Our staff have complementary skills and experience in research, clinical treatment, policy, service development, education and communication.
Our people include clinically trained researchers and specialist psychologists, who are supported by our professional services team. Our specialist practitioners maintain their clinical skills in their private psychology practices.
Management team
Professor David Forbes
BA (Hons) MA (Clin Psych) PhD
Director
David completed his clinical training and PhD at the University of Melbourne. He joined Phoenix Australia in 1999 and was appointed Director in January 2012. He is a clinical psychologist with many years’ experience in the assessment and treatment of mental health problems following trauma. Professor Forbes was the Co-Chair of the Steering Group for the NHMRC approved Australian Guidelines for the Treatment of Acute Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and he sits on the editorial boards of key international journals and publishes widely in the international literature. Professor Forbes has a specialised interest in the assessment and treatment of traumatic stress and in veteran and military mental health.
Mr Greg Ridder
BBus(Acc) GradDip(Mktg) GAICD CPA
Executive Manager, Business Planning and Strategy
Greg joined Phoenix Australia in September 2012 as interim CEO. His role has evolved as Phoenix Australia’s needs have changed, and he is currently Executive Manager, Business Planning and Strategy, and a Director of Phoenix Australia. Greg is an experienced business and strategy advisor, with a strong business background in strategy, finance, and general management both in Australia and Asia, having previously been President of NYSE listed packaging company Owens Illinois’ Asia Pacific regional operations. He is an Associate Director at strategy consultants, Bevington Group; serves on the Business Advisory Councils of World Vision Australia and Greenfleet; and is a mentor at Kilfinan Australia. Greg is a past president of the Packaging Council of Australia, a Graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and a CPA.
Dr Andrea Phelps
BA (Hons) MPsych (Clin) PhD
Director of Policy and Service Development
Andrea joined Phoenix Australia in 2003 as a clinical specialist, after working for 20 years as a clinical psychologist, specialising in posttraumatic mental health since 1997. She is currently leading the policy and service development work undertaken at Phoenix Australia but her role at Phoenix Australia spans across the training, research and service development domains. She has been responsible for managing a number of major Phoenix Australia projects including the development of the Australian Guidelines for the Treatment of Adults with Acute Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, advice to the rail industry on management of psychological trauma following critical incidents, and a range of DVA initiatives to promote best practice mental health care for veterans. Within the PTSD field, Andrea’s particular research and clinical interest is in the area of sleep and nightmares. She has completed a PhD on this topic.
Associate Professor Meaghan O’Donnell
BAppSci BSci (Hons) MPsych (Clin) PhD
Director of Research
Meaghan joined Phoenix Australia in 2003 after completing her postgraduate clinical psychology training at the University of Western Australia in 1996 and her PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2003 (under the supervision of Professor Mark Creamer). Meaghan has published widely in the area of posttraumatic mental health, holds a number of large research grants and is involved in both national and international research collaborations. She is an associate editor for the European Journal of Psychotraumatology and is on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Meaghan is involved in a number of research projects that encompass a range of areas including epidemiology, phenomenology, intervention, and biology of posttraumatic mental health, and the mental health issues in military and veteran populations.
Associate Professor Darryl Wade
BA (Hons) MA (Clin Psych) PhD
Director of Education and Training
Darryl joined Phoenix Australia in 2008 after many years’ experience as a clinical psychologist in a range of mental health settings. At Phoenix Australia he has developed and managed a range of mental health initiatives to improve access to effective treatment and support for people affected by trauma and disaster including past and present defence force members and their families, and survivors of the 2009 Victorian bushfires. His current research interests include screening and brief interventions for substance use and translating research findings into practice. He completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2006 and has published widely on mental health issues affecting young people. Darryl is a member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and the APS College of Clinical Psychologists.
Mr Nick Davies
BA (Soc) BAcc ASA
Business Centre Manager
With formal qualifications in accounting and economics, Nick has 18 years’ experience across the software development, recruitment, superannuation, defence, mental health service delivery and tertiary education sectors. Nick’s broad and deep experience across the full range of corporate service disciplines complements and supports the rigorous academic endeavour of his Phoenix Australia colleagues. Since joining the organisation in 2012, Nick has overseen the implementation of the Phoenix Australia project management office system, various enhancements to the finance and resource systems, and the development of this website. While his professional focus is often the accuracy of numbers and finer detail of written communication, Nick has a passion for people as evidenced in his intricate involvement in Phoenix stakeholder relations, both internal and external.
Senior staff
Dr Richard Cash
BA (Hons) PsyD
Senior Clinical Specialist
Richard joined Phoenix Australia in 2012 as a Senior Clinical Specialist. He is a psychologist with vast experience in the treatment of posttraumatic mental health problems within the Veteran community. Prior to his appointment to Phoenix Australia, he was the Deputy Director of the Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service in Victoria. Richard has extensive training experience and is passionate about championing evidence-based interventions within allied health. He is involved in policy and service development as well as education and training activities at Phoenix Australia.
Dr John Cooper
MBBS MPM FRANZCP
Consultant Psychiatrist
John Cooper is a Consultant Psychiatrist who has worked part time at Phoenix Australia since 1999, providing psychiatry expertise across the policy and service development, training and education, and research domains. During this same period, John has held senior clinical and advisory positions in posttraumatic mental health at Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital and the Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service (VVCS), as well as maintaining a busy private practice specialising in the treatment of posttraumatic mental health problems. John’s particular expertise is in veterans’ mental health, assessment, pharmacotherapy, and service development. Recently, John has moved much of his clinical work into youth and community clinical settings where high rates of posttraumatic mental health disorders impact upon all aspects of patient care.
Anne-Laure Couineau
BA (Psych) MA (Psych) Grad Dip (Psych)
Senior Clinical Specialist
Anne-Laure is a psychologist with extensive experience in the treatment of posttraumatic mental health problems in hospital and community settings. She has specialised in the treatment of war veterans and emergency personnel diagnosed with PTSD and the effects of long-term childhood sexual abuse and neglect. Anne-Laure has a strong background in education and knowledge translation and has led several projects aimed at improving the uptake of evidence-based practice among mental health practitioners. Recent projects led by Anne-Laure include a Department of Veterans’ Affairs national training initiative to up-skill mental health practitioners, and an ADF national training program. Anne-Laure has also completed a fellowship with the National Institute of Clinical Studies focusing on the implementation of evidence-based treatment of PTSD.
Dr Lisa Dell (on maternity leave)
BAppSci (Hons) PhD
Senior Research Fellow
Lisa joined Phoenix Australia in 2009, having previously worked as Director of Training with the Canadian Air Force managing a range of projects including the development of a comprehensive e-learning training program. She has a PhD in stress management and emotional intelligence, and developed one of the first Australian workplace emotional intelligence training programs. In her role as a Research Fellow, Lisa is responsible for the design, implementation and oversight of a range of policy and service development projects and evaluations.
Jane Nursey
BBSc Grad Dip Child & Adol Psych MPsych (Clin Neuro)
Senior Clinical Specialist
Jane joined Phoenix Australia in 2010 as a Senior Clinical Specialist. Prior to her appointment she was Manager of Outpatient Programs at Post Trauma Victoria and the Veteran Psychiatry Unit at Austin Health. She has worked in public acute and mental health services across Melbourne for 18 years, including with CAMHS and Adult and Aged Care services. Jane has presented on the neuropsychological aspects of PTSD both in Australia and overseas and coordinated a treatment service for bushfire survivors following the Victorian bushfires in February 2009. At Phoenix Australia Jane is involved in policy and service development projects as well as education and training programs.
Our people
Dr Nathan Alkemade
BA Grad Dip (Psych) PGDip (Psych) MPsych (Clin) PhD
Research Fellow I
Nathan joined Phoenix Australia in 2012. He is a clinical psychologist, and has experience in factor analysis (exploratory, confirmatory and multi-group CFA), latent class analysis, latent transition analysis, growth mixture modelling, path analysis, and mediation model analysis using Mplus. Additionally, Nathan has experience in completing literature reviews and rapid evidence assessments. At Phoenix Australia, he works primarily on writing research papers for publication, and is also involved in a variety of research projects with a focus on data analysis.
Rachel Brand
BSc (Hons) DClinPsy
Rachel is a Clinical Psychologist and joined ACPMH in 2014. Rachel previously worked in clinical roles within the public mental health system in the UK in specialist psychosis and traumatic stress services. Rachel currently project manages an NHMRC funded transdiagnostic treatment trial for emotional difficulties following traumatic injury. She is also involved in ACPMH projects in the areas of refugee and veteran mental health. Rachel has a broad range of interests in the area of post-traumatic mental health, including trialling innovative cognitive behavioural treatment approaches post-trauma, refugee mental health and the interaction between trauma and psychosis.
Katherine Chisholm
BA (Hons) DPsych (Health)
Katherine joined Phoenix Australia in 2014 and is a psychologist who recently completed a DPsych (Health) at Deakin University. Katherine has clinical experience working with traumatic injury survivors. Her research interests extend to this area at ACPMH, where Katherine currently works on a NHMRC funded Randomised Controlled Trial in collaboration with the Royal Melbourne Hospital. This trial aims to evaluate the efficacy of a transdiagnostic therapeutic approach for people who have experienced anxiety, depression or posttraumatic stress following traumatic injury.
Suzie Firth (on maternity leave)
Executive Assistant
Suzie joined Phoenix Australia in 2010, has extensive experience in all facets of office administration, and is currently studying a BA (Psych) at Deakin University. At Phoenix Australia, she is responsible for providing executive assistance to the Director (Professor David Forbes). Suzie also manages human resources administration and provides administrative assistance to the Board of Management, the Finance Committee and Management Group.
Susie Fletcher
BAppSci (Psych) PGDip (Psych)
Research Assistant
Susie joined Phoenix Australia in 2008. Her research experience includes conducting systematic literature reviews, data analysis and writing research papers. She is currently involved in a number of research projects at Phoenix Australia. Susie is based primarily at the Alfred Hospital, where she recruits and assesses patients admitted with a traumatic injury. She is also involved in data analysis and writing manuscripts for publication.
Jaiganesh G Swamy
BCom, MPA
Finance Officer
Jaiganesh joined Phoenix Australia in 2009, having worked with a number of accounting professionals for many years. He has previously worked in another area of the University of Melbourne’s Department of Psychiatry as Accounts Officer. Jaiganesh is responsible for managing Phoenix Australia’s day-to-day finances, year-end audit, project support and other administration- related work.
Alexandra Howard
BPsych (Hons) MPsych (Clin)
Clinical Specialist
Alexandra joined Phoenix Australia in 2010, having worked previously as a clinical psychologist in the private, public and university sectors. In these roles she specialised in anxiety and youth mental health, and developed and facilitated group therapy programs. She also has experience in project management of clinical research trials and community health service program evaluation. She completed her Masters of Psychology (Clinical) from the University of NSW. Alexandra is currently working for Phoenix Australia on a research project providing psychological therapy to people who have experienced posttraumatic stress, depression and anxiety following trauma.
Maria Humphries
Communications and Project Coordinator
Maria is responsible for managing Phoenix Australia’s communications, marketing and brand management. She oversaw the organisation’s recent renaming and brand identity development, as well as the redevelopment of the website. Maria is a skilful writer and editor, with a keen eye for detail. She provides high level support and advice to senior staff and projects. She has considerable experience in administration of post-graduate training and in project administration, and she manages Phoenix Australia’s nation-wide training programs.
Dzenana Kartal
BSocSc PGDip (Psych)
Research Assistant
Dzenana joined Phoenix Australia in 2011 as a Research Assistant under the NHMRC Program Grant. She has worked in the public and university sectors since 2004. Her research experience includes working with victims of crime, refugees, culturally and linguistically diverse communities and preschoolers. She is completing her PhD examining psycho-social factors impacting the mental health of refugees.
Dr Winnie Lau
BBSC (Hons) MPsych (Clin) PhD
Clinical Fellow II
Winnie is a psychologist who has worked across academic, clinical and community settings. Having spent much time in the public child and adolescent mental health sector, she joined Phoenix Australia to work as a clinical specialist and project manager. Winnie has been involved in projects investigating the impact of trauma on injury survivors; the development of a treatment manual for use in the aftermath of the Victorian bushfires; and clinical intervention trials for traumatic injury patients. She has broad interests in trauma-focussed cognitive behavioural therapies, child and adolescent mental health, refugee trauma, complex trauma, and trauma-informed care.
Delyth Lloyd
MPH (Evaluation) MA (Exp Psy) PCert Clinical Research Management
Research Fellow II
Delyth has worked full time in research for over 10 years. She holds a Masters of Public Health specialising in evaluation, and an MA in psychology from the University of Oxford. Del joined Phoenix Australia in 2004 and works across Phoenix Australia’s three key activity areas. She is currently responsible for project design, conduct and dissemination of research and evaluation findings. Del has experience managing a range of large scale national programs as well as smaller specialist programs, primarily in the veteran and military populations. Her diverse research interests include outcomes of Cognitive Processing Therapy, effective training methodologies, and the use of digital technologies for practitioner training and stand alone or adjunct treatment of mental health and wellbeing issues.
Lee Merzel
Executive Assistant to David Forbes and Andrea Phelps
Lee joined Phoenix Australia in June 2014 as Executive Assistant to Professor David Forbes and Dr Andrea Phelps. She has extensive executive assistant experience and has supported senior executives in corporate/public affairs, investor & community relations, human resources and corporate development. Prior to joining Phoenix Australia she was Group Executive Assistant and Office Manager for RMDSTEM, a professional services firm, at its Melbourne office. Lee also provides administrative support to the Board of Management, the Finance Committee and Management Group.
Thi Pham
BA BSc (Hons)
Research Assistant
The holder of an honours degree in psychology, Thi joined Phoenix Australia in 2011 as a Research Assistant and has worked on a number of research projects, predominantly under the NHMRC Program Grant. Previously she has been involved in data management and provision of administrative support for two projects in the Department of General Practice at the University of Melbourne.
Naomi Ralph
To come…
Daniel Redman
Information Technology Officer
Dan joined Phoenix Australia in 2011 and has more than 10 years’ experience in all areas of information technology support and management. At Phoenix Australia, he is responsible for managing the IT network and systems and providing IT support to the whole team.
Rebecca Sheehan
Receptionist
Rebecca began working as Phoenix Australia’s receptionist in 2011. She has considerable experience in reception and administration, mainly in the real estate sector. Rebecca’s role is to provide general assistance, administrative support and respond to telephone and email enquiries.
Dr Tracey Varker (on maternity leave)
BSc (Hons) PGDip (Statistics) PhD
Research Fellow II
Tracey joined Phoenix Australia in 2007 and recently completed a PhD in the prevention of trauma reactions in police officers. Her current research interests include the prevention of trauma reactions, early interventions for trauma reactions, and high-risk populations such as the emergency services. In her role as a Research Fellow, Tracey has managed and contributed to several projects across the training and education, policy and service development, and research domains. Tracey has a number of publications, and continues to be involved in data analysis and writing manuscripts for publication.
Honorary appointments