Dr Stephen Bright is a clinically trained psychologist and senior lecturer on addiction at Edith Cowan University. Dr. Bright is the director of PRISM, the Psychedelic Research in Science and Medicine organisation which is a not for profit, independent research charity developing medical and legal processes for the application of psychedelic medicines for improved well being in Australia.   In this conversation Dr. Stephen shares an update on the research for MDMA and psylicybin in the US and Australia, some of the results of the studies, the reactions from the clinical community, regulat ..read more

Today we’re speaking with Dr. Tracey Sletten, a senior research fellow from the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University.   Dr. Sletten is an expert on sleep and in our conversation we do a deep dive into how shift work affects sleep and how to improve sleep as much as possible while still working as a shift worker.   If you’d like to connect with Dr. Tracey or her team you can do so via tracey.sletten@monash.edu or on twitter @tracey_sletten ..read more

Today we continue speaking with Professor Sean Drummond, a Cognitive Neuroscientist and Clinical Psychologist at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University. In part 2 of our conversation, we explore the relationship between poor sleep and mental illnesses - how one can be caused by the other. We talk about cognitive based therapy for insomnia (CBTI), the current gold standard for the treatment of poor sleep, medication for insomnia and the role that it has in treatment. Finally we circle around to the resources available to help people with poor sleep, and some tips ..read more

Today we’re speaking with Professor Sean Drummond, a sleep expert, Cognitive Neuroscientist and Clinical Psychologist at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health at Monash University. We have split this conversation into 2 parts, in this, part 1 we cover the mechanics of sleep, how much sleep do we need, how much we actually get, the price for insufficient sleep, Sleep patterns, Caffeine and alcohol and how they impact sleep, Insomnia and sleep apnoea. We touch on 4 key things that you can do to improve your sleep ..read more

Today we’re speaking with Dr. Jarrod White, a Clinical Psychologist working in private practice at The Viewpoint clinic in Caulfield Melbourne. During Dr. White's research he had the opportunity to conduct face to face interviews with holocaust survivors and Sudanese genocide survivors. During our conversation, Dr. White shares some of his research and the key themes of how trauma is processed and expressed differently within different cultures.   ..read more

Today we speak with Professor Paul Fitzgerald who has been involved in the development, evaluation and clinical implementation of new treatments for mental health disorders for 2 decades. He pioneered the use of TMS in Australia and is internationally renowned as a leader in the field of brain stimulation and device based treatments in psychiatry. In our conversation we discuss what TMS is, the mechanisms of how we believe it works, we discuss how it’s administered, side effects, it’s efficacy and the costs and funding available in Australia. This conversation was recorded in November of 2021 ..read more

Today we talk to Phil Armstrong, CEO of the Australian Counselling Association (ACA), about the ethics of client patient dynamics and what happens when a clinician develops romantic feelings towards their client or visa versa. Phil, as the head of the ACA, is in the perfect position to provide some guidance and boundaries on these sorts of ethical questions. As you’ll hear from our conversation, Phil draws on his own clinical experience as well as that of their 7000 members ..read more

We’ll be taking a break over December and Jan and will post our next podcast in Feb. Thank you for your support and for tuning into conversations about mental health. We hope these conversations have sparked your curiosity and have given you new insights into your own lives and of those close to you. We wish you a safe festive season, take care of yourself and we’ll see you in 2022 ..read more

What is the difference between a counsellor and a psychotherapist? Today we’re speaking with Dr. Di Stow, the President of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA) who will explain this in detail. PACFA is a leading national peak body and professional association for counsellors and psychotherapists in Australia with over 4500 members nationwide and as one of the leaders of this organisation, Dr. Stow is well placed to explore the similarities and differences between these two mental health professionals.   Dr. Di runs her own private counselling practice in Hobar ..read more

Today we’re speaking with Dr Zac Seidler is a clinical psychologist, researcher and leading men’s mental health expert. Zac currently holds dual roles as Director of Mental Health Training at Movember and Research Fellow with Orygen at the University of Melbourne. Today we’ll speak about men’s mental health, masculinity, the idea of toxic masculinity, how men relate to seeking support and help, the role of men in relationships and society, consent and the Movember movement and support out there for men. At the time of release of this chat it’s the start of Movember and many men are in the full ..read more