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Mental Health Professionals’ Network

About us

Since 2008, MHPN has been funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care to strengthen the primary health workforce by improving referral pathways and practitioner expertise through the promotion of multidisciplinary practice and collaborative care.

MHPN is unique, in that its activities purposely cross boundaries of discipline, mode of practice (private and public) and location to encourage and foster the development of multidisciplinary collaboration.

W woman holding a clipboard is shaking hands with another woman and smiling

Our strategy

MHPN’s purpose is to support excellence in multidisciplinary mental health care.

MHPN meets this purpose by:

  • Connecting primary care practitioners to support improved delivery of multidisciplinary mental healthcare
  • Advocating for best practice contemporary multidisciplinary models of mental healthcare within primary care
  • Supporting collaboration of all practitioners within mental healthcare settings
  • Supporting system change and policy development to improve multidisciplinary care.

Key to meeting these purposes is engaging mental health and health practitioners in our two core programs: the National Networks Program and the Online Professional Development Program, consisting of  webinars and podcasts.

Download MHPN’s Strategic Plan Summary
A group of men and women sit around a table smiling and talking

Our people

The Board

The MHPN Board consists of representatives of the four member organisations and is guided by an independent Chair. The Board brings a wealth of multidisciplinary experience to their role of overseeing MHPN’s operations and governance.

John Rasa headshot
Adrian Armitage head shot
Adrian Armitage
Australian College of Mental Health Nurses
Zena Burgess headshot
Dr Zena Burgess FAICD FAPS
Australian Psychological Society
Jon Cullum
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists
Dr Vinita Godinho
Australian Psychological Society
Stephan Groombridge headshot
Stephan Groombridge
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
Sonia Miller headshot
Sonia Miller
Australian College of Mental Health Nurses
Associate Professor Morton Rawlin head shot
Associate Professor Morton Rawlin
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
Dr Jaya Reddy
Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists

The MHPN team

MHPN’s team are enthusiastic about improving the mental health landscape in Australia. We work together to support our two flagship programs, the National Networks Program and the Online Professional Development Program.

Dr Daisy Brooke
Chief Executive Officer
Kate Hoppe headshot
Kate Hoppe
Head of Marketing, Communications & Partnerships
Nicky Bisogni headshot
Nicky Bisogni
Head of Online Professional Development
Rachael Heaton
Head of Networks
Trevor Donegan headshot
Trevor Donegan
Head of Finance & Business Services
Elyse Arnel headshot
Elyse Arnel
Communications & Digital Marketing Officer
Emily Kate Cowan
EA & Office Manager
Gabriela Gauthier
Online Program Coordinator
Geoff Ward
Data and Systems Improvement Manager
Ha Nguyen
Networks Project Officer
Hayley Surgenor
Digital Producer
Lauren Davidson headshot
Lauren Davidson
Program Coordinator
Manibha Malla head shot
Manibha Malla
Networks Project Officer
Rachael Lim
Networks Project Officer
Trish Clarke
Strategic Partnerships Lead
Yi Zhai headshot
Yi Zhai
Networks Project Officer
A woman faces a computer screen with a grid of peoples faces on it in an online meeting
A close up photo of Australian native gum tree leaves with the sun shining through them.

Our Reconciliation Journey

MHPN are committed to utilising our position in the Australian mental health landscape to contribute, wherever possible, to improving the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Three women stand in a bright office buidling holding books or tablet devices, smiling and talking

Our impact

In the 2023-24 year, more than 27,000 attendances were recorded collectively across network meetings and live webinar broadcasts. In addition, more than 58,000 views of webinar recordings and podcast listens were noted.

All up this equates to MHPN delivering producing 64,203 hours of multidisciplinary networking and professional development activity across the year.

mhpn live webinar
A group of mental health professionals are sitting on chairs and watching a presenter speak at the front of the room in front of a powerpoint presentation
Podcast host and guest Dr Radhika Santhanam-Martin and Dr Nivanka De Silva sit opposite each other at a table in a recording studio, speaking into microphones.
mhpn live webinar
A large group of mental health professionals sit in chairs gather around to focus on a presenter at the front of the group.
Mark Creamer, Jen Bibb and Jason Kenner sit on stools in a recording studio in front of microphones, smiling for the camera.
mhpn live webinar
A group of mental health professionals gather around a table and show their hand-made sock puppets while smiling for the camera.

Published articles

MHPN has undertaken a number of evaluations that have been published as peer-reviewed articles in the following journals:

Supporting interdisciplinary mental health professionals through online professional development: eleven years of the MHPN webinar program in Australia
Barbara Murphy, Julie Middleton, Kate Hoppe, Geoff Ward, Deepika Ratnaike, Harry Lovelock & Chris Gibbs. Advances in Mental Health 2024; DOI: 10.1080/18387357.2024.2345212
Enhancing the Capacity of the Australian Health Care Workforce to Support Veterans’ Mental Health: A Collaborative Interdisciplinary Approach
Gibbs C, Murphy B, Hoppe K, Clarke P, Ratnaike D, Lovelock H. Military Medicine 2020; 185(3): 499–505.
Change in mental health collaborative care attitudes and practice in Australia: Impact of participation in MHPN network meetings
Murphy B, Gibbs C, Hoppe K, Ratnaike D, Lovelock H. Journal of Integrated Care 2018; DOI: 10.1108/JICA-10-2017-0033
Change in clinical practice in Australia: Impact of participation in MHPN webinars
Murphy B, Hoppe K, Gibbs C, Ratnaike D, Lovelock H. Journal of Integrated Care 2018; DOI: 10.1108/JICA-10-2017-0034
Implementing a collaborative mental health care model: the MHPN
Gibbs C, Murphy B, Ratnaike D, Hoppe K, Lovelock H. Journal of Integrated Care 2017; 25 (4): 237-246.

Member & partner organisations

Four member organisations and four partner organisations actively support MHPN and have been integral to the organisation’s success. They are respectively: Australian Psychological Society, Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and The Australian College of Mental Health Nurses; and Australian Association of Social Workers, Occupational Therapy Australia, and Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine.

MHPN acknowledges and thanks each organisation for their continued support.

Partner with MHPN

MHPN has a proud history of partnering with a range of like-minded organisations to deliver multidisciplinary professional development, peer support and networking opportunities to practitioners across the country (and sometimes beyond!). We have recently, or are currently collaborating with Emerging Minds, Comcare, Black Rainbow, Phoenix Australia, and the National Eating Disorders Collaboration.

people sitting in a meeting

The Mental Health Professionals’ Network (MHPN) respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri and the Boonwurrung people of the Kulin nation, the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land on which our office is situated. We also acknowledge Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. Find out more.