International Health Humanities Network Membership

Brief Biography:

Academic Qualifications:

Currently completing PhD Creative Writing, Swinburne University, Australia.

Awarded qualifications:

MA (Creative Writing), Grad Dip Media, Grad Dip Education, Bachelor of Education, Bachelor of Arts (Performing Arts and Cinema Studies), Diploma (and Certificate 4) in Creative Writing, Certificate 4 in Workplace Training and Assessment.

Interest in field of mental wellness and humanities.

Diagnosed at 33 with Bipolar Disorder I have survived numerous periods of hospitalisation due to my extremely labile mood states and cyclothymia. It has impacted on my academic and professional career having made every achievement seem twice as difficult and take twice as long, however I believe my lived experience now empowers me to be an advocate on behalf of mental wellness and activist breaking down stigma and self-stigma.

I have presented my current PhD research and professional Higher Education research at National and International Conferences. I have also attended the International Forum for Research in Bipolar Disorder and presented a poster session as a cast-study patient, one studying and living successfully with my medicated illness.

In 2015 I will be seeking grants to either continue my creative arts practice, writing and publishing more fiction in this area, or writing and developing a stage performance using the experiences of twelve people working together to learn stand up comedy about their mental illnesses.

I am also hoping to pursue post-doctoral studies investigating the systemic discrimination existing in our professional workplaces including our Universities and seeking answers to how such research can be prioritised under grant systems that maintain the disciplinary divide between the Sciences and the Humanities. Despite talk of access and equity, inclusion and equality many policies and procedures do not ensure such goals are enacted. The most effective way to communicate these issues in my mind is through in depth qualitative research of an inter-disciplinary nature.

This is my goal to investigate mental health and wellness impacts on society using all avenues of research and indeed creative practice open within our University and Research Institutes.