed methods to examine the social and political determinants of mental health and suicide, mental health systems and policy, and lived experiences of mental health and suicide, including peer work.

I am especially interested in advancing ethical understanding of suicide beyond questions of its moral permissibility to focus on ethical issues in research and suicide prevention practice and policy. I am also committed to ensuring my research contributes to health system transformation through close engagement with service users, health and community services, and policy makers.

Qualifications

BA(Hons); PhD

Research Interests

  • Suicide
  • Sociology of health and illness
  • Mental health systems and policy
  • Applied Ethics
  • Service-user, carer, and community involvement in health and research
  • Rural health