• Effective primary care for mental illness
• Treatment and management of bipolar disorder
• Consumer and community involvement in health and research
• Successful translation of health research into policy and practice
• Mental health policy

Michelle’s early research experience was in biological anthropology, focusing on the behaviour and social systems of primates. When she returned to research in 2004 following a period of ill health, she worked in the areas of consumer-focused research and the use of technology for the self-management of mental health problems. Her PhD explored mental health consumers’ priorities for research on depression and bipolar disorder in Australia.

Michelle's research interests include effective services and policy for mental illness.  She heads the Lived Experience Research Unit at the Centre for Mental Health Research, incorporating ACACIA: The ACT Consumer & Carer Mental Health Research Unit. ACACIA aims to increase the involvement of ACT mental health consumers and carers in the research process and conduct research relevant to their needs. From 2015-17, Michelle completed an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) fellowship looking at service access and navigation for people with serious mental illness. In mid-2018 she commenced an MRFF/NHMRC Translating Research into Practice Fellowship to explore the implementation of mental health peer work.

As part of her commitment to active consumer involvement, Michelle has strong connections with consumer organisations and representation. She has held a number of local and national representative roles with consumer organisations. Through these roles, Michelle hopes to foster strong ties between the consumer and research communities.

Better Together: Implementation of a peer worker-led mental health recovery program (MRFF/NHMRC TRIP Fellowship)

The integration of peer workers into the current Australian mental health system has significant capacity to address severe workforce shortages, improve recovery outcomes, and meet the growing demand for people with lived experience to support consumer recovery. This project will involved detailed analyses of the mechanisms underpinning the establishment and sustainability of peer work roles. The use of an implementation science theoretical model, coupled with participatory research methods is an innovative and rigorous approach that will develop strong, evidence-based recommendations for mental health system development in Australia.

ACACIA: The ACT Consumer & Carer Mental Health Research Unit

ACACIA is staffed by academic consumer and carer researchers who work in partnership with mental health consumers and carers in the ACT to improve their lives and the system. The initiative is intended to combine the expertise of qualified researchers with those who are experts by virtue of their lived experience. This will ensure that the research is both of high scientific quality and of optimal and meaningful benefit to consumers and carers.

Key projects include:

• Understanding Participation project: This study aims to understand the current nature of consumer and carer participation in the ACT, determine what indicators are used to measure consumer and carer impact, and explore the concept and meaning of value from the perspective of multiple stakeholder groups in the health sector. Each stage of the study will be developed and conducted in partnership with representatives from local health consumer and carer peaks and community organisations.  Data will be collected through document studies, expert interviews, and paired interviews and focus groups.

• Evaluation of the Music Engagement Program: The MEP is an established program developed by leading researchers at ANU School of Music, targeted at increasing engagement and participation in the act of making music. The MEP comprises a highly specialised approach that is informed by a social philosophy of shared, active music-making known as the Music Outreach Principle. A mixed methods evaluation was conducted employing both quantitative and qualitative techniques.

• Consumer and Carer Mental Health Research priority-setting : In 2013, ACACIA held a one-day forum in which consumers and carers developed and prioritised ideas for ACACIA's research agenda and suggested methods for effective active involvement in the research process. In late 2017, we conducted a survey to update the priorities with broader Australian consumer and carer input. 

• Whose story is it? This project commenced in 2015 with a half-day forum on ethical issues in mental health research, with a particular focus on carer involvement in research. The second part of the project, conducted in 2016,  comprised individual interviews with consumers and carers, along with a survey of researchers who have involved carers in their work. The objective is to develop guidelines from the perspective of consumers and carers on the ethical considerations for mental health consumer and carer research.

• Pilot trial of a peer-worker led e-mental health program: Consistent with the highest priorities of consumers and carers, during 2017 a small pilot trial embedding a peer worker within a public mental health service was undertaken in collaboration with ACT Health. Consumers and health service staff were very positive about the peer worker and the role such a position could play in recovery, separate from clinical care.

Finding the path: Service access and navigation for serious mental illness in a complex Australian policy landscape (ARC DECRA Fellowship)

Finding the Path will inform health system change to ensure people with serious mental illness can access quality services. Improved access to quality mental health services has been a key target in Australian health policy for over 20 years. However, people with mental illness continue to report problems accessing and navigating the complex service system. Finding the Path studied consumers' mental health service experiences using policy, qualitative, quantitative and geographic analysis to identify systemic problems. Mental health consumers and service providers were actively involved in developing final recommendations for policy to ensure system change reflects their knowledge.

Silence is Deadly

This project sought to evaluate the Silence is Deadly Program, which has been delivered in ACT schools since 2014. This intervention is delivered by not-for-profit organisation Menslink in partnership with the state representative rugby league team (the Canberra Raiders) and uses role-modelling and social norming, as well as male-tailored vocabulary, to influence young men's help-seeking attitudes and intentions. The research project was conducted in 2017-2018, and comprised a cluster randomised controlled trial that involved 8 ACT schools. The primary aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of this tailored approach to suicide prevention and identify if it is differentially effective for participants with different levels of mental health symptoms, suicidal thoughts, stigmatizing attitudes towards seeking help and adherence to gender role norms. This analysis was complemented by a qualitative investigation into the intervention's effect on the culture of helping seeking in the school through semi-structured interviews with staff members.

Monitoring the Way Back Support Study

Way Back is a suicide prevention initiative that aims to complement existing services to help support people after a recent suicide attempt. Way Back connects with people presenting to a hospital emergency department (ED) or other parts of the hospital following a suicide attempt. This project developed a questionnaire that can be used to 1) measure client recovery and 2) help assess how well the service works in assisting individuals in recovering from a suicide attempt. The topic areas and question wording were developed in close consultation with mental health consumers and those who have experienced suicidal ideation or a suicide attempt.

Areas I would be interested in supervising:

• Mental health services research
• Low prevalence mental disorders in primary care
• Consumer/patient empowerment in chronic illness

I would also be happy to be an adviser on consumer involvement in health research.

PhD students - current

Erin Parker: Anxiety disorder management in Australian primary care

Rachael McMahon: A mixed methods analysis of the outcomes of embedding mental health practitioners in an Australian police operations centre

Julia Reynolds: The changing roles of psychologists and other mental health workers in the reforming mental health systems of Australia, with particular reference to the use of digital technologies to augment face to face therapies.

Petra Hill: Crossing the divide: disability and mental health legislation - opportunity gaps and lessons for self-directed living in Australia

Cherie McGregor: Same, same, different: A values-based typology for mental health peer support

PhD students - complete

Jane Desborough: What characteristics of general practice and practice nurse consultations are associated with patient satisfaction and enablement?

Bradley Carron-Arthur: Engagement in mental health internet peer support

Rebecca Randall: "I want to do something positive with my experiences": The youth involvement in mental health research project