AISNSW School Counsellors' Conference

Cultivating Knowledge and Skills

2023 Keynote Speakers

Carmen Betterridge

Director, Suicide Risk Assessment Australia

Carmen has extensive experience in delivering training for clinical, non-clinical and professional workforces, in suicide risk assessment, interventions and postvention programs. This includes facilitating train-the-trainer programs and lecturing in the Masters of Suicidology program, with Australian Institute of Suicide Research and Prevention, Griffith University.

Carmen has led the strategic design and implementation of suicide prevention, intervention and postvention strategies for multiple organisations, including most recently the University of Wollongong. As Director and Principal Psychologist with Suicide Risk Assessment Australia, she has also designed postvention practices for clinical, non-clinical and private practice settings. Carmen’s current work is in establishing principles of Towards Zero Suicides across healthcare systems. 

Dr Paul Fung

Clinical Director of Uniting Recovery, Uniting NSW.ACT / Deputy Commissioner with the NSW Mental Health Commission

Dr Paul Fung is a psychiatrist and Clinical Director of Uniting Recovery, the mental health services arm of Uniting NSW.ACT. He works with a range of clinical and psychosocial support programs across the lifespan in metro and regional NSW, including headspace Mt Druitt, Penrith and Katoomba.

He has an interest in youth mental health, and has worked closely with Orygen Youth Health since 2014. He implemented the Western Sydney headspace early psychosis program; developed YESS (Youth Enhanced Support Service) - a community program for those with severe and complex mental health issues; and designed the Penrith headspace eClinic. He is also a member of the Chatswood and Brookvale headspace Consortium. As Deputy Commissioner with the NSW Mental Health Commission, Paul has an interest in population-based approaches to mental wellbeing and the development of a connected community mental health care system.

Mary Jo McVeigh

Founding CEO, Cara House

Mary Jo Mc Veigh is the CEO of Cara House. She is acknowledged in her field as an expert in child protection and trauma therapy. Mary Jo is a trained trauma therapist and an accredited mental health social worker, currently completing her PHD in social work particularly looking at childhood trauma as a human rights issue.

Mary Jo started her career in Youth Justice London in 1987. She then spent the next 38 years working with children and young people who have experienced abuse and trauma. She has presented at numerous conferences over the years and presented at SMACC in 2019 as an expert in trauma delivering a presentation to over 3,000 health professionals.