A warm welcome to Dr Andrew McClelland, Senior Lecturer: Mental Health Academic (based in Central Australia)
Andrew joins the University from Ocean Shores in New South Wales; prior to that he was working at the Cairnmillar Institute in Melbourne developing and teaching courses in psychology and counselling.
Prior to joining Flinders, Andrew has developed his own counselling and psychotherapy practice, worked at Deakin, CQU, Monash, University of the Sunshine Coast, and the Nan Tien Institute in Wollongong. In each of these academic appointments he has designed and coordinated a number of courses and units relevant to the mental health area, including a Grad Dip in Coaching and Counselling, a Master of Health and Social Wellbeing and a Master of Applied Positive Psychology.
Andrew has also worked extensively with Masters and undergraduate medical and allied health students in self-care/stress reduction, Motivational Interviewing, mindfulness practices and interpersonal skills.
Prior to working in academia, Andrew worked with individuals and groups in a variety of mental health areas: autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, stress reduction, anxiety and panic, and depression.
His initial work in rural work was with families with children on the autism spectrum and subsequently designing and facilitating workshops on mood disorders within rural and remote communities in SA. He also has spent several years writing and running programs for teenagers at risk of homelessness and wrestling with mental health issues.
As well as focussing on individual mental health/health and wellbeing, Andrew has a strong interest in collective wellbeing and resilience, community-building, permaculture and interconnected social, cultural and environmental factors that influence health, wellbeing and resilience.
Andrew sees working in rural and remote areas of the Northern Territory as a great opportunity to work collaboratively with communities, organisations and students to develop innovative approaches for fostering individual and collective mental health/health and wellbeing. This work is underpinned by qualifications in a Bachelor of Psychology (Hons) completed at Flinders University, and a PhD (psychology/psychosomatic medicine).
We look forward to the contribution that Andrew will make to our team across the footprint of Flinders Rural and Remote Health.