The WA Mental Health Conference 2024 provides a dynamic space to enhance knowledge and shared perspectives among the mental health workforce, people with lived experience, community members and professionals whose work relates to mental health and wellbeing.

Dr Sianan Healy

Dr Sianan Healy

Dr Sianan Healy is Senior Policy, Health Promotion and Advocacy Officer at Women’s Health Victoria. With a focus on achieving gender equitable systems change through evidence-based advocacy, health promotion and knowledge translation, Sianan works across WHV’s priority areas of mental health and sexual and reproductive health.

She has a background in qualitative lived experience research and is lead author of WHV’s forthcoming issues paper, Promising Practice in Gender-Responsive Mental Health Care: From Health Promotion to Systems Change.

Claudia Karvan

Claudia Karvan

Claudia Karvan is one of Australia’s most respected and acclaimed film and television actors.

Claudia can currently be seen starring in the fourth series of Bump, which she co-created and co-produced with Rough Diamond for Stan, and will shortly commence production on the fifth series. She was nominated for an AACTA Award for Best Lead Actress in a Drama and a Silver Logie Award Nomination for Most Outstanding Actress for her role in Bump.

She recently appeared in the Disney+ series The Clearing and on stage for The Old Fitz in Sparking Darkly Monologues by Nick Coyle, and in the Sydney Theatre Company and State Theatre Company of South Australia’s production of The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?.

Claudia also co-produced and co-created the first three series of the Nine Network’s Doctor Doctor and co-created, produced and starred in the Foxtel series Spirited and Love My Way. The second series of Spirited won the ASTRA Award for Most Outstanding Drama in 2011. Love My Way won numerous awards including the Silver Logie Award for Most Outstanding Drama Series and the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award for Best Television Drama Series three years in a row. For her role as Frankie in Love My Way, Claudia is also a two time winner of both the Silver Logie Award for Most Outstanding Actress and the AFI Award for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

Claudia has also starred in numerous Australian television series and miniseries including hosting Books That Made Us for the ABC, Dancing with the Stars for the Ten Network, the second season of The Other Guy for Stan, Newton’s Law, Jack Irish, and The Time of Our Lives for the ABC, for which she was awarded the AACTA Award for Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama. Her other television credits include Puberty Blues, Black Comedy, Halifax: Retribution, Orange is the New Brown, Better Man, The Broken Shore, The Secret Life of Us, My Brother Jack, Small Claims, and Saved, directed by Tony Ayres, which earned her the 2010 Silver Logie Award for Most Outstanding Actress.

Her feature film credits include Moja Vesna, June Again, for which she was nominated for a FCCA Award for Best Actress Supporting Role and an AACTA Award Nomination for Best Support Actress in Film, Justin Kurzel’s The True History of the Kelly Gang which premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, Infidel opposite Jim Caviezel, Warwick Thornton’s The Darkside, 33 Postcards, Daybreakers opposite Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe, Dating the Enemy alongside Guy Pearce, The Long Weekend opposite Jim Caviezel, Gillian Armstrong’s HIGH TIDE with Judy Davis, Phillip Noyce’s Echoes Of Paradise, Paperback Hero with Hugh Jackman and The Heartbreak Kid for which she was awarded Best Actress by the Film Critics Circle of Australia.

In 2023, Claudia Karvan was made a member of the Order of Australia for service to the film and television industry.

Dr Kate Johnston-Ataata

Dr Kate Johnston-Ataata

Manager of Policy, Health Promotion and Advocacy, Women’s Health Victoria Kate is a policy, research, and health promotion professional with expertise in gender and health, with a focus on women’s mental health and sexual and reproductive health.

She is passionate about the role of evidence-based policy, advocacy, and health promotion to help address systemic inequities and empower individuals to improve people’s health experiences and outcomes.

Before joining Women’s Health Victoria, Kate spent 20 years working in research and knowledge translation, health promotion and policymaking in both academia and the Commonwealth public service and is a former Lifeline telephone counsellor.

Ellie Hodges

Ellie Hodges

Ellie is a nationally recognised thought leader on lived experience-led transformative systems change and founder of LELAN (South Australia's peak lived experience consumer organisation). She combines her personal, professional and socio-political worlds to do this, with a focus on innovation, social justice and leading together.

Through LELAN, Ellie has visioned, led and partnered with others on numerous cutting-edge projects to strengthen lived experience leadership and reshape systems to better meet the needs and preferences of people most impacted. This has included the development of the Model of Lived Experience Leadership, the Lived Experience Governance Framework, a working partnership with Mind Australia on the co-design of the Healing Place, a peer-led residential service which was a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, and leading the advocacy for and work to systematically embed the Alternatives to Suicide approach across South Australia.

Ellie has completed the Company Directors Course and is an individually appointed member of the legislated South Australian Suicide Prevention Council. Ellie was previously the Lived Experience Advisor (Consumer) with the SA Mental Health Commission and had her own Private Practice as a Therapist & Consultant. She also loves cheese, particularly the stinky oozy kind.

Natasha Short

Natasha Short

Natasha Short, Founder of Kimberley Jiyigas is a descendant of the Jaru people of Halls Creek, born and raised in the East Kimberley, where she lives today with her family.

Natasha has spent the past 25 years working within community development, focusing on social improvements for Indigenous people.

Much of Natasha’s work has been around mentoring, leadership development, organising and speaking at women’s events. Natasha is committed and passionate about Aboriginal people succeeding and living purposeful and independent lives, and uses business as a way to drive social change.

Natasha has extensive experience speaking passionately about, training and facilitating a wide range of programs in the following areas: Cultural and Community Intelligence – providing a diverse set of services on cultural strategies and community protocols; Conferencing and Events - offering event and project management services, including supply of Guest Speakers and facilitation of workshops and events; Personal and Professional Development – providing services to promote personal wellbeing and professional advancement including life coaching sessions; Business Development and Services – a range of services offered to Indigenous women in business, to support and mentor them in all aspects of their new or existing business.

Natasha founded Kimberley Jiyigas (Birds) to be a collective of Indigenous women whose heritage links them personally to the Kimberley region. She works hard to join Indigenous talents, skills, passions, experience and networks to build a movement that champions Kimberley Indigenous Women and facilitates cultural and social change not only across the Kimberley, but abroad, right across this nation we call our home. She enjoys motivating Individuals, Groups, Teams, Businesses and Organisations to initiate and embrace change for the betterment and firmer positioning in their respective fields.

As a local Kununurra consultant, she has a high level of insight, strategy, knowledge, and understanding in how to empower Indigenous communities, yet understands the challenges with communicating and navigating connection.

Natasha lives in Kununurra with her husband 25 years and two young adult children. She is a Board Director of Empowered Communities East Kimberley and; former Board Director of Jaru Registered Native Title Board.

Di Darmody

Di Darmody

Host

With over 20 years experience as a journalist and presenter with ABC Radio, Di Darmody is a well known – and popular – voice for listeners in Perth and throughout Western Australia.

Di has presented ABC Radio Perth Breakfast, Mornings, Afternoons, Drive, Saturday Breakfast, The Country Hour as well as National Nightlife. She has also worked on National Grandstand, AFL and WAFL coverage and hosted a variety of regional and state-wide programs across Western Australia.

Now Di is a sought-after professional MC, interviewer, facilitator and conference host, working across WA as well as for national organisations – either in person or virtually.

We are excited to have secured some of the most inspiring minds from around Australia and the world representing a range of professions, experiences, genders, cultures and ages.