PHAA
The situation is urgent. The prevalence and impact of mental health conditions continues to rise and the demand for mental healthcare services is exceeding their availability, despite steadily increasing investment in treatment.
The inaugural Preventive Mental Health Symposium, to be held in Melbourne on 12 March, is shifting the gear to put wellbeing and prevention approaches on the map.
Dr Luke Martin is a clinical psychologist and Senior Adviser at Beyond Blue. We recently spoke with him about his career in mental health promotion, and how the upcoming Symposium is an opportunity to spotlight preventive mental health.
What’s been your career trajectory to date, and why did you decide to be part of Beyond Blue?
My earliest experience as a clinical psychologist was working with children, young people and families. I started seeing clients when I was 21 – but I looked about 12.
Those first few years were a massive learning curve. I learnt as much from the families I saw as they learnt from me.
I’ve always been interested in the ‘big picture’ and my work interests have followed this.
In clinical practice, I noticed that treatment was much more effective when we saw someone earlier, before their symptoms became severe and entrenched.
I read a lot about how we could create a kinder, more equal society that might help more people stay well; it was enlightening and something that wasn’t covered in my seven years of psychology study.
Moving on from direct clinical roles, I took a fantastic job with the Australian Psychological Society working on an initiative to create mentally healthy primary schools.
As a clinical psychologist, it was eye-opening to learn about the value and impact of mental health promotion initiatives.
I loved this kind of work, so I kept doing it.
I’ve worked for a range of organisations on different projects, but a common thread has been helping individuals and communities look after their mental health in the face of the hard stuff life can throw at us.
This is my second stint with Beyond Blue, having first worked for the organisation back in 2013.
What struck me when I first joined was how loved Beyond Blue is in the community; it’s a brand that means a lot to many people.
It’s a tremendous place to do important work at scale and with a big impact.
It’s also a fun place to work. Over the years, Beyond Blue has also given me some unique experiences, such as a stint as Dolly Doctor in Dolly Magazine, and travelling on an old blue bus across Australia speaking directly to people about mental health.
I also got to play lawn bowls with a former Prime Minister, which not many people can say!
What have been your proudest achievements or successes to date?
That would be helping to set up Prevention United, with my mentor/guru Dr Stephen Carbone, and colleague Dr Lachlan Kent.
It started out as a chat with friends about the need to put preventive mental health on the map in Australia, and just grew from there.
We began with nothing other than a big idea, and worked from our living rooms way before working from home was a thing.
Under Steve’s leadership, we built an organisation that’s become a trusted advisor and advocate for prevention in Australia.
I am proud of the small role I played as Head of Programs and grateful for the opportunity to be involved in the latest prevention wave – and to work closely with Steve Carbone, who I consider a national treasure!
Why are you speaking at the Preventive Mental Health Symposium? What would you like delegates to gain from attending in person or online?
Beyond Blue is really proud to be a partner on this event.
I’m blown away by the quality of the line up at the Symposium. Some of the best prevention thought leaders and decision makers in Australia are in attendance.
I’ll be presenting with Dr Matt Iasiello from the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute on the findings of a recent umbrella review of mental wellbeing interventions.
The Symposium is a great opportunity to demonstrate that the promotion of mental wellbeing is a valuable and credible endeavour.
There’s a real science to mental wellbeing.
Our work attempts to cut through the noise and set the bar for interventions that have a robust and reliable evidence base for improving mental wellbeing.
I hope delegates leave with a greater understanding of mental health as a continuum, and the new opportunities that arise when we think about promoting mental wellbeing across the population – to help people thrive, protect against mental ill-health, and to support people managing mental health conditions to live an engaged, contributing and fulfilling life.
Was there anything else you wished to add?
I believe there is a growing realisation that we need to start doing things differently if we want to make a dent in the rising rates of mental health conditions.
I can see the dial starting to shift, and I’m hopeful that prevention will be a big part of what we do next, to better look after the mental health of everyone in Australia.