Michael Burge will present at the 7th Australian Rural and Remote Mental Health Symposium being held at the Novotel Forest Resort Creswick (Vic) 26-28 October 2015.
Speaker Bio: Michael Burge is a retired Army Warrant Officer of 20 years service and has been advocating for consumers and carers for approx 20 years (seven years with Veterans’ Affairs and 13 years with Qld Mental Health). He has represented consumers and carers on numerous local, state and national committees and written many articles for Mental Health Magazines.
His passion has seen him visit over 50 mental health organisations in Canada, the UK and the United States visiting organisations like Recovery Innovations Phoenix Arizona, Fountain House New York, Scottish Recovery Network Glasgow, and many more.
Michael is an accredited Master Mental Health First Aid Instructor and has conducted more than 93 courses throughout rural and remote Australia. He is a former Consumer Chair of the National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Advisory Forum (NMHCCF), member of the National Advisory Council on Mental Health (NACMH), National Mental Health Workforce Advisory Council (MHWAC) and Chair of the Australian Mental Health Consumer Network. He is currently full time Advocate for the Toowoomba Mental Health Service since 2002.
A major highlight of his career was providing a keynote address on Consumer and Participation in mental health systems change at the International Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL) Conference in Ottawa, Canada 2007. Michael has also recently participated in the IIMHL exchange to Ireland in May 2010 and Clubhouse training at Fountain House New York in December 2010.
Michael was awarded an OAM in June 2014 for his services to Mental Health Advocacy in the community. He is very passionate about his work and is committed to improving the quality of life for both consumers and carers.
