Q: What are your goals for Equally Well? What inspires you about Equally Well?
A: The collaborative and future-focused stance that Equally Well takes is truly inspiring. Given the need for genuinely multidisciplinary and holistic approaches for the care of physical and mental health, Equally Well has a vital role to play in addressing the significant inequity in health that people living with mental illness experience.
Q: How do you see Equally Well benefiting carers/consumers/practitioners?
A: As a diverse body with representation at local, statewide, and national levels, Equally Well helps to curb the trend of siloing in health care. Given the inherent complexity that consumers, families, carers, and practitioners face in navigating the health system, Equally Well is a timely advocate for integrated, co-designed, and evidence-based models of health care.
Q: What hurdles do you currently see Equally Well facing and will have to face in the future? Is there a particular area you believe needs more focus that Equally Well can develop on?
A: As people with mental illness are at greater risk of developing multiple chronic physical conditions from younger ages, screening and prevention are crucial to reduce the burden of preventable disease. However, systemic barriers continue to impede accessibility to safe and quality health care. As a multidisciplinary collective, Equally Well is optimally placed to advocate for the cultural and systemic change that is needed to overcome the stigma and discrimination people with mental illness experience when accessing health care.
Q: What have you personally learnt and has this knowledge impacted your life and/or the lives of those around you?
A: Biomedical knowledge is ever expanding, and it can become easy for researchers and clinicians to ‘miss the forest for the trees’. Keeping a person-centred approach to health care is fundamental, and it is an enormous privilege as a health practitioner to be able to listen to the experiences of consumers living with mental illness. These encounters have been fundamental in orienting both my clinical and research priorities, shaping my perspective on the importance of holistic and integrated care for people living with mental illness.
Q: As an Equally Well Ambassador, you are an advocate for improving the physical health of those who live with a mental illness, have there been any new developments or research in your area of interest?
A: In August 2025, we published ‘Holistic prevention and management of physical health side-effects of psychotropic medication: second report of the Lancet Psychiatry Physical Health Commission’. The report seeks to guide clinicians and consumers in making informed and evidence-based decisions about psychiatric medications, so that mental and physical health can be balanced and tailored to the needs and perspective of the consumer accessing treatment. In conjunction with tailored and balanced use of medication, lifestyle interventions remain crucial, as discussed in the following report published in parallel: ‘Implementing lifestyle interventions in mental health care: third report of the Lancet Psychiatry Physical Health Commission’.
Q: What do you see is your role for Equally Well as one of our ambassadors?
A: I hope that my role with Equally Well will enable me to maintain a big picture and multidisciplinary perspective in advocating for integrated physical and mental health care. As I complete both my clinical and academic training, I hope to be able to reinforce Equally Well’s network with other early career researchers and psychiatrists.
