Conference Speakers
Keynote Speakers
 Mansel
Aylward
Professor Mansel Aylward CB is Director of the Centre for Psychosocial and
Disability Research at Cardiff University which offers a unique opportunity to
extend knowledge and understanding of the psychosocial, economic and cultural
factors that influence health, illness, recovery, rehabilitation and
reintegration.
He is also Chair of the Wales Centre for Health, an Assembly Government
Sponsored Body established to be the ‘hub of connected organisations’ and to
communicate better health messages to the people of Wales.
In October 2007 Professor Aylward was asked by Edwina Hart, Minister for Health
and Social Services to undertake a review of Health Commission Wales’
functions, including its decision-making processes and appeals mechanism.
Under this arrangement, a report on key findings and advice (including the
making of recommendations) was provided to the Minister in June 2008. He
was also asked to advise the Minister on the healthcare provision in Merthyr
Tydfil and surrounding areas.
In December 2008, during the 60th year of the NHS, the Minister asked Professor
Aylward to head the membership of a new independent group, the Bevan
Commission, to help ensure that changes in the NHS structures set Wales on the
path to a world-class health care system.
In 2005 he was elected to the new Queen’s Birthday Honours Committee, designed
to make the system more transparent. In September 2008 he was formally
re-appointed for a further 3 years.
Michael Milton
see Michael Milton in
action
As one of Australia’s most successful athletes Michael Milton is no stranger to
a battle.
In an international ski racing career spanning 20 years, he’s won 22 medals, 12
of them gold. He is Australia’s fastest ever skier and the world’s
fastest skier with a disability, clocking an amazing 213.65km/hr.
He’s scaled Mt Kilimanjaro and walked the Kokoda Track.
He competed in his fifth winter Paralympic Games in 2006, and then turned his
sights on cycling. After six months of tough training, Michael won the 3000m
pursuit at the Australian Track Cycling Championships, setting a new Australian
record in the process.
Michael Milton knows what it takes to win but when he was diagnosed with
Oesophageal Cancer in July 2007, Michael knew he was facing the biggest battle
of his life. And, with a daughter not even a year old, he simply had to win.
Less than 12 months later and after radiation therapy, chemotherapy and radical
surgery, Michael was selected to compete at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.
He is truly one of this nation’s most inspirational and successful athletes… and
also just a little crazy.
Richard Sauerman
see Richard in action
Richard is one of the most experienced Brand and Communication Strategists in
Australia.
He acquired his brand expertise working in the advertising industry for
seventeen years, where he has worked on some of the world’s greatest brands
[Cola-Cola, Microsoft, Vodafone, Toyota, Nescafe, Levis] for some of the
world’s largest marketers [Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline,
Nestle, Boots, Goodman Fielder] at some of the world’s biggest ad agencies
[Saatchi & Saatchi, Ogilvy & Mather, DDB, McCann-Erickson, George
Patterson].
In 2003 Richard set up his own consultancy, Brand Alchemy, which gave him the
opportunity to expand his ‘brand’ area of focus beyond marketing, into all
areas of the organisation = CEO, Executive Team, Corporate Affairs, HR,
Learning & Development, Internal Communications. How do we walk the talk by
living and breathing our brand values. How do we get the best out of our
people? How do we engage our people in a sustainable, ongoing way?
He has been engaged on major brand, culture and people projects by Macquarie
Bank; The Commonwealth Bank of Australia; British Telecom; Allens Arthur
Robinson; Gilbert + Tobin; Opportunity International; Deloitte; STW Group;
PriceWaterhouseCoopers; QBE Insurance; and the Liberal Party of New South
Wales.
In addition to his Brand Consulting and Workshop work, Richard does keynote
talks on Brand and People at conferences in Australia and abroad; lectures on
Brand and Strategy for the Advertising Federation of Australia; sits on the
Board of School Aid Trust [a not-for-profit who’s purpose is ‘kids helping
kids’]; works on his two blogs; and has recently launched his first book [Wake
Up Tiger].
David Butler
see David discuss "Explain Pain"
David Butler is a physiotherapy graduate of the
University of Queensland (1978). He also has a Graduate Diploma in
Advanced Manipulative Therapy (1985), a Masters Degree by research from
the University of South Australia (1996) and is currently completing the
Doctor of Education Programme at Flinders’ University where he is studying
therapeutic neuroscience education.
David is a clinician, an international freelance educator and an adjunct
lecturer at the University of South Australia and Latrobe University. His
professional interests focus around the integration of neurobiology into
clinical decision making and public and professional education in pain
management.
He is the author of the texts “Mobilisation of the Nervous System” (1991), ”The
Sensitive Nervous System” (2000) and a co-author of “Explain Pain” (2003).
Deidre Anderson
Executive Director Campus Experience, Macquarie University
Deidre Anderson joined Macquarie University in 2001 as the Chief Executive of Sport and Recreation and after five successful years in this role in 2007 she was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer U@MQ. In 2009 Deidre was appointed to the position of Executive Director Campus Experience.
She has held Executive Sports Management positions at both an international and national level and her contribution to elite sport has been acknowledged worldwide. She has published widely in the areas of coaching and career transitions in sport and has a life long commitment to supporting the development of young people. Her expertise has been recognised in her placements to serve on a number of boards.
She holds an undergraduate, postgraduate and master’s degree in Social Science, Psychology and Sports management.
Joe Pane
Joe is an expert in human behaviour. He knows what drives people and how they
can better manage themselves and others. He has a Degree with Majors in
Psychology & Sociology and a Post Graduate Diploma in Occupational Health.
He is also accredited by the Society of Natural Therapists and Researchers as a
professional meditation teacher. Joe worked for a number of years as a
rehabilitation counsellor contracted full time to Ford Motor Company's assembly
and stamping plants. For seven years he worked in residential real estate sales
and promoted Ethics in Real Estate. Over this time he achieved and maintained a
95.3% client delight rating, while bringing in the numbers; 8 listings and 5
sales per month.
As a corporate trainer, Joe has worked with a range of real estate, accounting,
transport, and catering organisations, delivering seminars, workshops, and
coaching services. Joe is also a senior trainer and facilitator with The
Coaching Institute, Australia’s most accredited and leading life coaching
school, training and coaching coaches. He has trained in excess of 600 coaches
who are out in the field today.
Conference Master of Ceremonies
Neil Cross
Neil Cross is a journalist and broadcaster with 25 years experience in the media
industry.
After completing an arts degree, he completed a cadetship at a Brisbane
afternoon newspaper. In 1987, he decided to move to Adelaide. Four months later
the Brisbane paper closed down.
The Adelaide paper shutdown as well, but Neil already had taken a job at The
Advertiser newspaper in Adelaide. It has survived the departure of Neil in 1993
when he decided to try television journalism and joined Channel Ten. Another
brief stint at the Advertiser followed before he moved across to the ABC in
Adelaide where he has worked for 12 years.
While he has been a sports journalist and presenter for 14 years, Neil has a
background in other news areas. He was a fulltime courts reporter for almost
six years, covered local and state politics and police rounds and is
occasionally called on to present the Adelaide 7pm ABC News Bulletin.
He has also hosted ABC television’s SANFL (football) coverage for nine years and
commentated on basketball, netball, hockey and other sports for both television
and radio.
His interests include sport, politics, music and reading.
Invited Speakers
Stuart Andrews
Stuart Andrews owns and operates a physical rehabilitation clinic in Canberra
called "Fit-To-Manage (FTM)" with his partner Bronwyn Thompson who was herself
a dual Olympic rower. The FTM clinic predominantly specialises in the
treatment and prevention of Occupational Overuse related injuries.
Stuart has represented Australia at both Commonwealth and Olympic level in the
sports of Decathlon and Bobsleigh and was also a scholarship holder at the
Australian Institute of Sport. It was as a result of being involved in a
Bobsleigh accident in 1990 that Stuart nearly lost the use of his right arm
which was the catalyst for his interest in treating neuromuscular related
conditions. Stuart has designed and holds numerous international patents
on rehabilitation equipment that aids in the facilitation and recovery as well
as the prevention of Occupational Overuse related conditions associated with
individuals that are predominantly in sedentary based occupations.
Stuart is currently trialling his prevention based equipment "Posture Plane"
with a large Government based organisation. Stuart is also a published
author as well as having led major expeditions with the most notable being the
"Blind Leading the Blind Expedition" which involved training two visually
impaired athletes to paddle kayaks from Australia to Papua new Guinea crossing
the infamous Torres Straits and then walking the Kokoda Track for which he was
awarded the Advance Australia award at Parliament House. Stuart also
co-ordinated the project of designing the world’s smallest helium airship which
flew in the opening ceremony of the 2000 Paralympics and was powered by wheel
chair athlete Angie Ballard.
Alison Angleton
With 15 years experience working in vocational rehabilitation, Alison has held a
number of roles in both management and direct service delivery.
Alison is a registered psychologist with a strong commitment to social justice
and disability management.
Alison’s interests also include social inclusion, mental health, indigenous
issues, knowledge management and organisational change.
Dr Rochelle Cairns
Dr Rochelle Cairns is a registered Psychologist working at Ballarat Health
Services, Victoria. She is a member of the
Motivational-Interviewing-Network-of-Trainers (MINT), the Australian
Psychological Society, and the College of Health Psychologists.
Dr Cairns worked at Eastern Access Community Health in the
Hospital-Admission-Risk-Program, and at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in the
Chronic Pain Management Program prior to commencing work at BHS. Her work at
BHS includes a clinical caseload, guest lecturing at the University of Ballarat
and consultation to the HARP program at Wimmera-Health-Care-Group, Horsham. Dr
Cairns has a key responsibility for the Persistent-Pain-Management-Program, and
a particular interest in rehabilitation.
In 2007, Dr Cairns and her work colleague Ms Kylie McKenzie were the recipients
of a “Victorian Pathways Home Scholarship”. This provided funding to travel to
Ohio, to undertake training in Motivational Interviewing with Professor William
Miller and Associate Professor Theresa Moyers.
Since then, they have been awarded a Chronic Disease Self-management/Lifestyle
and Risk Modification Grant by the Federal Government Department of Health and
Ageing (DoHA). This has enabled them to develop and implement a
Motivational Interviewing Training and Coaching Program for Allied Health and
Nursing Professionals which aims to build the capacity of clinicians to promote
effective rehabilitation and self-management.
Alan Clayton
Alan Clayton is the principal of Bracton Consulting Services Pty Ltd, an
independent research and consulting organisation working primarily in the field
of accident compensation and injury prevention. He holds Honours Degrees
in both Law and Arts and is an Honorary Associate at both the Centre for
Employment and Labour Relations Law at the University of Melbourne and the
National Research Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Regulation at the
Australian National University as well as being an Honorary Senior Research
Fellow at the Victorian Institute of Occupational Safety and Health at the
University of Ballarat.
He has published widely in the field of accident compensation with his work
appearing in books or journals in Australia, the United States and
Europe. He co-edited a series of essays published by the Swedish Work
Environment Fund and has acted as co-author of a major workers’ compensation
review undertaken by the W E Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in
Kalamazoo, Michigan. He has undertaken work for a wide range of bodies
including the International Labour Office, the Institute of Work and Health in
Toronto, many Australian accident compensation regulators and the Accident
Compensation Corporation in New Zealand.
Peter Cotton
Peter has published numerous book chapters and research papers in the fields of
organisational behaviour and workplace mental health. He regularly works with
organisations across the public and private sector on the management and
prevention of workplace injury, absenteeism and counterproductive behaviours
(e.g. harassment, conflict etc).
In 2003 Peter was appointed a subject matter expert in workplace mental health
with the National Occupational Safety & Health Commission, and has recently
completed a three year psychological injury prevention project working with
large agencies across the Commonwealth sector, sponsored by Comcare.
Peter has been involved in developing the Victorian WorkCover Authority’s
Clinical Framework from the Delivery of Psychological Services and also works
on a range of ongoing quality assurance initiatives to improve the delivery of
mental health services provided to injured workers across Victoria. He has also
recently completed a major primary prevention project sponsored by WorkCover
NSW.
Peter served three terms on the Board of Directors of the Australian
Psychological Society and was appointed a Fellow of the Society in 2002. He
currently holds the role of Director of Mental Health Services with Medibank
Private.
Corina Della-Posta
Corina Della-Posta has been working in the occupational rehabilitation field for
the last 10 years and is currently the WA State Manager for WorkFocus
Australia. Corina has extensive experience in the areas of Employment Services
and Psychological Services across most jurisdictions and in both the workers
compensation and Job Service Australia systems. Corina has completed a Masters
in Clinical Psychology and has published research in the Journal of
Occupational Rehabilitation relating to increasing employment for those clients
who have been injured at work.
WorkFocus Australia is the contracted provider of JobAccess and the National
Disability Recruitment Coordinator services (from March 2010) for DEEWR.
Kris Fraser
Kris Fraser is a Certified Professional Ergonomist and Registered Occupational
Therapist and is currently responsible for the management of ergonomics and
rehabilitation at The University of Queensland (UQ). She has extensive
experience in occupational health and safety, ergonomics and work
rehabilitation across a range of diverse industry sectors and work
environments.
Kris is committed to ensuring a risk management approach to work rehabilitation
and providing quality participative ergonomics programs as effective injury
prevention and management strategies. Her professional work focuses mainly on
musculoskeletal disorders as they are consistently the highest risk injury type
at UQ.
The University of Queensland self-insures its workers’ compensation and
effectively manages its claims and rehabilitation. The University’s strong
commitment, innovation and leadership in the management of its work
rehabilitation was recently recognised when it was announced as the winner of
the Q-Comp 2009 Return to Work Award – self-insured employer category.
Dorothy Frost
Dorothy is the Director of WorkSafe Victoria’s Return to Work Division. The
Division is charged with the task of getting more injured workers back to work,
as well as ensuring that their return to work is suitable and timely. WorkSafe
has a focus on increasing the capability of those involved in facilitating
return to work, including employers, Agents, and occupational rehabilitation
providers.
Dorothy has a rich and wide ranging background in workers compensation, with
previous experience in occupational therapy, occupational rehabilitation and
injury management from the perspective of both an Agent and a provider. Dorothy
has qualifications in occupational theapy and occupational health and safety.
Dr Caron Jander
Dr Caron Jander is Chief Medical Officer of the Australian Racing Board; she
qualified as a Sports Medicine Physician in 1995 at University of Cape Town,
South Africa and as an Occupational Environmental Physician in 2005 at Royal
Australasian College of Physicians.
She is an established expert in her field having worked both in South Africa and
Australia and has been involved in a number of leading research projects in the
areas of Sports Medicine and Occupational Health. Dr Jander has been involved
with medical research since the late 1980s. As part of her Master of Philosophy
in Sports Medicine she completed a Philosophy level thesis on Exercise and
Lactational Performance.
At present she consults to the New South Wales Fire Brigades and the Australian
Racing Board as well as practicing 2 days a week at the Vale Medical Clinic in
Brookvale NSW.
Dr Jander was awarded the 2009 Winston Churchill fellowship for research in
improvements in international health protection standards for jockeys in the
UK, Ireland, France & Germany.
Dr Denise Keenan
Dr Denise Keenan has been practicing as a psychologist for over 20 years within
the dual areas of clinical and organisational psychology. She is an active
contributor to the psychology profession. The major focus of her clinical work
is on referrals relating to occupational stress, trauma and injury management.
She is contracted to first-responder, emergency service, and other
organisations, to provide early intervention trauma management services and/or
post-trauma care.
Organisationally, she has special interest in the subjects of the management of
workplace trauma, resilience, occupational health and safety, management and
reintegration of injured workers, occupational stress, mental health in the
workplace and change management. She has significant experience in management,
supervisor and general staff development and has worked at providing training
for all levels of organisations, including that of senior executives.
Prof Sandy McFarlane
Professor McFarlane is currently the Head of the University of Adelaide Node of
the Centre of Military and Veterans Health. He is an international
expert in the field of the impact of disasters and post traumatic stress
disorder.
He has held the role of Senior Adviser in Psychiatry to the Australian Defence
Force, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Australian Centre for
Posttraumatic Mental Health and holds the rank of Group Captain in the RAAF
Specialist Reserve. He has lectured and run workshops in Europe, USA,
Asia and South Africa.
His research has focused on the epidemiology and longitudinal course of
posttraumatic stress disorder as well as the neuroimaging of the cognitive
deficits in this disorder in relation to disaster victims plus military and
civilian personnel.
He has published over 300 articles and chapters and has co-edited three books.
He is a member of several international advisory boards in the field of
traumatic stress and has also been involved in many medico legal cases in
Australia and internationally relating to mental health.
Mark McKie
Mark is currently the Manager of Attached Claims at Employers Mutual, and has
worked in the Rehabilitation and RTW industry for approximately 25 years, both
as a Rehabilitation service provider and business manager.
Over this time Mark has worked in South Australia, Victoria and NSW, and has
dealt with the issues of Rehabilitation and RTW in markets including Workers
Compensation, Compulsory Third Party/Motor Accident, Travel and Income
Insurance.
Dr Greg Murphy
Dr Greg Murphy is an Associate Professor within the School of Public Health, La
Trobe University and one of Australia’s most active Rehabilitation
Psychologists. His main research interests are in vocational rehabilitation,
particularly return to work following serious injury. He is particularly
interested in two key constructs central to the successful adjustment to major
life crises – effective social support, and personal control beliefs of those
facing major adjustments.
Greg has held visiting staff member appointments at such prestigious academic
and hospital settings as Johns Hopkins University, Georgia Institute of
Technology, the Duke of Cornwall Spinal Unit and the Swiss Paraplegic Centre.
He is currently a member of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Technical
Advisory Committee (Rehabilitation) where he contributes to policy and service
development in the area of rehabilitation and return-to-work for both veterans
as well as injured members of the Defence forces.
Mark Raberger
Mark has worked within the Workers Compensation area since 1993 and has a
background in Physiotherapy and has also completed a Post Graduate Diploma in
Ergonomics. Between 1993-2001 Mark was a director of a large physiotherapy
clinic and subsequently began a multidisciplinary industrial medicine clinic in
Melbourne focusing on large local industry. From here Mark moved into
consulting in Workers Compensation, Injury Management and Claims management
working with large employers, Agents and self insurers. In 2003 he started an
Occupational Rehabilitation Provider which grew to a 3 state (Victoria, NSW and
South Australia) entity before moving to WorkSafe in 2008. Mark has been the
Manager of the RTW Support Branch which is responsible for managing
Occupational Rehabilitation providers and the programs which they provide.
Belinda Shepherd
Belinda Shepherd is an Accredited Occupational Therapist with over 17 years
experience predominantly working with clients post catastrophic injury.
Belinda is currently the clinical services manager at Accent Health Sciences. In
this role she has the responsibility of managing a team of thirteen clinical
consultants including Occupational Therapists, Speech Pathologists,
Psychologists, Exercise Therapists and Technical Aids. Belinda assists people
with injuries within workers compensation, CTP, Lifetime Care and Support and
community jurisdictions.
Belinda attained her PhD in 2006. Her research examined the decision making of
support staff working with clients with brain injury in transitional living
settings. Belinda is committed to research and best practice and this focus has
seen her regularly present project findings at relevant industry conferences.
She is recognised as an expert in catastrophic management of clients in a
community setting holding positions as a Life Time Care Needs Assessor, Motor
Accident Authority Occupational Therapy Assessor and an Authorised Visitor with
the Public Trustee.
Tracey Slatter
Tracey commenced with the TAC in January 2009 as the Executive Manager of the
Claims Division. Tracey has extensive leadership experience in the health,
community service and local government sectors. Tracey held a range of
executive and management roles during her 15 years at the Department of Human
Services where she led programs, services and policy reform until 2004. From
2004 to 2008 Tracey was the Chief Executive Officer at the Colac Otway Shire
where she led valued community projects and an improved financial position.
Tracey enjoys leadership challenges and is passionate about achieving excellent
results for clients.
As the Head of TAC’s Claims Division, Tracey oversees $800m of payments and
$7billion in liabilities. The Claims Division aims to improve the recovery and
independence of people who have been seriously injured as a result of transport
accidents. Services are provided to 30,000 clients each year.
Tracey also has Post Graduate qualifications in Human Services Research,
Business Management and a Masters of Commerce.
Dr Howe Synnott
Before moving to Sydney, for 15 years Dr Synnott was a consultant psychiatrist
in a regional centre and of necessity dealt with the full clinical spectrum -
this required a broad knowledge of psychiatry and ‘the human condition’.
Publications include “A Guide to Psychiatric Terms and Medications No 4”
(fourth edition) and the training manuals “Understanding Psychiatric Illness”
and “Managing Drug & Alcohol Abuse in Psychiatric and Workplace Injury”.
Dr Synnott is a member of the Forensic Section of the RANZCP and the Australian
and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law (ANZAPPL). He has
completed training in the evaluation of permanent impairment for WorkCover NSW,
the Motor Accident Authority NSW and Comcare and is a Medical Assessor for the
Motor Accidents Authority of NSW. He is Section 112 registered with the
Victorian WorkCover Authority and in Queensland Dr Synnott is accredited in
assessment using the Permanent Impairment Rating Scale (PIRS).
Greg Tweedly
Greg was appointed Chief Executive Officer in February 2003, after rejoining
WorkSafe as Acting CEO from September 2002. Greg held senior positions with the
Transport Accident Commission from 1996–2002 including Chief Operating Officer
responsible for all Claims Management functions.
Greg previously worked for WorkSafe (and its predecessor the Accident
Compensation Commission) in numerous senior positions including Chief Financial
Officer and later Director responsible for the regulation of the Victorian
Workers Compensation system.
Pre 1990, Greg held senior financial positions at V/Line and the Melbourne
Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW).
Greg has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Melbourne University and is
currently a Director of the Personal Injury Education Foundation and Chair of
Heads of Workers Compensation Authorities.
Elizabeth Zutt
Elizabeth is a Registered Nurse who has worked in the field of Injury Management
for 18 years.She has worked as a Consultant,Rehabilitation Provider,Regional
Manager of a national rehabilitation provider,a Trainer and is currently the
Senior Consultant with Comcare in the Prevention and Injury Management Section.
Elizabeth has worked with all state jurisdictions with experience in both the
public and private sectors.Over the past 10 years she has provided advice and
or training on provider management,strategies for Injury Management and complex
case management solutions to Commonwealth Agencies,Act Government and Self
Insured Licensees.
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