The MHCA is governed by a nine member Board. The Board consists of up to seven 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 OA 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 – Ms Dawn O’Neil
Dawn has been the CEO of Lifeline Australia since August 2000. Lifeline is a highly trusted provider of low cost mental health support services that connect people with care in over 60 communities Australia wide. Dawn has an MBA and other counselling qualifications, is a Fellow of the Institute of Company Directors, was a member of the National Advisory Council for Suicide Prevention for six years and is a member of the Volunteer Emotional Support Helplines International network representing Helplines in over 60 countries worldwide. Dawn’s passion is to support individuals and communities to be socially, emotionally and mentally healthy and equipped to be both givers and receivers of care.
Member – 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 – Mr Jeff Cheverton
Jeff is the Executive Director of the Queensland Alliance, the peak body for the mental health community sector in Queensland. Jeff has degrees in Business, Law, French and Social Policy, and has published articles in refereed journals on peak bodies and the performance of non-profit organisations. He was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2007 to research fundraising for mental health advocacy in US, Canada, NZ and the UK.
Member – Dr Valerie Gerrand
Valerie Gerrand 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, Consumer Representative – Mr Wayne Chamley
Wayne has been the consumer consultant for two private clinics in Melbourne. Over the past five years Wayne has been involved as a mental health consumer representative in a number of areas.
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.
Independent Member – Dr Katie Spearritt
Katie has a proven track record in leading and facilitating organisational change and developing business-oriented Human Resources solutions, particularly in the area of workforce diversity and large-scale cultural change. Katie has been recognized as one of the top 10 Diversity & Change leaders in Australia (as independently judged by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency in November, 2003). She is an accomplished public speaker with established relationships with the business, academic and community sectors. Her expertise includes human resources management, workforce diversity, change management, organisation design and development.
Independent Member – Vacant