*Content warning – mentions suicide*

This conference is a must for everyone who wants to be a part of the movement to unite clinicians, carers, consumers, and policymakers around one the urgent goal of ending the devastating statistic that 1 in 10 people who die by suicide have symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of a personality disorder.

The event will feature keynote presentations from international and Australian experts, alongside the lived experience of people with BPD and their family/carers and service providers. We will explore challenges, and what needs to be done to improve the wellbeing of people living with BPD, their support network, and improve services and clinician willingness to work with people who experience significant stigma and discrimination. Download Conference flyer

1 in 10: Uniting for Change is a national call to action to build shared understanding, break down silos, and unite efforts around one simple truth - together, we can do better.

Program:

Welcome to Country Wurundjeri Elder Tony Garvey

Ministerial Opening Address Hon Emma McBride MP. Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention

BPD Awareness Week Ambassador – Destanee Aiava

President’s Address: Rita Brown

Keynote Address: Uniting for Change - Peggy Brown AO, Patron Australian BPD Foundation

 Lived Experience Keynote Address: When it hurts too much to carry on: Suicide, Borderline Personality Disorder and the Crucible of Shame - Dr Haley Peckham

Lived Experience (Carer) Keynote Address: The Family Connection: Skills and Hope for Families Living with BPD - Meagan Henderson – CEO NEABPD

Panel: Working together to make 1 in 10 history

Facilitator: Dr. Peggy Brown
Panellists:

Rita Brown - Australian BPD Foundation
Prof Brin Grenyer - Project Air NSW
Cathy McLeod-Everitt - BPD Collaborative SA
Louise McCutcheon - Orygen Vic
A/Prof Sathya Rao - Spectrum Victoria

Keynote Address: 'Suicide prevention and BPD'  A/Prof Sathya Rao - Spectrum Victoria

Panel: Suicide Prevention and BPD-looking forward
Facilitators: Rita Brown and Sathya Rao
Panellists:

Dr Alison Asche – Eastern Melbourne PHN
Bronwen Coleman - Spectrum
Dr Rahul Khanna – SANE Australia
Dr. Julian Nesci – Spectrum
Kate Thwaites – SaferCare Vic

Snapshot of Current Research: 'BPD Co Research update: integrating specialised service initiatives at a statewide level'  Presenters: Dr. Dianna Bartsch and Dr Paul Cammell

Wrap up and closing reflections: Driving reform: Improving national mental health responses for severe and enduring distress like BPD Board members of the Australian BPD Foundation and presenters

Event Sponsors:

Biographies:

Dr. Peggy Brown AO is a psychiatrist and is a Patron of the Australian BPD Foundation.
She has 40+ years experience in clinical and administrative roles and is dedicated to improving mental health services in Australia. She is the currently the Chief Medical Officer at Medilinks, an expert consultant, and holds key board and advisory positions. Previously, she served in senior roles, including Commissioner for the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide and CEO of the National Mental Health Commission.
In 2018, she was honoured as an Officer of the Order of Australia for her contributions to mental health leadership, psychiatry, education, and healthcare standards.

Dr Haley Peckham’s background includes philosophy, mental health nursing, psychotherapy and neuroscience and her perspective is grounded in a colourful lived experience of recovering from complex trauma. Haley worked with children and adolescents in ‘care’ and, realising that as adults they were over-represented in the criminal justice system and mental health services set out to understand the relationship between early experiences and brains, minds and behaviours. She studied Molecular Neuroscience at Bristol and gained her PhD from The University of Melbourne ultimate pioneering a non-pathologising biological theory, an alternative to the medical model of how our experiences of trauma and intersecting layers of adversity shape our brains. This is the Neuroplastic Narrative which combines the neuroscience of how experiences shape brains with the evolutionary biology that illuminates why experiences may shape us the way they do. Haley has found it less shaming and more empowering for her recovery and shares it in the hope it could be helpful to other folks too.

Meagan Henderson is the CEO of NEABPD Australia and a leading mental health advocate with more than 10 years’ experience driving awareness, education, and support for families and individuals impacted by borderline personality disorder (BPD). Passionate about reducing stigma and improving access to evidence-based treatment, Meagan has worked alongside clinicians, researchers, and community organisations to influence policy and empower carers and families. Drawing on her professional background in executive leadership and communications, she has helped expand NEABPD’s reach nationally, building programs and partnerships that bring hope, understanding, and practical support to those navigating complex mental health journeys.

Associate Professor Sathya Rao OAM is the Executive Clinical Director of Spectrum, statewide specialist service for personality disorder and complex trauma, Victoria, Australia. He is the President of Australasian Association for Research and treatment for Personality Disorder and Vice President of Australian BPD Foundation. He is the Chair of Committee for Professional Practice at the RANZCP. He is actively engaged in clinical work, translational research and advocacy. He has published research papers, guidelines, book chapters, and co-authored books on BPD. He was the recipient of the 2020 Meritorious Award of the Victorian Branch of RANZCP. He received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) (General Division) in June 2022.

Rita Brown is the President of the Australian BPD Foundation, leading national advocacy to improve understanding, reduce stigma, and expand access to compassionate, evidence-based support for people living with borderline personality disorder and their families.

Prof Brin Grenyer OAM is Senior Professor of Psychology at the University of Wollongong, Director of the Project Air Strategy for Personality Disorders, and President of the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders. He has published over 225 scientific papers and sits on 5 Editorial Boards. He is an active practicing clinical psychologist at Northfields Psychology Clinic. He is a recipient of the College of Clinical Psychologists Ian M Campbell Memorial Prize for contribution to the scientific and professional status of clinical psychology in Australia. In 2021 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to psychology.

Dr Louise McCutcheon is a Clinical Psychologist, Principal Psychology Educator at the Parkville Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing Service, Melbourne Australia. She holds an honorary Clinical Associate Professor role with the Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne. She jointly founded the award-winning, evidence-based Helping Young People Early (HYPE) program, an early intervention program for personality disorder in young people at Orygen, in Melbourne. She coordinated the HYPE clinical program for 12 years and has been an investigator on many of the research projects investigating treatments for young people and support programs for their family members and friends. She established the HYPE Service development program and coordinates the Orygen clinical training program. She co-developed the practical, psychologically informed approach for working with personality disorder called Relational Clinical Care and has been teaching this approach to mental health clinicians in Australia and internationally since 2003.

Cathy McLeod-Everitt is a Social Worker and experienced trauma therapist and supervisor, who has worked extensively in the areas of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, and mental health. She has over 25 years experience in clinical service management and strategic leadership across Health, Child Protection and the non-Government sectors in both Australia and the United Kingdom. Cathy has a long-standing commitment to the development of clinical services through the provision of clinical and vicarious trauma training, consultation, and supervision. A significant achievement has been imbedded lived experience co-facilitation into clinical training programs in mental health. Cathy joined the Borderline Personality Disorder Collaborative, a specialist statewide mental health service in South Australia prior to the service opening in 2019, after developing the statewide training program, she has taken on the role as Service Development Manager.

Dr Alison Asche - Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network (EMPHN)
Over the past 30 years, Alison has worked in a range of roles in suicide prevention, postvention and mental health with a particular focus on complex trauma and supporting communities from refugee and people seeking asylum backgrounds. Her PhD involved a systemic analysis of service provision for youth experiencing suicidal distress who have childhood trauma histories. Alison has a lived experience of being bereaved by suicide and is chair of the Victorian Suicide Prevention Australia committee. She is currently the Regional Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Senior Lead at Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network (EMPHN).

Bronwen Coleman is a Consumer Peer Worker at Spectrum (Eastern Health). She has co-designed and facilitated peer-led programs, delivered workforce training, and contributed to systemic reform. Bronwen is currently part of the Consumer Leaders in Governance program with VMIAC and the Department of Health, and is committed to fostering inclusive, recovery-oriented practice.

Dr Rahul Khanna is a practising psychiatrist and experienced leader, researcher, educator, and start-up advisor. His primary areas of interest are psychological trauma and digital health. At SANE, he leads the service development and evaluation team. This builds on his experience leading the co-design of Transforming Trauma Victoria, and several qualitative, quantitative, research, and service innovation projects. He, like the rest of the SANE team, is passionate about creating a truly, connected, collaborative, and innovative mental health system.

Dr Julian Nesci is a senior clinical psychologist, accredited MBT practitioner, supervisor and trainer, and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Monash University. As clinical specialist at Spectrum’s MBT clinic and a key member of the Complex Care Service, he provides therapy, supervision, training, consultation, and treatment across diverse settings.

Kate Thwaites, Deputy Chief Mental Health Nurse and Director of the Mental Health Improvement Program.  Kate was appointed Victoria’s Deputy Chief Mental Health Nurse in 2021, supporting the program of work undertaken by the Chief Mental Health Nurse. Kate was appointed the Director of the Mental Health Improvement Program within Safer Care Victoria in 2023 and leads the program of work which is a recommendation and outcome from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.
Kate supports mental health nursing leadership and works with mental health nurses, lived experience advisors, allied health professionals and project officers to develop clinical practice improvements and best practice frameworks aimed at supporting the mental health workforce and improving the experience of care for consumers, families, and carers and supporters.

Dr. Dianna Bartsch is a Clinical Psychologist and researcher based in Adelaide with almost 20 years’ experience spanning clinical, leadership, and research roles. She is the Research Coordinator at the Borderline Personality Disorder Collaborative (BPD Co) within SA Health and holds a Senior Clinical Lecturer appointment at the University of Adelaide’s School of Psychology.
Her research focuses on personality disorders, early intervention, and mental health across the lifespan, with specific interests in parenting, perinatal and youth mental health, vulnerable and underserved populations. She has published more than 19 peer-reviewed articles and partners widely with local and interstate colleagues.
At BPD Co, Dr. Bartsch leads statewide initiatives to implement and evaluate patient-reported outcome measures and stepped-care interventions, building the evidence base for service innovation. She also contributes to the discipline as an Associate Editor of the British Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Dr. Paul Cammell MA MBBS (Hons) FRANZCP PhD is currently the Victorian Director of Advanced Training in Psychotherapies. Over the years he has had numerous clinical and training lead roles in emergency mental health and psychotherapy. He trained in Transference-Focused Psychotherapy and was a Visiting Fellow with Professor Otto Kernberg’s Personality Studies Institute, Weill-Cornell Medical College, New York. He is currently a senior psychiatrist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Head of the Psychotherapy Program at St Vincent's Health (Melbourne), a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne and a psychotherapist in private practice.
He is also the Research Lead for BPD Co, the Borderline Personality Disorder Centre of Excellence in South Australia. He was recently the Chair of the Faculty of Psychotherapy (RANZCP) and he has written numerous articles and a book, Reinterpreting the Borderline, about personality disorder, psychoanalytic theory and philosophy. He also co-authored a book, The Therapeutic Encounter, written with Ross Kalucy, elaborating on psychodynamically-informed practice in everyday psychiatric clinical work.

 Event Sponsors:

Silver

Bonze Sponsor:

Wellbeing Room: