Project Team & Partners

The Mindframe for Stage & Screen project is coordinated and managed by a consortium consisting of the Hunter Institute of Mental Health, the Australian Writers’ Guild and SANE Australia, with funding from the Australian Government Department of Heath and Ageing as part of the National Mindframe Initiative. The project team also incorporates nine Australian scriptwriters, who have assisted with the development and dissemination of resources.

Mindframe Stage & Screen Project Team:

	Jaelea Skehan Program Manager, Hunter Institute of Mental Health Jaelea has been with the Hunter Institute since 2001 and forms part of the management team. She is a registered psychologist and a Conjoint Teaching Fellow with the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle. Jaelea has been working on the Mindframe National Media Initiative since January 2003 and is responsible for the management of five national projects funded under the Initiative. These projects include: Mindframe Media and Mental Health Project, Response Ability Project, Mindframe for the Mental Health Sector, Mindframe Stage and Screen, and Mindframe for Police and Courts. Jaelea is passionate about mental health promotion and suicide prevention and has worked on a number of other national, state and local projects in this area. She provides advice to a range of national and international organisations, is published in the area of media and mental health issues and is a member of the International Taskforce on Suicide and the Media.
	Amy Laybutt Senior Project Officer, Hunter Institute of Mental Health Amy is a graduate of the University of Newcastle with an Honours degree in Psychology. Amy conducted her final year research on social psychology and later went on to work as a research assistant at the University, initially in the School of Behavioural Sciences and then as part of the Engaging Fathers Program at the Family Action Centre. Amy began working at the Hunter Institute of Mental Health in 2006, initially working on the Response Ability for Teacher Education Project. In January 2007, Amy joined the Mindframe team to work on Response Ability for Journalism Education and Mindframe Stage & Screen. Amy has worked in the music industry for 15 years and is an award-winning performer and composer. This has allowed Amy to be involved in many community events and projects, including a variety of theatre productions with local and touring theatre companies. Amy is currently studying for a Graduate Certificate in Health Promotion.
	Trevor Hazell Director, Hunter Institute of Mental Health Trevor Hazell is the Director of the Hunter Institute of Mental Health and is also a conjoint senior lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Newcastle. He has extensive experience in planning and management with welfare and health departments of the NSW Government. Trevor has considerable experience in health promotion, evaluation of services and in the management of mental health promotion and suicide prevention projects.
	Jacqueline Woodman Executive Director, Australian Writers’ Guild Jacqueline was previously the Director of the Whitlam Institute within the University of Western Sydney. She has also held senior executive positions in Australia and overseas with the European Network on Debt and Development, the World Development Movement and CARE Australia. Jacqueline's non-executive roles have included the Board of TREEAID, a sustainable development and livelihoods charity; the Board of the YWCA U.K.; and the Development Advisory Board of the World Development Movement.
	Michael Winter Team Leader, Australian Writers’ Guild Michael Winter began his professional writing career on stage with the Rock Musical Effortless Way in 1986. He followed this with a series of Radio plays called Police Radio Nemesis in the late '80's. Michael was also part of the original creative team on Blue Heelers, performing a number of roles over a nine-year period. Michael then worked on the creation of the series Water Rats. Other shows Michael has worked on include the serial Pacific Drive, sci-fi series UFO 2 and many others. Currently Michael has a feature film in development in the US and other television projects commissioned in both the UK and US. Michael has also been on the National Executive Council for the Australian Writers Guild and served as Chairperson for its NSW committee. Currently Michael represents the Australian Writers Guild on the National Media and Mental Health Group Committee and is Team Leader for Mindframe for Stage and Screen.
	Barbara Hocking OAM Executive Director, SANE Australia SANE is a national charity working for a better life for Australians affected by mental illness. Barbara Hocking has held the position of Executive Director of SANE Australia since 1996. Barbara has a strong background in education and health promotion, initially pursuing a teaching career before undertaking various health education positions within the Victorian Health Department and the Schizophrenia Australia Foundation; and has worked in mental health for many years. Barbara holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons), Diploma in Education, Diploma in Health Education and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Barbara is a Board Member of SANE Australia, a member of the Australian Suicide Prevention Advisory Council National Mental Health Council. She is also represented on the National Advisory Council on Suicide Prevention and the National Media and Mental Health Group.
	Kirrily Cornwell Suicide Prevention Section, Department of Health and Ageing Kirrily has worked in the public service since 1990 (with a brief hiatus to pursue some musical endeavours) and has been working in Mental Health and Suicide Prevention in the Department of Health and Ageing since 2002. Since that time she has managed a variety of programs across mental health and suicide prevention including multicultural mental health, forensic mental health, torture and trauma, and promotion and prevention projects. She is currently responsible for a range of national projects under the National Suicide Prevention Strategy including the Mindframe National Media Initiative, Indigenous Suicide Prevention, the Family Court Mental Health Support Project and CommunityMindEd. She also manages the National Advisory Council on Suicide Prevention.

Australian scriptwriters who contributed to the development of Mindframe Stage & Screen resources:

	Michael Winter (see bio above)
	Kristen Dunphy Kristen Dunphy has over fifteen years experience writing drama for Australian Television. In 2003, she received the Best Australian Drama Series AWGIE award for her episode of White Collar Blue. In 2004, she wrote Sweet Science, a Blackjack telemovie for Channel 10 starring Colin Friels, Vince Colosimo and Chris Haywood. She has written extensively for the ABC, including award-winning series such as Wildside, G.P. and Heartland, which starred Ernie Dingo and Cate Blanchett. Her experience writing for commercial television drama has included stints on Murder Call, Water Rats, Heartbreak High and an AFI award-winning episode of All Saints. Kristen has worked alongside Bryan Brown, selecting for and editing his series Twisted Tales and Two Twisted, and with Rachel Ward on her short film Blind Man's Bluff. Kristen is currently writing for the SBS series EastWest 101.
	Rob George Rob George has written for stage and screen and worked as a script editor, story editor, producer and director. His recent credits include the ABC series MDA, the documentary Fearless and an animation series The Odd Family. His children's telemovie Captain Johnno won an International Emmy and his stage play Percy and Rose toured nationally.
	Stephen House Stephen House has had 14 plays and 3 short films produced. He is commissioned often and his work has been produced and toured nationally and internationally. He has won many awards including AWGIES from The Australian Writers Guild in 2002 & 2004. He has received international literature residencies from The Australia Council to Canada and Ireland and, in 2007, an Asia-link literature residency to India. Many of Stephen’s plays have been profiled by and are available through The Australian Script Centre. In May 2007, Stephen directed his award winning play, VIN, as part of Come Out Youth Arts Festival.
	Fiona Kelly Fiona Kelly has been writing and script editing for television since 1995. She has extensive writing and script editing credits on Home and Away and All Saints, and also worked as a Story Editor for Home and Away. Her other writing credits include children's animations Blinky Bill's Extraordinary Balloon Adventure, and Flipper and Lopaka series 3. She also wrote for Headland and worked as a story liner for Channel Nine's new drama Sea Patrol. Fiona has been nominated for four AWGIE Awards, three for episodes of Home and Away and one for an episode of Blinky Bill.
	Suzie Miller Suzie Miller is a graduate of the NIDA Playwrights Studio, has a Masters degree in Theatre (UNSW) and a Masters degree in Law (UNSW). She is an award winning and critically acclaimed playwright. Her play Cross Sections had two sell out and critically acclaimed seasons at the Sydney Opera House Studio in 2005 and a radio versionhas been commissioned by ABC Radio. All the Blood and All the Water was awarded the Theatrelab Open award in 2006 and has been selected for a main stage production at the Riverside Theatre Parramatta in April/May 2008. Further stage works in progress include: Reasonable Doubt which was selected for the Playworks 21st conference May 2006; Roaring Silence; TOUCH; Trial and Error and Trust. Film works include: All the Blood and All the Water and Objects of Obsession. Suzie currently sits on the board of State of Play, and the new script development organisation Playwriting Australia. She is a member of the artistic advisory boards of both TRS Theatre Company and Inscription.
	Shane Porteous Shane Porteous is a scriptwriter and actor. As an actor he is best known to television audiences as Dr Terence Elliott in the long-running Channel 7 series A Country Practice, for which he picked up a Silver Logie in 1989. As a writer he has scripted over 100 hours of television drama, principally for Neighbours and Home and Away. He has won two AWGIEs for episodes of Neighbours, in 2001 and 2004. He has also worked as an animation artist on feature films and television series.
	Gina Roncoli Gina Roncoli has been writing and script editing for film and television since graduating from the AFTRS in 1989. In 1990 she produced and co-wrote Canto A La Vida, which won an AFI Award for Best Documentary, was twice nominated for an Australian Human Rights Award and won the Special Jury Prize at the 1990 San Francisco International Film Festival. Since 1994 she has been writing and script editing for television, specializing in animation and children’s series. In 2003, Gina won an AWGIE for Best Children’s Script for an episode of the Channel 7 children’s series Bambaloo. She also script edits and assesses feature films, and between 1996-98 she was a Project Officer for the NSW Film and Television Office. Before working as a screenwriter Gina was a journalist for print and broadcast.
	Greg Waters Greg Waters has written for TV series Fireflies, The Alice and The Surgeon and was Script Editor on Two Twisted and Double The Fist. His short films have had international success. He has two feature films, a children's series and a six-part documentary in development. Before becoming a screenwriter, Greg was an adviser to Dr Andrew Refshauge in the NSW Government.