• Transforming Australia's Mental Health Service Systems
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Advocating For Mental health

Associate Professor Roger Gurr

MB BS DPM MRC Psych, FRANZCP

Clinical Director (psychiatrist) Headspace Early Psychosis, Western Sydney

Roger Gurr is the psychiatrist Clinical Director of headspace Early Psychosis in Western Sydney. He also holds a Conjoint Appointment in Psychiatry, Western Sydney University Faculty of Medicine. He is a founder and Board Chair of the NSW Service for the Assessment and Treatment of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS).
He is a founder of the Mental Health Services Conference Learning Network and Chairs its Mental Health Services Achievement Awards program. He has been involved in human rights activities through leadership roles in Amnesty International Australia and the Australian Human Rights Council.
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Vivienne Miller

Executive Director, The Mental Health Services (TheMHS) Conference

Vivienne has worked in mental health services in Australia and England for over 50 years. 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.  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. Vivienne has worked as a University lecturer, occupational therapist and manager and mental health educator and project officer.

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Douglas Holmes

OAM, EBE

Chair and a founding member of TAMHSS. BEING Mental Health Consumers, Distinguished Service Awards 2025

Douglas Holmes OAM is a nationally respected lived‑experience leader, advocate, and mentor who has contributed to mental health reform in Australia for more than two decades. His work spans system advocacy, policy development, peer support, service co‑design, community development, and governance roles across local, state, and national settings. Douglas is widely recognised for his commitment to human rights, consumer and carer voice, and meaningful participation across mental health systems.

He received TheMHS Exceptional Contribution Award in 2014 and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2018 for his service to the community through mental health advocacy. In 2025, Douglas was honoured with the Distinguished Service Award from BEING, acknowledging his sustained leadership and influence across the consumer movement. That same year, he received Life Membership from Mental Health Carers NSW in recognition of his long-standing commitment to supporting, mentoring, and elevating the role of carers in mental health reform.

Douglas is currently working with Monash University researchers on the Let’s Talk About Action project under SUPER CRO, focusing on strengthening follow‑up, embedding lived‑experience leadership in system decision‑making, and building community‑led pathways for action. His role includes co‑design, community engagement, and shaping research that centres lived experience.

 
Through SUPERCRO and initiatives such as Pendants with Purpose and creative recovery programs, Douglas supports people with lived experience of mental distress or trauma to build skills, connection, and hope. He continues to present widely across Australia, championing lived‑experience leadership, collaborative reform, and stronger partnerships between consumers, carers, communities, and services. 
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Leanne Craze

AM

Mental health and social policy consultant

Leanne Craze has contributed to: Developing a Regional Mental Health Peer Workforce Framework, for COORDINARE, the South Eastern NSW Primary Health Network in 2021; Establishing a National framework for recovery oriented mental health services through the Safety Quality Partnerships Standing Committee 2014, for the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing; recognising and responding to deterioration in mental states in acute health care settings, Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care 2013

In August 2022, Leanne assisted the Taiwanese government to establish the International Review Committee (“IRC”)  to monitor the implementation of the United Nations (“UN”) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“CRPD”) in Taiwan.

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Alan Rosen

AO

Professor, Psychiatrist, NSW

Professor Rosen has been made an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to medicine in the field of mental health as a psychiatrist and clinician, to national health service reform, and to professional organisations.

Professor Rosen has been involved with TheMHS since 1991 as a founding committee member. He has presented at the TheMHS Conferences and Summer Forums on a wide variety of topics since its inception.

About Professor Rosen:

  • Professorial Fellow at the School of Public Health, Faculty of Health & Behavioural Sciences, University of Wollongong.
  • Clinical Associate Professor,Brain & Mind Research Institute, Sydney Medical School / Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney,
  • Deputy Commissioner for Mental Health Commission of New South Wales,
  • Senior Consultant Psychiatrist, Far West Local Health Network, New South Wales,
  • Research Psychiatrist, Centre for Rural & Remote Mental Health, University of Newcastle,
  • Secretary, Comprehensive Area Service Psychiatrists’ (CASP) Network.
  • Member Management Committee, TheMHS Learning Network Inc. 
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