Media Release

March 12 2009

New Chair in Mental Health

Prof Helen McCutcheon UniSA and SA Health are establishing a Chair in Mental Health which will play a lead role in teaching, generating research and encouraging community engagement around mental health.

In announcing the new Chair, SA Health Chief Executive Dr Tony Sherbon said the position is part of the ongoing reform to mental health services in SA, and is another step towards improving those services.

“This collaboration in leading such a valuable clinical and operational partnership is a wonderful example of organisations working together to achieve better outcomes for the community,” Dr Sherbon said.

“The Chair will play an important role in enhancing the delivery of mental health nursing by leading research into the area, attracting research funding and increasing the numbers of postgraduate students studying mental health nursing.”

Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery at UniSA, Professor Helen McCutcheon, said the demand for experienced mental health nurses is high.

“Nurses have an important clinical and public health role across the health care system, and if they are properly educated, trained and experienced, they can play a valuable role in identifying mental health problems and providing recovery based care and treatment for individuals, family and carers,” Prof McCutcheon said.

“This is particularly important as about 50 per cent of people with a mental illness are not identified by their health professional as having a psychological problem.”

Prof McCutcheon said the New Chair in Mental Health will work across a whole range of health settings including metropolitan, rural, remote, community and hospital-based, to bring new leadership to the mental health nursing workforce that will ultimately benefit the people of South Australia.

“UniSA has great depth in its quality of research and education and ensures that community and industry engagement is central to our collaborations,” she said.

Applications for the position will open soon.