Perspectives
Welcome to the May 2024 edition of Perspectives!
Shaping the future of mental health and early intervention: Open Dialogue Conference
Our first National Conference will reveal how mental health services and schools are working more collaboratively with family and a social network in a way that is more responsive, and true to the core principle of ‘nothing about me, without me.’
Registrations are close to filling up, so we strongly encourage those who are interested to register now to get one of the last few spots and avoid missing out.
The conference spans two days from May 27th-28th at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management in Macquarie Park New South Wales.
There will be opportunities to hear from those working with Open Dialogue in different settings, such as:
Mental health services: You will hear from The Alfred, Youth Insearch, Women’s Recovery Network, Sydney Children’s Hospital Eating Disorder Intensive Program and Townsville Early Psychosis Intervention and Assertive Youth Mobile Outreach Services about their journeys adopting Open Dialogue and their next steps forward.
School communities: Discover how Open Dialogue is leading to better engagement in learning and supporting student agency, mental wellbeing and relationships with teachers, parents and families
The full conference program and list of guest speakers is available on our website.
Read more
Q&A with Christine Morgan
As former CEO of the Butterfly Foundation, the National Mental Health Commission, and the former Prime Ministers’ National Suicide Prevention Advisor, Ms Christine Morgan is passionate about mental health reform and ways the mental health systems in Australia can be shifted. Christine will be attending our National Conference to discuss how the mental health system in Australia would be experienced if it was meeting the needs of people and how Open Dialogue is a powerful mechanism for bringing about this change. ODC talked to Christine about the upcoming conference and her views on this critical shift for mental health.
– When thinking about the problems we have in mental health, how do you think Open Dialogue could be a solution?
Key challenges with the current mental health system that OD addresses:
shifting from a medicalised model to one that looks at the whole person and brings together the pharmacological plus the psychotherapy
shifting from excluding families and carers to actively engaging them in the network conversations and enabling them to support their loved one
shifting to working with someone in their community / family setting rather than in a medical / clinical environment – enabling the person to use the aspects of their community and family in their recovery journey
– What is the opportunity with Open Dialogue in Australia?
To be the mechanism by which we can start to shift how the mental health system operates and, in doing so, make it incredibly more effective.
– What do you think makes the Open Dialogue conference an event not to be missed?
It is an opportunity to hear from those who are leading this cutting-edge thinking, approach and work and to better understand how it could change the situation in which you are working for improved, sustainable patient / client outcomes. An opportunity to network and garner new ideas.
– Why are you involved with the conference?
It is an exciting opportunity to share the thinking and work around Open Dialogue and the Centre.
Conference excitement is building with Paul Denborough and Rachel Barbara-May (watch a short video)
ODC talked to Dr Paul Denborough and Rachel Barbara-May from The Alfred in Melbourne – our key partners and presenters. Paul is a psychiatrist and Clinical Director of the Child and Youth Mental Health Service and Headspace and Rachel is a social worker and Dialogical Practices lead.
If you work in mental healthcare and are considering coming to connect with others about the growing professional practice of Open Dialogue in different settings in Australia, check out this short video where Paul and Rachel share why they are excited about the potential to create change.
School symposium – join us for a day of experiential learning
On August 2nd, Open Dialogue Centre in partnership with Korowal School in the Blue Mountains, NSW is running a symposium focused on the role of Open Dialogue in enhancing student mental health and wellbeing in schools, and discussing evidence of how embedding Open Dialogue throughout a school can further benefit families, teachers and the wider school community.
After a five year journey of adapting Open Dialogue practice into their school, Korowal school leaders, teachers, wellbeing staff, parents, students and researchers will share evidence around how this experience has benefitted their entire school network. ODC is welcoming K-12 school leaders, education system leaders and allied support organisations to come together and explore how this practice can be adapted into any school environment, and learn about what the future of Open Dialogue in schools could look like.
From Melbourne to Sydney: Inviting participants to ODC’s next One-Year Foundation Course
Our One-Year Foundation Course, facilitated by our very own Flick Grey, Mark Hopfenbeck and Rachel Barbara-May has successfully begun in Melbourne, with the completion of the first of four five-day blocks of training which ran from March 4th-8th. With three other blocks of training happening throughout the year in Melbourne, we are looking forward to continuing this incredible engagement of how to practise Open Dialogue and network-oriented ways of being in your own organisations and lives. We are currently doing some fantastic work with teams from key organisations such as Youth Insearch who will also be taking part in our next course.
With that, we are excited to announce that The One-Year Foundation Course is now accepting applications for a Sydney-based course starting in February 2025. Following the same training program, we invite those involved in mental health care, social care, education and related disciplines to apply. More information on the course and information regarding application is available on our website.
Our next steps in Shepparton with Open Dialogue Discovery Workshops
Following an initial Open Dialogue workshop in Shepparton last October, on April 29th members from the ODC team attended a one-day Open Dialogue Discovery Workshop at Greater Shepparton Secondary College, facilitated by Open Dialogue Head of Training Mark Hopfenbeck. We gathered people from different backgrounds from a wide range of collaborative organisations in the Shepparton community including Education First Youth Foyer, the Bridge Youth Service, Headspace, Goulburn Valley Health and school wellbeing staff to come together and learn about the principles and practices of Open Dialogue and how they might be implemented within their services to support mental health and wellbeing for young people in the Shepparton community.
Perspectives: Tim Twining
Tim Twining is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker from Men in Mind counselling, a supportive and safe conversation space that helps men to unpack thoughts and emotions and build confidence in their mental wellbeing. Tim offers his insights into his experiences navigating vulnerability as a man, and how he hopes to bring this experience, personal and professional, into the conversation and create space for men and their community and family networks to create positive change.
Get involved as a supporter or find out more
We invite interest from new supporters as we expand the potential for Open Dialogue to meet the increasing demand for new approaches in mental health care.