MHV Board

Board Chair - Mental Health Victoria

Damian has held executive leadership roles in health, housing and urban renewal within the public and not-for-profit sectors. His career has been focused on tackling social, economic and health equity. Damian is the CEO of Better Health Network (BHN). BHN is the result of a merger which brought together three community health services in the south eastern region of Melbourne. His work is focused on prevention, harm reduction and primary health. He has initiated many place-based interventions to build community capacity through partnerships with community, government and the for-purpose sectors. He is president of the Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) and deputy chair of North Western Melbourne PHN.

Deputy Chair - Mental Health Victoria

Christopher is a member of the Victorian Bar and has a broad civil law practice. He specialises in employment and industrial law, anti-discrimination law, human rights and administrative law. Christopher is the Secretary of the Victorian Bar’s Indigenous Justice Committee, a member of the Industrial Bar Association Committee, the Australian Bar Association’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and the Victorian Bar’s LGBTIQ Working Group (which he helped to establish).

Amanda is an executive leader with more than 25 years of experience in health, aged care, disability services and health insurance, and has held executive roles at Peninsula Health, Australian Unity and Medibank Private. She is CEO of CareChoice, which specialises in 24-hour disability programs for people with multiple and complex needs across Victoria. Amanda holds a Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) and Graduate Diploma of Psychology (Adv), EMBA, GAICD, and is Director and Vice-President of The Compassionate Friends Victoria.

Tertiary qualified with a BA (Hons) in Youth and Community work, Karenza is CEO at ermha365, which works for people who are challenged with complex mental health and disability issues. She has extensive leadership experience with for-purpose organisations in Australia and the United Kingdom over 25 years. Her unique perspective includes her own lived experience of mental ill health as a young person, and she has participated in intensive leadership development with the Global Leadership Foundation and Leadership Victoria.

Peter has worked in the media, advertising and research business for the past 33 years, in a career that has spanned media, client solutions, research and consulting roles. He has specialised in the development of business units that provide consumer research and media insights to a range of global brands. Prior to working with Neuro-Insight, Peter built his career in companies like News Corporation, Nielsen, the Ten Network and the Nine Network.

Richard is an Adjunct Clinical Professor at Monash University, former Clinical Director of the Peninsula Health Mental Health Service and has a private practice specialising in eating disorders. He is an Honorary Principal Fellow at the University of Melbourne, with current or past board roles with Wellways, Wandi Neridas, the Butterfly Foundation, and the World Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Australia. He has published over 75 peer-reviewed articles or book chapters and teaches a Masters-level course in Structured Psychotherapy at the University of Melbourne and an Advanced Training course in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

As well as his role at Alfred Health, Simon holds an honorary appointment as Clinical Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University and is Chair of the Community Collaboration Committee of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP). Simon recently completed a secondment to the Victorian Department of Health as Chief Adviser from 2020-22. In that role, he contributed to the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System and was a member of the senior executive team tasked with early implementation of its recommendations, and the establishment of Mental Health Reform Victoria and the Division of Mental Health and Wellbeing.

A lawyer by training, Tom has worked in mental health for nearly 30 years, in government, clinical services and now the community mental health sector. He was CEO of Forensicare before being appointed CEO at Neami National. Tom is committed to ensuring that the voices of consumers, carers and service providers are reflected in policy development and service delivery. In previous roles, he has led organisational change to embed recovery-focused and recovery-oriented services.