Who We Are

Vivienne has worked in mental health services in Australia and England for over 50 years in many capacities: occupational therapist and manager, quality improvement manager, university lecturer, co-ordinator of site visit educational programs, project officer to develop mental health standards, member of research teams, and mental health educator. She is a co-author of the National Standards for Mental Health Services (1996) and was an advisor to the National Mental Health Workforce Standards. Since 1996 she has held the position as Executive Director of the largest, most inclusive mental health conference in Australia The Mental Health Services (TheMHS) Conference, run through TheMHS Learning Network Inc. She is a founding member of TheMHS Management Committee which held its first meeting in 1991.
TheMHS attracts over 1000 clinicians, managers, team leaders, consumers, families, educators, policy-makers and researchers annually; provides bursaries for consumers (people living with mental illness) to attend the conference; administers and organises national mental health service achievement awards. “Finding common ground” while attaining rigour, is a feature of her style of working. She is a drama therapist and is the founder of NECTA, an arts therapy network in Sydney, which organised conferences and workshops on the arts, therapy and education 1980 – 2008. She trained in group analysis (1974) at the Institute of Group Analysis, London. She holds a Masters in Education and Work (1991, Macquarie University) and has completed an undergraduate degree in European Languages (2012, at Macquarie University, studying Italian so she can learn more about the Italian reforms in mental health, but also to travel to Italy for the coffee, food, art and the people.