Our Board

The MHCA is governed by a Board of up to ten members. The Board consists of up to eight delegates from the MHCA membership, including a consumer and a carer representative, and an additional two independent members are drawn from outside the MHCA membership consistent with Clause 21 of the MHCA Constitution.

Chair - The Hon Rob Knowles AO
The Hon Rob Knowles AO is a farmer and company director. He has been the Chair of the Mental Health Council of Australia since April 2006. He is a member of the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission, and also Chair of the Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia, Chair of the Royal Children's Hospital Campus Council, and a member of the Board of the Brotherhood of St Lawrence. He is a former Victorian Minister of Health, Housing and Aged Care and has a strong interest in services for consumers and their families and carers. Rob was awarded an Order of Australia in 2007.

Deputy Chair – Professor Lyn Littlefield
Lyn is the Executive Director of the Australian Psychological Society, which represents the largest mental health workforce in Australia. She is a Registered Psychologist and Member of the Australian Psychological Society Colleges of Clinical, Counselling and Community Psychologists with over 20 years of experience in mental health in hospital and community settings. Lyn has devoted much of this time to attempting to improve mental health services in these contexts.

Member, Consumer Representative – Ms Clare Guilfoyle
Clare Guilfoyle is CEO of GROW (Australia).  GROW has operated for over 50 years and was established and developed by people living with a mental illness. Clare is committed to promoting consumer leadership and advocates for greater participation by people with experience of mental illness in planning, policy and service delivery. Clare has worked in the health and community sector for over 25 years.  Clare has a degree in Science (Nursing) and has experience that extends from the clinical setting, policy development, governance and strategic business development, education and research.  Clare’s research background is in online health and she has published articles in refereed journals.  Clare held an appointment as Honorary Fellow at the Queensland University of Technology where she was involved in post graduate education and curriculum development.

Member, Carer Representative – Mr Tony Fowke AM
Tony is the President of Mental Health Carers Arafmi Australia which is the only body that solely represents mental health carers. Tony has been a mental health carer for more than 25 years. Whilst he has retired from active practice as a lawyer he sits on the Mental Health Review Board in Perth and provides pro bono advice on mental health issues. On Australia Day 2003 Tony was appointed to be a Member of the Order of Australia for his role as an advocate for the advancement of mental health services in Australia and to the community. Tony is also the President Elect for the World Federation for Mental Health a role that has never previously been held by a carer.

Member – Dr Valerie Gerrand
Valerie was elected to the MHCA Board in November 2009. She is a qualified social worker and from 2006, has represented the Australian Association of Social Workers on the MHCA. Since 2000, she has worked as an independent consultant, specialising in mental health policy and service development, and professional education.
Valerie has a long-standing commitment to mental health reform, first prompted by exposure to institutional conditions in the mid1960s and the inadequacy of post-discharge community care. Her employment background spans state and national mental health policy development, management of community mental health services, teaching mental health policy and practice to social work and welfare studies students, and undertaking post-graduate research. Her 2005 PhD examines Victoria's major mental health reforms in the 1990s.

Member -  Mr Arthur Papakotsias
Arthur has just recently celebrated 20 years as the Chief Executive Officer of Neami Limited. Neami is an accredited, national, community based provider of mental health rehabilitation, housing and support services. With a background in Psychiatric Nursing as well as completion of post graduate studies in management at RMIT Melbourne, Arthur is very experienced with all aspects of management and service delivery of mental health services. Arthur currently sits as a Board member of the Crisis Support Services in Victoria and is completing a chapter for the Oxford University Press Third Edition of Mental Health in Australia, to be published in 2012. Arthur is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors as well as all state based mental health peak bodies.

Member -  Dr Caroline Johnson
Dr Caroline Johnson is a General Practitioner in Surrey Hills, Melbourne. Her interest in primary mental health care grew out of her experience providing professional development activities for GPs as a medical educator at the RACGP Victorian Faculty from 1996 until 2002. This led to a lecturer position at the Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne, where Caroline has had the opportunity to teach GPs at undergraduate, vocational and postgraduate levels. She is a member of the RACGP National Standing Committee – Quality Care and has represented the RACGP on a variety of committees related to mental health, including current roles on the Mental Health Council of Australia and the Mental Health Professionals Association. She is currently completing a PhD at the University of Melbourne, researching the monitoring of depression in the GP setting.

Member – Mr Geoff Harris
Geoff is currently the Executive Director of the Mental Health Coalition of SA Inc which is the peak body for mental health in South Australia. With over 15 years of experience working in health and mental health, Geoff has also served on a range of Boards including a previous stint on the Mental Health Council of Australia and current roles on the Health Performance Council (SA) and on SACOSS Policy Council. Through previous work in central Australia, Geoff gained an understanding of many of the rural and remote mental health, social and emotional well-being issues.

Independent Member – The Hon Craig Knowles
The Hon Craig Knowles is the former Minister for Health, Planning and Infrastructure, Housing and Natural Resources in the NSW Government. He holds a range of Board and advisory positions as well as serving on a number of not for profit and charitable boards. He is a fellow of the Australian Property Institute.

Independent Member – Vacant

MHCA Board members are elected from the MHCA full membership at the Annual General Meeting. Please forward all expressions of interest for Board positions to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .