Our Board of Directors volunteer their time and expertise to guide MHA in all of the work that we do, and we are grateful for their dedication and support.
Meg Smith Associate Professor, Meg Smith, OAM
Meg Smith recently retired as a community psychologist in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Western Sydney.
She is a part-time member of the Mental Health Review Tribunal and a board member of the Black Dog Institute. She has been active in the reform of mental health services and policy since the early 1980s when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Her current research interests are the management of bipolar disorder, cannabis use and mental illness and social and community issues for people living with mental illness.
Meg was elected to the Board in 1989.
Dr Nick O’Connor, MB BS MM FRANZCP FRACMA GAICDA
Nick is a psychiatrist and Clinical Director of North Shore Ryde Mental Health Service.
Nick’s major interests are the treatment of mood disorders and psychosis; working with people with borderline personality disorder; working with NGOs and general practitioners; teaching and research and quality leadership and management in mental health services.
As well as WayAhead, Nick is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and a member of the Strategic Initiative and Development Committee Mindhealthconnect (The National Mental Health Web Portal).
Nick was elected to the Board in 1994.
Don Murray, ACA, CPA, FAICD
Don is an experienced finance professional with a proven track record in financial management, business reporting , change management and team building.
He has played a mentoring and leadership role across a range of industries and business sizes.
He comes with a commitment to provide financial expertise to WayAhead and to people with lived experience of mental Illness.
Don was eleceted to the Board in 2015.
Sharyn McGee MA (UNSW), GrDipComm (UTS), BA (Hons) (MACQ)
Sharyn is a retired university lecturer and sociologist.
Her academic pursuits in teaching and research were mainly in the sociology of health, including mental health and alcohol and other drugs, ageing and youth.
Sharyn is currently employed on a casual basis with the Recovery College, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District as a peer educator (consumer). In that capacity she has co-produced and co-facilitated courses such as Navigating the Mental Health System Maze and Introduction to Mindfulness.
Sharyn was elected to the Board in 2006.
Jill Faddy, OAM, B.A., Dip. Psych, MAPS
Jill is a retired clinical psychologist with a continuing interest in mental health. As a board member for over 20 years Jill can draw upon significant ‘corporate memory’, her experiences at board level of other NGOs and her psychology work at Rozelle Hospital .
Jill has a passion for older people’s mental health, the interests of families and friends of missing persons, a personal love of archaeology-based travel and music and theatre.
Jill was elected to the Board in 1991.
Frank Flannery, B.Sc Hons, M.Psych, M. Mgt (Health)
Frank is a Clinical Psychologist with extensive senior management experience of mental health services in hospital, community and NSW Health settings.
Since retiring from NSW Health in 2007, Frank has worked as a Surveyor Coordinator with the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards and undertaken a range of consultancy projects with NSW health services. Frank has a special interest in consumer and carer participation in health service governance, quality improvement systems and processes, risk management frameworks and strategic partnerships to achieve optimal health outcomes.
Frank was elected to the Board in 2007.
David Harper
David is an Information Technology Consultant
He has provided advice and support on matters such as Way Ahead, internal I.T. maintenance and the shared services project (Partners in Change). He has interests in other organisations such as the Ryde Bipolar Support Group,(affiliated with Schizophrenia Fellowship, ASteen Social Club (affiliated with Autism Spectrum Australia) and Bipolar Australia.
David was elected to the Board in 2011.
Gary Moore, BA, BSocW, MMgt.
Gary is Manager Social and Community Services with Parramatta City Council. Prior to that he was CEO of Homelessness NSW.
Gary provides expertise in social policy, advocacy and governance.
He refers to himself as a lover of life, with a passion for social change, an enabling leader and an innovative thinker.
As well as a board member of WayAhead he was a Board Director of The Benevolent Society (2006-15).
Gary was elected to the Board in 2011.
Associate Professor Viviana Wuthrich
Viviana is a clinical psychologist, currently an Associate Professor at the Centre for Emotional Health at Macquarie University, and she is also in private practice in Hornsby
Her major interests include
- Understanding the causes and maintaining factors for mental disorders
- Developing and evaluating psychological interventions
- Training mental health professionals and disseminating effective evidence based treatments into the community
- Particular interest in mental health of children, adolescents and older adults.
Viviana’s research interests relate to improving identification of mental disorders , improving access to evidence-based treatments and developing and evaluating treatment programs in schools, private practice, community settings and online. In particular Viviana has special interests in improving the lives of children, adolescents and older adults who at either end of the lifespan have the lowest access to mental health treatment in the community.
Viviana was elected to the Board in 2016.
Ashliegh Costa
Ashliegh is Director of Clinical Services, Ramsey Healthcare, Campbelltown
Ashliegh sees herself as a passionate person interested in
- Patient advocacy
- Mental health awareness
- Innovative mental health delivery
- Staff retention in mental health services
She is always wanting to do more to assist people with a mental illness and to have more of an ability to influence change for the better in the mental health industry even if it starts with just the patients in her hospital.
Ashliegh was elected to be the board in 2016.
