Dr John Durkin

Dr John Durkin is a psychologist specialising in posttraumatic growth. Out of his early career as a firefighter, he developed an interest in the positive outcomes to traumatic experience. He worked with crisis intervention teams in New York's fire and police departments following the September 11th attacks in 2001 and gained his PhD at the University of Nottingham UK in 2010. He is a Fellow at the Institute of Mental Health, Nottingham and co-founder of the BeTr Foundation, a charity devoted to the resolution of trauma relating to combat, rape and childbirth. Dr Durkin was the International Guest Speaker for Crisis Intervention and Management, Australasia in 2012.

The 5th Australian Rural and Remote Mental Health Symposium will explore the challenges and effectiveness of alliances between government, NGO’s , and communities through presentations and evaluations of partnership initiatives .  It will also examine “diagnosable mild to moderate mental illness” in regional, rural and remote Australia.

Mental Health Services are consistently recognised as one of the significant issues facing rural and remote health services along with the availability of management and support for people with mental illness.   This is especially the case in relation to early diagnosis and intervention, which are the keys to effective management.

The event is being held on the 14th and 15th of October 2013 at the Mercure Hotel Geelong. The program has 9 keynote presenters, 48 sessions presenters in 4 streams, workshops and posters.

View a copy of the program here.