A View From the Couch: Lifting the lid on mental health

When Hilton Koppe was diagnosed with PTSD, the much-loved country doctor had no choice but to retire from general practice. In this session Hilton chats with courageous authors, Roz Bellamy and Jonathan Seidler about their own personal and familial experience with mental health, as well as with social worker, Romi Grossberg whose work with street kids in Phnom Penh has informed her holistic counselling approach, in view of family, culture, society, religion and nationality.

More about your speakers:

Roz Bellamy: Melbourne-based writer and researcher, Roz's debut book "Mood: A Memoir of Love, Identity and Mental Health" explores mental illness, Jewish and queer identity, and intergenerational trauma, with their work appearing in The Age, The Guardian, and Huffington Post.

Romi Grossberg: Author, social worker, holistic counsellor, and public speaker who has lived in Asia since 2010. She has spoken at TEDx Phnom Penh (2011) and SXSW in Austin, Texas (2023), and regularly appears on television, podcasts, and radio, including the ABC and an appearance with Cambodian Princess Soma Norodom. Her most recent book, Hip, Hop and Hope, explores lessons from her time in Cambodia.

Jonathan Seidler: Author, creative director, and music critic, Jonathan's work appears in The Guardian, The Age, and The Australian; he launched a fiction series for Broadsheet, and wrote the memoir "It’s A Shame About Ray," adapted for SWF 2023. He also writes an Esquire column on men, mental health, and fatherhood, with his debut novel "All the Beautiful Things You Love."

Hilton Koppe (moderator): Writer, educator, podcaster, and doctor on Bundjalung Land, Hilton facilitates reflective writing workshops for health professionals and chronic illness patients, exploring his experiences in "One Curious Doctor: A Memoir of Medicine, Migration and Mortality," and presenting workshops globally from Byron Writers Festival to Harvard Medical School.

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