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© 2025 Get Real: Talking mental health & disability
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Get Real presents frank and fearless conversations about mental health and disability, including people with lived experience, frontline workers in the sector, as well as policymakers and advocates. Get Real is produced and hosted by Emily Webb and co-hosted by Karenza Louis-Smith on behalf of ermha365 Complex Mental Health and Disability Services provider (https://www.ermha.org/).
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Send us a text Dr Astrid Birgden is a consultant Forensic/Clinical Psychologist and NDIS Behaviour Support Specialist who has years of experience working in corrections and disability settings. Astrid's career is quite extraordinary. She is a trailblazer in behaviour intervention support in Australia and worked overseas on international projects. She has even been an assistant sheriff/warden of a remand centre in New Orleans. We caught up with Astrid at the Complex Needs Conference in ...
Send us a text Hearing voices is often assumed to be a symptom of a mental health condition. However this is not always the case and up to 1 in 10 people hear voices, making it not an uncommon human experience. The Voices Vic program is led by peers with lived and living experience in hearing voices, seeing visions or having other sensory experiences. This program offers recovery groups, mentoring and support across Victoria. Our guests for this episode are Janet Karagounis, Senior Peer...
Send us a text Our guest for this episode is Dr Matt Frize, Director of Forensic Disability Services, which sits within The Victorian State Government's Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH). Co-host Karenza Louis-Smith and I were lucky to catch some time with Matt at the Complex Needs Conference earlier this year. The sold out conference was co-hosted by ermha365 and ACSO Australia and funded by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing. We talk to Matt, a senior speci...
Send us a text We’re diving into the topic of conspiracy theories for this episode, particularly on the impacts these beliefs have on an individual and the ripple effect on others. Our guests for this episode are Ariel Bogle and Cam Wilson who have written a book called CONSPIRACY NATION: Exposing the dangerous world of Australian Conspiracy Theories. Ariel is an investigative journalist at the Guardian Australia who specialises on technology, extremism and internet policy. Cam is...
Send us a text Our guest for this episode is Dr Yvonne Maxwell, a forensic psychologist who specialises in working with individuals with a disability who come into contact with the criminal justice system. Get Real spoke with Yvonne at the Complex Needs Conference 2025 where she presented on the use of Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics assessment (NMT) to understand the interplay between factors like disability, trauma, and the current circumstances of a person with complex needs. i...
Send us a text The mental health system in New South Wales has been in the spotlight of recent months. ABC’s recent Four Corners episode “Emergency” about the state’s mental health system highlighted the extreme system failures that happen when there is underinvestment in community-based mental health care. The program highlighted that people in deep psychological distress are being left in emergency departments for days, health workers are exhausted and the “missing middle”— those too unwell...
Send us a text The basis for this conversation is an important pilot service in Victoria called Assertive Outreach and Support (AOS), funded by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing under its Multiple and Complex Needs Initiative. ermha365 and ACSO Australia deliver the service in parts of Melbourne and regional Victoria. Our guests for this episode are Cassandra Turnbull from ermha365 and Psychiatrist Dr Debra Wood, from Clarity Healthcare, who provides clinical governance for the...
Send us a text In this episode we are discussing the importance of provider-family partnerships for people with complex needs. Cheryl Jameson is our guest and she was in conversation with Emily Webb, host of this podcast, at the Complex Needs Conference in late March for the lived experience stream. A mental health support worker of many years, Cheryl found herself on the other side of systems when her eldest child Josh was 16 and developed psychosis. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, whic...
Send us a text We are a few weeks on from The 2025 Australian federal election (May 3) which resulted in a more than convincing victory for the incumbent Labor government led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. So, as the federal government begins its new term, and we await the Victorian Government's State Budget next week (May 20), ermha365 CEO Karenza Louis-Smith thought it was a good time to catch up with Mental Health Victoria's CEO Phillipa Thomas to talk about what mental he...
Send us a text This is another conversation from the Complex Needs Conference 2025 and our guest is Adjunct Associate Professor Danny Sullivan, Consultant Forensic and Adult Psychiatrist. Dr Sullivan gave a keynote at the conference about the prescribing of psychotropic medications, which are namely drugs that influence a person's mood, thoughts, and behavior - for people with complex needs. He is the Board Director of ACSO Australia and Director of Victoria's Sentencing Advisory Council. Thi...
Send us a text ermha365 CEO Karenza Louis-Smith has a thought-provoking conversation with Clinical Forensic Psychologist Dr Lisa Warren, Clinical Director of Code Black Psychology about the Stable Bases Model that the organisation developed to support young people involved in serious youth-to-youth violence to guide their developmental journey and foster long-term positive outcomes. This episode was recorded at the Complex Needs Conference in Melbourne co-hosted by ermha365 and AC...
Send us a text Sophie Harrington is our guest for this episode. Sophie is the CEO of NOFASD Australia, the nation’s peak body supporting people and families living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. NOFASD presented at the Complex Needs Conference 2025 on the complexities of this hidden disability, sharing research, therapeutic strategies and resources, in particular for health care professionals and support workers. NOFASD Helpline 1800 860 613 ermha365 co-hosted the conference with ACSO...
Send us a text Andrew Radford lives in New South Wales and is a long-time advocate for people with intellectual disability and autism. Andrew himself has autism and a mild intellectual disability and has recently taken his advocacy to the next level with his appointment to the board of The Disability Trust. The trust is not-for-profit registered NDIS provider of supports and services and last year it celebrated its 50 years! The Disability Trust has been part of Andrew’s life for more t...
Send us a text The Complex Needs Conference 2025 on March 26-27 in Melbourne is co-hosted by ermha365 and ACSO – Australian Community Support Organisation. The conference is funded by the Victorian Government’s Department of Families, Fairness and Housing. BOOK NOW Both ermha365 and ACSO deliver the pilot program Assertive Outreach and Support on behalf of the DFFH. This service is for people with complex needs who are experiencing significant service barriers. Our guest is Assoc...
Send us a text A restrictive Intervention is any practice or intervention that has the effect of restricting the rights or freedom of movement of a person with disability. The Research Report Restrictive Practices: A Pathway to Elimination, which is available on the Disability Royal Commission website states: "Restrictive practices are at odds with the human rights of people with disability and represent a significant form of violence and coercion". What are the obligations of NDIS prov...
Send us a text This is a short episode revisiting some tips for wellbeing over the so-called festive season. The Christmas and New Year period can be an emotional rollercoaster. Things like complicated family dynamics and the absence of loved ones can heighten feelings of loneliness. Not everyone feels happy and bright at this time of the year. In fact, Christmas is considered as one of the six most stressful life events, along with divorce, moving house and changing jobs. Our spe...
Send us a text Participants, families and providers across Australia are trying to make sense of what the latest NDIS Price Guide means for them – and this is in addition to the changes slated in the Federal Government’s Getting the NDIS Back on Track Bill. ermha365 is right behind the #4aBetterNDIS campaign that’s in response to the latest NDIS Pricing Review. This campaign is a joint effort of peak bodies – National Disability Services, Disability Intermediaries Australia, CEO C...
Send us a text Our guest for this episode is Dr Michelle Lim, Scientific Chair and CEO of Ending Loneliness Together - a national network of organisations that work together to address the loneliness in people living in Australia. This is done through evidence-based research, advocacy and public information and awareness. MORE INFO Find out more aboutEnding Loneliness Together and Loneliness Awareness Week. ermha365 provides mental health and disability support for people in Victori...
Send us a text This is an edited version of our 2020 two-part podcast Celebrating PARCs, hosted by Chief Marketing Officer Robyn Haydon. Prevention and Recovery Care services (PARCs) are short and extended residential and day programs that provides 24-hour support in a “home-like” environment to people experiencing mental ill health and whose recovery can be supported without hospital admission. PARCs also supports people discharged from hospital who are not quite ready to return home. ermha3...
Send us a text In this episode, we're thrilled to welcome Kimberley Irwin and Ian Graham from Change Mental Health in Scotland to talk about the Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) Programme, which was developed and first piloted in 2016 in parts of Scotland to respond to the needs of people experiencing distress. DBI is now an established part of mental health support in Scotland. The program was highlighted as a model for a similiar service in Victoria in recommendation 27 of the Roya...
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