KEYNOTE AND INVITED SPEAKERS
Priscilla’s career in occupational therapy has traversed clinical, academic and research roles over 34 years. Her work has focused on mental health and the mental health system. She worked as an occupational therapist in inpatient, community and rehabilitation settings in Australia and the UK. She taught in undergraduate and graduate occupational therapy courses at La Trobe University over 14 years. Priscilla gained her PhD in 2016 and is currently the Senior Manager of Research and Evaluation for Neami National, a large non-profit provider of mental health, homelessness, and suicide prevention services across Australia.
Over the course of her career, she has built an understanding and commitment to working in alliance with people who are experts by experience, a process that has involved considerable unlearning and a focus on systems thinking. She has been active with the OTA - contributing to the last four National Conference Scientific Committees, including as Scientific Committee Chair in 2023. Priscilla was elected to the OTA Board in late 2018 and has served as Vice President and as a member of the Finance Risk and Audit Committee and Nominations Committee.
Michael Milton is one of Australia’s most accomplished athletes, a three-time cancer survivor, and a successful business owner.
After losing his left leg to cancer at age nine, Michael won Australia’s first ever winter Paralympic gold medal at just 19 and went on to achieve 22 medals, including 12 gold over 20 years of competitive skiing. A world-record holding skier, ultra-marathoner, and cyclist, he continues to push boundaries despite battling multiple cancers.
Recently inducted as the 51st Legend of Australian Sport, Michael joins icons like Don Bradman, Dawn Fraser and Cathy Freeman.
Michael’s laconic style and storytelling inspire and entertain, leaving audiences truly motivated to overcome life’s challenges.
Dr Tahnee Bridson is best known for her work to reduce stigma, improve help-seeking and promote mental wellbeing as the founder of Hand-n-Hand Peer Support Inc.
Tahnee experienced shame and stigma firsthand when she was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa as a university student. She rose through adversity and defied the odds by graduating top of her class.
Her experiences were the inspiration behind Hand-n-Hand - so no one would ever need to go through this alone again.
Tahnee is a psychiatry doctor from a small country town in Far North Queensland. Whilst she initially thought of pursuing a career in dance and music, she had a desire to improve the wellbeing and lives of others that led her down the path of medicine. Growing up in the country was no easy feat.
She faced a number of barriers both at home, school and university. Overcoming her own adversities has driven Tahnee to support others from similar backgrounds so they can reach their full potential.
Being a born and bred country girl, she is also an advocate for access to better healthcare in rural and remote areas of Australia. She is passionate about advancing the field of mental health through research and recently combined these two passions when offered a PhD position in Melbourne.
More recently, Tahnee has advocated for the wellbeing needs of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic establishing a peer support network that provides free and confidential support to all healthcare workers across Australia and New Zealand.
Tahnee's work was recognized by her home state, and she was selected as the 2022 Queensland Young Australian of the Year.
Dr Penelope (Pene) Mathew is the President and Human Rights Commissioner, ACT Human Rights Commission. She has worked on human rights issues throughout her career, both as an academic and as a lawyer working in various capacities with human rights organizations, including non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions in Australia. She has also contributed to the work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as an independent expert in refugee law.
Her career in academia has included positions at The University of Melbourne, The Australian National University, Michigan Law School, Griffith University and The University of Auckland. She served as Dean at both Griffith and Auckland universities. Previous, Pene served for two years as legal and policy advisor to the Australian Capital Territory’s Human Rights Commission, leading the work on an audit of the territory’s remand centres, among other matters. In 2008, the ACT government awarded her an International Women’s Day Award for outstanding contributions to human rights and social justice.
Dr Jessica Levick and Mr Brock Cook are the co-hosts of the Occupied Podcast, which explores contemporary issues, evidence, and practice in occupational therapy. Founded by Brock in 2018, the podcast has become a platform for sharing knowledge, inspiring clinicians, and promoting professional growth. Jessica joined as co-host in late 2024, bringing her expertise in mental health occupational therapy, research, and academia.
Together, Jessica and Brock have over 30 years of combined clinical and academic experience across community, rehabilitation, outreach, emergency, and inpatient mental health settings, offering practical insights and engaging conversations for occupational therapists and allied health professionals
Mental Illness Education ACT (MIEACT) is the primary local mental health and well-being education provider for workplaces, community groups and secondary schools across the Canberra region and surrounding area.
For more than 20 years, MIEACT has delivered evidence- informed programs, partnered with lived experience stories that increase mental health literacy, promote early intervention, reduce stigma and emphasise recovery.
Recognising the risks of sharing and experiencing potentially distressing stories, MIEACT developed the DoNOHarm Framework in 2011, which now equips individuals, workplaces and communities to safely, sustainably and effectively communicate about mental health and other forms of lived experience. The framework is trauma informed, recovery oriented and has
been evaluated by the University of Canberra as a best practice approach to communicating about lived experience.
The DoNOHarm Framework shapes how we show up for each other: in moments of vulnerability, in times of tension, in spaces of complexity and in the conversations that matter most. Whether navigating mental health, identity, trauma, difference, or systemic change, DoNOHarm empowers people to build safer, more inclusive, and more compassionate communities - one conversation at a time.