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Keynote Presenters
This year’s event has already attracted a vast array of high profile presenters from across Australia and around the world.
Prof Peter J Adams - Assoc Prof Social & Community Health, University of Auckland
Peter Adams practiced for 13 years as a clinical psychologist in hospital, community and private practice settings. This led to work with addictive behaviour and in 1991 to an academic position at the University of Auckland where he has led projects that include development of alcohol and drug teaching in the undergraduate medical curriculum, initiation of post-graduate teaching programmes for specialist addiction workers, and development of brief intervention projects in primary care.
He recently published two sole-authored books: Fragmented Intimacy: Addiction in a Social World (NY: Springer) and Gambling, Freedom and Democracy (NY: Routledge). His current research interests include family impacts of addictions, brief interventions, recovery processes and public health approaches to gambling. He is employed as associate professor and head of Social & Community Health in the School of Population Health.
Prof Sharon Dawe - School of Psychology, Griffith University, Queensland
Sharon Dawe is a Professor in Clinical Psychology at Griffith University. She has been working as a researcher and clinician in the field of substance misuse and mental health for over 20 years at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London (UK), National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW and now Griffith University, Brisbane on a range of clinical interventions for heroin, alcohol and other substance misuse.
Her most recent work involves the development and evaluation of the Parents Under Pressure (PUP) program in collaboration with Paul H Harnett (University of Queensland). Sharon Dawe led the consortiums investigating “Drug Use in the Family: Impacts and Implications for children” and Supporting families: Investigating support options for family members of young people with problematic drug use funded by Australian National Council on Drugs (2005 – 2008). She is passionate about improving the outcomes for children living in adverse circumstances through enhancing family capacity to manage difficult life situations.
Dr Stefan Gruenert - Chief Executive Officer, Odyssey House, Victoria
Stefan is the father of two boys and a registered psychologist with more than 10 years experience in the drug and alcohol sector as a clinician, researcher, and a manager. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer for Odyssey House Victoria. His research interests include male intimacy and sexual coercion, community alcohol use and treatment interventions, family work and parenting - especially the role of fathers and the experiences and needs of children with substance dependent parents.
Stefan is often asked to provide advice to Government on Child Protection issues and was a co-author of the Parenting Support Toolkit for Alcohol and Other Drug workers. He is an executive member of the Family Alcohol and Drug network (FADNET) and the Australian Psychological Society’s Interest Group on Substance Use, and he regularly presents his work at National and International Conferences.
Prof Louise Newman - Director of the Centre for Developmental Psychiatry and Psychology, Monash University
Louise Newman is the Professor of Developmental Psychiatry and Director of the Monash University Centre for Developmental Psychiatry & Psychology. Prior to this appointment she was the Chair of Perinatal and Infant Psychiatry at the University of Newcastle and the previous Director of the New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry.
She is a practising infant psychiatrist with expertise in the area of disorders of early parenting and attachment difficulties in infants. She has undertaken research into the issues confronting parents with histories of early trauma and neglect. Her current research is focussing on the evaluation of infant-parent interventions in high-risk populations, the concept of parental reflective functioning in mothers with borderline personality disorder and the neurobiology of parenting disturbance
She has published in the areas of infant mental health, attachment disorders trauma, and prevention of child abuse. She is co-author of the textbook Clinical Skills in Infant Mental Health and the forthcoming Contemporary Approaches in Child and Adolescent Mental health. She is the Convenor of the Alliance of Health Professions for Asylum Seekers and an advocate for the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. She is the Chair of the Detention Expert Health Advisory Group an independent body providing advice to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship on the heath needs of asylum seekers. She has been involved in research into the impact of immigration detention on child asylum seekers.
She is the current President of the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.
Dr. Gabriele Fischer MD - Medical Director of Addiction Clinic, Medical University Vienna, Austria
Prof. Dr. Gabriele Fischer studied human medicine at the Medical University Vienna. She received her doctor’s degree in 1984, when she started to specialize in the field of psychiatry and neurology.
From 1986 – 1989, Gabriele Fischer did a fellowship at Washington University Medical School, St. Louis, Missouri USA.
In 1994, she became the Medical Director of the Addiction Clinic, and in 2000, Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at the Medical University of Vienna.
Gabriele Fischer is involved in many epidemiological and psychopharmacological studies in the field of substance dependence; her special research focus is laid on substance dependence during pregnancy, particularly opioid dependence.
Besides, Gabriele Fischer is consultant for several international and national groups, including the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, the World Health Organisation and the European Parliament. She is member of the Scientific Board for Quality Control and Quality Management in Medicine, board member of Trustees of Medical University of Innsbruck, Member of General Medical Council, founding board member of: Women for women: health policy in focus and board member of the Quality Control Commission in Medicine in Austria.
To date, Gabriele Fischer has given over 400 scientific presentations and has over 150 peer-reviewed publications.
Prof Marina Barnard - Centre for Drug Misuse Research, University of Glasgow. United Kingdom
For 20 years I have researched the problems associated with drugs for those taking them as well as for their families. Over the last ten years I have specialised in looking into the impact of illegal drug use on families. Interviews conducted with parents and their children, with grandparents and brothers and sisters as well as professionals, have built up a detailed picture of the enduring impacts of drug problems. These data were summarised in a recent book ‘Drug Addiction and Families’ published in 2007 by Jessica Kingsley, London. I sat as a member of the Prevention Working Group of the ACMD (Home Office Advisory council on the Misuse of Drugs) inquiry into the needs of children of problem drug users which produced ‘Hidden Harm’ (2003). More recently I have been exploring the role of professional decision making in providing support to families.
Throughout my career I have aimed to produce research that is accessible and relevant to practitioners and the general public. There have been many academic publications but also work with the national media, with local interest groups and services to try to ensure a wider reach. The most challenging piece of work to emerge from the studies on children of parental drug misuse was an art exhibition ‘Trying Childhoods’ held at the Glasgow School of Art. The exhibition represented 2 years work with 80 plus children and young people attending various services all over Scotland to encourage their representation of the place of drugs and alcohol in their homes and in their communities.
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