Rotary Lunch Meeting - 6th Oct 2021 - Australian Rotary Health Hat Day

Guest Speakers Prof. Anthony Jorm and Betty Kitchener AM, Mental Health Researchers & Educators

Topic Mental Health First Aid

Venue Online via ZOOM only

Chairman Suresh Marcandan

Prof Tony Jorm

Prof Tony Jorm is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Melbourne and NHMRC Leadership Fellow. His research focuses on building the community’s capacity for prevention and early intervention with mental disorders.

Prof Jorm is the author of 34 books or monographs, over 700 journal articles and over 30 chapters in edited volumes. He has been awarded a Doctor of Science for his research and elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. He is Editor-in-Chief of Mental Health & Prevention and an Associate Editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. Previous positions he has held include NHMRC Australia Fellow, Chair of the Research Committee of Australian Rotary Health and President of the Australasian Society for Psychiatric Research. He has been listed in ISI HighlyCited.com as one of the most cited researchers in Psychology/Psychiatry.

Betty Kitchener AM

Betty Kitchener AM trained as a teacher and worked in special education before developing a career in psychology, counselling and nursing. After experiencing several episodes of depression through which she was not well supported, Betty was motivated to expand community understanding and to develop programs that better support people with mental health issues.

Betty developed the innovative Mental Health First Aid program in 2000. It is a course that provides fundamental knowledge and techniques for people to use in the event of a mental health crisis.