BioMedica Mental Health Summit: Speaker

Kobie Allison

Professional Bio

Kobie is a compassionate, warm and dedicated psychologist who has experience working with children and families, adolescents, and adults. The services she provides are evidence-based, and she maintains her expertise and professionalism through ongoing peer and clinical supervision, and continuing professional development.

Generally her counselling approach moves through three inter-related stages; hearing and responding to the client’s story, mapping the possibilities and goal setting, action planning and closure. Her approach to counselling is gentle, compassionate, curious, gently challenging and attuned to what is happening for the client in the present moment. Kobie’s experiences in the field of psychology have allowed her to observe clients develop a much stronger understanding of themselves and of others.

Kobie has worked as a counsellor in a variety of settings, including as a therapist for children and parents who have experienced grief and loss and anxiety related difficulties, and for children and adult survivors who have been abused physically, emotionally and/or sexually. Kobie has a special interest in working with children and families, and complex trauma. Kobie finds therapeutic work invigorating and is inspired by the bravery of clients to engage in the work.

Kobie’s therapeutic approach is predominantly psychodynamic, influenced by a therapeutic approach known as Self Psychology, or ‘the Psychology of the Self’. This approach is a means of understanding how people develop a clear and cohesive sense of self, exploring their own ambitions and ideals, enabling them to grow to fulfil their potential. Disruptions to the development of the self are thought to be the foundation of many emotional, psychological, and interpersonal difficulties.

Kobie Allison
BPsych(Hons), MAppPsych(Couns), MPsych(Clin)

Mental Health Summit Program

Timetable

Friday

July 22, 2022

Saturday

July 23, 2022
13:00 - 13:10

Welcome Address

13:15 - 14:15

Practitioner resilience in mental health practice

Chandrika Gibson

Synopsis

Health professionals of all disciplines are at high risk of burnout, especially those in mental health care. Conscientious, empathetic caregivers who seek to support the suffering of others are frequently exposed to vicarious trauma. Without adequate support, this repeated exposure to trauma may impact their ability to care for themselves and their loved ones, leading to symptoms of burnout including emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and a loss of professional satisfaction. In order to sustainably serve those in need of mental health support, practitioners require trauma-informed environments, compassionate communication skills, and personal resilience scaffolding such as embodied practices of mindfulness and self-compassion.

Key Learning Outcomes

  • Be familiar with different forms of trauma including vicarious trauma.
  • Consider the impact of repeated exposure to trauma on the nervous system and consequences for practitioner resilience.
  • Understand the differences between sympathy, empathy and compassion.
  • Be familiar with compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction.
  • Understand the role of compassionate communication in mental health care.
  • Be familiar with the evidence behind embodied practices of mindfulness and self-compassion for practitioner resilience.
  • Understand the principles of trauma-informed workplaces and communities.
  • Understand common motivations for mental health care practitioners and reflect on your career through a trauma-informed lens.
  • Learn and practice micro-skills of embodied mindfulness and self-compassion.
Speaker Bio
14:20 - 15:35

Session 1: Troubleshooting the depressed and anxious client - finding the underlying causes in our modern world

Jules Galloway
Jules Galloway

Synopsis

We are currently experiencing an epidemic of depression and anxiety. Stress is at an all-time high. Even as the world returns to a “new normal,” many of our clients are feeling worse than ever. In this session, Jules will take you through the various presentations of depressed and anxious clients, their predisposing and contributing factors, and how to gently unravel the case to achieve lasting results.

Key Learning Outcomes

  • The different phenotypes of depression and anxiety and how they present in clinic.
  • Using a functional medicine approach to identifying the root causes.
  • Pathology testing to identify underlying drivers.
  • Management of depression and anxiety - both acute and longer term.
  • Case studies
Speaker Bio
15:35 - 16:00

Refreshment Break and Networking Session

16:00 - 16:15

Self-care exercise 1

Chandrika Gibson
Chandrika Gibson
16:20 - 17:20

Mood pharmaceuticals: it’s complicated

Daniel Baden
Daniel Baden

Synopsis

Australia is the second highest prescriber of antidepressants in the OECD (10% adult population) and it has been demonstrated that antidepressant prescribing is not consistent with current clinical guidelines – AJGP Volume 50, Issue 12, December 2021. At the same time, the prescription rate of anxiolytics has increased by 31% and the long-term use of these medications is of concern to many professional bodies.

Many patients who seek out natural medicine for their mood disorders often wish to come off current medications or have done so recently, which commonly exacerbates the original symptom picture. In this session, we will discuss the physiological changes associated with mood drugs and opportunities to restore homeostasis with diet, lifestyle and supplemental intervention, with a view to achieving better long-term outcomes.

Key Learning Outcomes

  • A better understanding of physiological changes associated with mood drugs.
  • Treatment options to support patients whilst on common specified medications or going through withdrawal.
  • The impact of holistic medicine on better long-term outcomes.
Speaker Bio
17:20 - 17:25

Closing Remarks

12:00 - 12:05

Welcome Address

12:10 - 13:25

Session 2: Where to next? Long-term management of depression and anxiety for better outcomes

Jules Galloway
Jules Galloway

Synopsis

You’ve created an acute care plan, identified the underlying issues to be addressed… now what? In this session, Jules will take you through a framework for exploring the next layers of care, other associated health issues to look out for, and how to keep the ball rolling so that your client continues to improve (and thrive!).

Key Learning Outcomes

  • Long-term health issues associated with depression and anxiety.
  • Proactive care of the depressed or anxious client - staying on top of their health.
  • Digging deeper to prevent a relapse of mental health symptoms.
  • Creating an ongoing management plan for your client.
  • Case studies.
Speaker Bio
13:30 - 14:30

Peak performance for the modern practitioner

Kobie Allison
Kobie Allison

Synopsis

Kobie Alison, is an experienced psychodynamically trained Psychologist and the Director of a multidisciplinary allied health clinic, Modern Minds. Kobie's practice is trauma-informed with her special interests being complex trauma, personality disorders and eating issues. In this session, Kobie will illuminate opportunities to provide co-ordinated and collaborative care, recognising that true healing and health optimisation can only be realised when a person is supported in mind, body and soul. Kobie will introduce psychodynamic principles for the modern practitioner, in order to facilitate optimal mental health outcomes for the both patient and clinician alike. Practical clinical examples will enable immediate integration into naturopathic and holistic medicine practice.

Key Learning Outcomes

  • The modern practitioner and the importance of working holistically.
  • A self-monitoring approach to prevent compassion fatigue, ruptures, and ego stories.
  • Identifying core mental health problems and their treatment.
  • Boundaries and operating within roles, tasks and responsibilities of your profession.
  • Emotional maturity and case management, identifying the need for cross referral and appropriate language and the interpersonal skills required to recommend therapy.
14:35 - 14:50

Self-care exercise 2

Chandrika Gibson
Chandrika Gibson
14:50 - 15:20

Refreshment Break and Networking Session

15:25 - 16:10

The role of psychobiotics in depression, anxiety, and stress. A shift in neuroscience: targeting the gut to get to the brain

Lucie Lingrand
Lucie Lingrand

Synopsis

Over the past decade, neurobiologists and microbiologists have paid increasing attention to the microbiome-gut-brain axis (MGBa). In this session, the existing evidence on flagship psychobiotics will be reviewed and an update on the most recent research and insights emerging from the literature will be provided. Promising new research on the MGBa and its effects on specific conditions and disorders will also be discussed.

Key Learning Outcomes

  • Discover the most documented psychobiotic: Cerebiome®.
  • Learn about the documented effects of Cerebiome® in clinical studies.
  • Explore the potential modes of action of Cerebiome® on the MGBa.
  • Gain insights on the potential and future perspectives of psychobiotics’.
Speaker Bio
16:15 - 17:15

Prescriptive lifestyle medicine

Despina Kamper
Despina Kamper

Synopsis

Our goal as health practitioners, particularly when treating clients with mental health conditions, is to deliver a sustainable prescription that leads to better long term health outcomes. This sometimes requires significant lifestyle changes to be made by the client. We are usually experts in understanding the pharmacological, nutritional, herbal or dietary aspects of our prescription; however, when it comes to advising lifestyle changes, we sometimes feel it is either not within our scope or we simply don’t have the time to invest in supporting clients through this process. This session will highlight the importance of including lifestyle medicine as part of an overall prescription and the ways in which this can be accomplished effectively.

Key Learning Outcomes

  • Define the principles of lifestyle medicine and understand its strength as its own modality.
  • Review the literature on evidence-based approaches in lifestyle medicine.
  • Understand how to apply lifestyle medicine within your practice to support current prescriptions and sustain long-term outcomes
Speaker Bio
17:15 - 17:30

Closing Remarks

Download full program
*All session times are in AEST. Live Q&A is accounted for in each stated session time.
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