Dr Alyssa Morse
Areas of expertise
- Mental Health 111714
Research interests
- Improving lived experience involvement in research, health services and health policy
- Prevention and promotion in youth mental health
- Mental health service evaluation and design
Biography
Alyssa is a lived experience researcher at the Centre for Mental Health Research, where she commenced her Suicide Prevention Australia (SPA) Post-Doctoral Fellowship in 2022. Her Fellowship project aims to establish the feasibility and effectiveness of the Safe Haven services in South Western Sydney LHD as a genuine alternative to the emergency department for people experiencing suicidal crisis.
Researcher's projects
Current Projects
Safe Haven Café evaluation: Effectiveness and feasibility of an innovative, co-designed, NSW Premier’s Priority alternative to the emergency department (SPA Post-Doctoral Fellowship)
The proposed research will establish the feasibility and effectiveness of the South Western Sydney LHD Safe Havens as a genuine alternative for people experiencing suicidal crisis or distress who would usually present to the ED or choose not to access the ED due to past negative experiences. Emphasis will be placed on the experiences of Safe Haven guests and peer workers, the value of the service for them, and its impact on organisational culture in the local health system.
My Mind, My Voice Evaluation
Mental Illness Education ACT is undertaking a project that will increase awareness of mental illness and empower vulnerable communities to actively pursue greater well-being and mental wellness, through a co-designed and peer led educational outreach initiative: My Mind, My Voice. Our research team will lead the co-production of the program logic and evaluation tools for the project, analyse internally collected evaluation data, and conduct a brief, idependent qualitative investigation of the experiences of key stakeholders.
Understanding Participation: Measuring the value and impact of consumer and carer voices in services and policy
How do we effectively include people with lived experience in the research process? Are their voices being heard and integrated at the level of health policy and services? And how are they valued by the people who are listening? The Understanding Participation project is being conducted in partnership with a working group of representatives from Health Care Consumers’ Association (HCCA), The ACT Mental Health Consumer Network (ACTMHCN), Carers ACT, the ACT Health Directorate, and independent consumer and carer representatives from the ACACIA Advisory Group. Using grounded theory methods, the project aims to understand the current nature of consumer and carer participation in the Australian Capital Territory and to explore the concept and meaning of value in this context. The ultimate goal of the project is to create a set of consumer- and carer-developed principles for participation, value and impact, and an accompanying set of indicators to be used by the health sector for measurement.
This project was funded by an RSPH Excellence in Population Health Research Award.
Past Projects
Mental Health and Me Evaluation
Mental Health and Me has been running in the ACT for over 25 years. Delivered by Mental Illness Education ACT (MIEACT), the youth mental health promotion program combines lived experience stories with evidence-based content to address stigma and promote help seeking. In 2020, our research team conducted an independent impact evaluation of Mental Health and Me, validating and contributing to MIEACT’s ongoing evaluation practices. The central role of lived experience was a key strength of the program, and educators’ openness with their personal stories was valued and enjoyed. Students and school staff reported that the program delivered its intended impacts on stigma and help seeking, and additionally improved mental health literacy.
Whose story is it?
This project explored mental health consumer and carer perspectives on procedural research ethics and shared story-telling in research settings. The project had a particular focus on mental health research involving carers and stories of their lived experience. A discussion forum and in-depth interviews with consumers, carers and lived-experience researchers from the ACT were conducted and analysed to explore these issues. The next stage of the project will use the findings from this data to develop practice recommendations for researchers and Human Research Ethics Committees.
Silence is Deadly (Trial Manager)
Young men are consistently less likely to seek help for mental health problems than their female peers.This controlled mixed-methods trial aimed to determine the effectiveness of the Silence is Deadly program in increasing positive help-seeking intentions for mental health problems and suicide among male secondary school students. A two-arm controlled trial was conducted with 10 schools in the Australian Capital Territory. A total of 594 male adolescents aged between 16 and 18 years participated in the study. At follow-up, the Silence is Deadly program was found to significantly increase help-seeking intentions from friends, which was in line with the program’s messaging to seek help from and provide support to friends in times of distress or suicide risk.
Current student projects
PhD Students - Primary Supervisor
Dianna Smith: Recovery Colleges in Australia
Masters Students
Sarah Brocklehurst: Investigating technology-based distal interventions for postpartum depression and anxiety
Honours Students
Rebecca Wain: Father-Son help-seeking: Does a Male's Perception of His Father's Mental Health Help-Seeking Influence His Own Help-Seeking?
Past student projects
Honours Students
Sarah Passmore: The experiences of and perceived barriers to primary health care accessibility for Australian LGBTQ+ people.
Masters Students
Aisha Abdelhai, Aiden Brumby, Hai Nam Pham: Qualitative evaluation of a youth mental health stigma reduction program: Lived experience educator and staff member perspectives.
Publications
- Calear, A, McCallum, S, Morse, A et al. 2022, 'Psychosocial impacts of home-schooling on parents and caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic', BMC Public Health, vol. 22, no. 119, pp. 1-8.
- Morse, A, Banfield, M, Batterham, P et al. 2022, 'What could we do differently next time? Australian parents' experiences of the short-term and long-term impacts of home schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic', BMC Public Health, vol. 22, no. 80, pp. 1-9.
- Dawel, A, Shou, Y, Smithson, M et al. 2021, 'Corrigendum: The Effect of COVID-19 on Mental Health and Wellbeing in a Representative Sample of Australian Adults', Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 11.
- Batterham, P, Calear, A, McCallum, S et al. 2021, 'Trajectories of depression and anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in a representative Australian adult cohort', Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 214, no. 10, pp. 462-468.
- Calear, A, Morse, A, Batterham, P et al. 2021, 'Silence is Deadly: A controlled trial of a public health intervention to promote help-seeking in adolescent males', Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 274-288.
- Gulliver, A, Banfield, M, Batterham, P et al. 2021, 'Effects of previous exposure to psychotherapeutic strategies on depression and anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic', BJPsych Open, vol. 7, no. 1, e38.
- Gulliver, A, Pike-Rowney, G, Banfield, M et al. 2021, 'The Music Engagement Program for people with Alzheimer's disease and dementia: Pilot feasibility trial outcomes', Evaluation and Program Planning, vol. 87, no. 101930.
- Dawel, A, Shou, Y, Smithson, M et al. 2020, 'The Effect of COVID-19 on Mental Health and Wellbeing in a Representative Sample of Australian Adults', Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 11, 579985
- Gulliver, A, Banfield, M, Morse, A et al. 2019, 'A Peer-Led Electronic Mental Health Recovery App in a Community-Based Public Mental Health Service: Pilot Trial', JMIR Formative Research, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 1-9.
- Gulliver, A, Pike, G, Banfield, M et al. 2019, 'Evaluation of the Music Engagement Program for people with Alzheimer's disease and dementia: Study protocol for a pilot trial', Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications, vol. 15, no. 100419, pp. 1-7.
- Morse, A, Forbes, O, Jones, B et al. 2019, 'Whose story is it? Mental health consumer and carer views on carer participation in research', Health Expectations, vol. 24, no. S1, pp. 3-9.
- Morse, A, Forbes, O, Jones, B et al. 2019, 'Australian Mental Health Consumer and Carer Perspectives on Ethics in Adult Mental Health Research', Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 234-242.
- Banfield, M, Morse, A, Gulliver, A et al. 2018, 'Mental health research priorities in Australia: a consumer and carer agenda', Health Research Policy and Systems, vol. 16, no. 119, pp. 11pp.
- Gulliver, A, Morse, A, Wilson, N et al. 2018, 'An evaluation of a tailored care program for complex and persistent mental health problems: Partners in Recovery program', Evaluation and Program Planning, vol. 68, pp. 99-107pp.
- Banfield, M, Randall, R, O'Brien, M et al. 2018, 'Lived experience researchers partnering with consumers and carers to improve mental health research: Reflections from an Australian initiative', International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 1219-1229pp.
- Gulliver, A, Banfield, M, Reynolds, J et al. 2017, 'A Peer-Led Electronic Mental Health Recovery App in an Adult Mental Health Service: Study Protocol for a Pilot Trial', JMIR Research Protocols, vol. 6, no. 12, pp. e248.
- Calear, A, Banfield, M, Batterham, P et al. 2017, 'Silence is deadly: a cluster-randomised controlled trial of a mental health help-seeking intervention for young men', BMC Public Health, vol. 17, no. 834, pp. 1-8.
Projects and Grants
Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.
- Safe Haven Caf (a NSW Premiers Priority) evaluation: Effectiveness and feasibility of the implementation of an innovative co-designed alternative to the emergency department (Primary Investigator)
- My Mind, My Voice evaluation proposal (Primary Investigator)
- Mental Illness Education ACT External evaluation proposal (Secondary Investigator)
