Advocacy & Support for
Borderline Personality Disorder
& Complex Trauma
2014 'BPD: What Works!' Conference
4th ANNUAL NATIONAL BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER CONFERENCE in Melbourne
The conference focused on the current knowledge that BPD is a treatable illness.
Aunty Joy Murphy Introduction & Welcome
Our welcome to Country Ceremony performed by Aunty Joy set the tone for a day of support and cooperation.
‘Equity and Action for Borderline Personality Disorder’
Prof Andrew Chanen – President of the ISSPD (International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders) & Medical Director of Orygen Youth Health.
Decades of scientific research have established that borderline personality disorder is a valid diagnosis and that it responds to treatment.
However, progress toward genuine service reform to meet the real needs of people with the disorder and those who care for them has been slow and piecemeal. This has been hampered in part by the continuing stigmatisation and marginalisation of personality disorder but also by an excessive focus upon competing psychotherapy ‘brands’, rather than a health system response to borderline personality disorder. There is increasing recognition that the core competencies for the clinical workforce and the necessary elements for effective intervention for borderline personality disorder are less complex than once imagined. Developing a better understanding about effective treatment, as well as the underlying abnormal biological and psychosocial processes leading to borderline personality disorder, might lead to a more coordinated health system response to borderline personality disorder.
Andrew Chanen is Director of Clinical Services at Orygen Youth Health Clinical Program, Melbourne and Deputy Research Director at Orygen Youth Health Research Centre & Centre for Youth Mental Health.
He established and directs the Helping Young People Early (HYPE) program, a clinical, research and training program investigating the understanding of and prevention and early intervention for severe personality disorder, particularly BPD in youth.
What treatments Work
Dr Sathya Rao is the Executive Clinical Director, Spectrum, Personality Disorder Service, Victoria.
He is the Deputy Chair of the Australian BPD Foundation. He is also Director of Advanced Training in Psychotherapies, Victoria, RANZCP. Dr Rao provides clinical support for health services and clinicians in Victoria in the field of Personality Disorders and runs extensive training programs and secondary consultations for psychiatrists and clinicians of other disciplines.
Recovery A Lived Experience
Consumer Keynote Presenter - requested to not be made available.
Recovery - The lived experience of a partner
Carer Keynote Presenter - Fred Ford. Fred has been a carer/supporter of his partner for 18 years.
He has spent the last 15 years working in advocacy and carer support and a wide variety of organisations in Albury/Wodonga, including with MIFVIC as a Well Ways facilitator, and Chairperson of the Consumer and Carer Council. He has represented the BPD Community on various national committees including the National Consumer and Carer Register.
Embracing the elephant and not getting trampled (Trauma & BPD) - Indigo Daya
This workshop was led by Indigo Daya: a person with lived experience of BPD.
Trauma is the inevitable ‘elephant in the room’. Almost no-one wants to talk about it, including consumers, carers/family, and workers: it is discomforting for everyone. It triggers shame, guilt, fear, anger and despair, along with a host of difficult experiences. We worry about the risks of ‘opening the can of worms’. And so we remain silent. Indigo has years of experience in working with trauma, both as a speaker, trainer and worker – and as someone with her own lived experience.
Indigo Daya is a recovery expert by experience and an advocate for positive change in mental health led by people with lived experience. She is the General Manager of Consumer & Carer Advocacy and Leadership at Mental Illness Fellowship Victoria, and an adjunct Research Fellow at Swinburne University. Indigo has 11 years’ experience as a consumer of mental health services and regularly speaks at conferences across Australia and the UK
Download a copy of the presentation slides and speaker notes (including a list of recommended reading).
Read more about Indigo’s recovery story on her personal website.
NB - Apologies - due to Copyright restrictions we are unable to show the YouTube clip at the end. Click here if you wish to view the link.
Fostering Realistic Hope: Workshop Series for Carer Families supporting a family member with Borderline Personality Disorder - Dr Peter McKenzie
Co-Occurring Substance use / BPD What Can Help - Graeme Lamont (Senior Psychologist - Eastern Dual Diagnosis Service)
BPD Effective therapeutic interventions
Peter King - is currently completing his PhD research into the identification of effective therapeutic interventions when working with people diagnosed with BPD.
Peter is Executive Director at the Centre for Mental Health Education and is co-owner of the Essential Health Medical Centre.
He also has appointments with Alfred CATT/Triage in a senior clinical/educative role and is Adjunct Lecturer with Griffith University.