Presenters
Ruth Lira
Ruth Lira has been working in Private Practice for the last 10 year, and is dedicated to understanding the psychosocial impact of injuries and motivate clients towards a better physical and mental health & wellbeing, and a meaningful life. Her work experiences include working with balance/ vestibular disorders, War Veterans and motor/ work vehicle injuries, and general musculoskeletal injuries, including monthly physiotherapy services to some wheatbelt towns where support are intermittent. She is involved in the WA mental health committee and presented on Post traumatic stress, amongst other topics. She has a special interest in working with performing artists, including singers and musicians and is currently doing post-graduation studies in “Performing Arts Medicine, with a particular interest in performance anxiety and the biopsychosocial effects of injuries in this population.
Joanne Connaughton
Associate Professor Jo Connaughton is the previous Chair of the Australian Physiotherapy Mental Health Special Interest Group and ex-Secretary of the International Organisation of Physiotherapists in Mental Health (IOPTMH). In July 2018 Jo Connaughton stepped down from Dean, School of Physiotherapy at University of Notre Dame Australia following a physiotherapy career spanning over 40 years including. In her 30 years of clinical work Jo practiced in almost all aspects of physiotherapy in metropolitan and regional WA, working with people from across the lifespan in both public and private settings including acute mental health. As Discipline Leader in an acute mental health facility Jo worked predominately with people aged between 18 and 65, however, also worked with older adults and supervised physiotherapists working in the psychogeriatric units. Jo joined the University in 2007 and in semi-retirement now teaches undergraduate students pathophysiology, presentation and treatment of mental health conditions. She is also a qualified Mental Health First Aid instructor and advocates for this to be included in undergraduate degrees. Jo's research in the mental health field includes exploring attitudes of physiotherapists and physiotherapy students towards mental health and psychiatry and more recently how these are influenced by inclusion of Mental Health First Aid training in undergraduate programs. Jo has also researched headaches experienced by people with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder and has presented her research findings at National and International Conferences.
Elaine Newman
Elaine (Ellie) Newman is a physiotherapist specialising in dementia care. With over 20 years experience in this field, she worked extensively in the United Kingdom NHS system, as well as providing specialist dementia consultation in private aged care facilities. In Australia, she worked as a Senior Physiotherapist for the Royal Perth Bentley Group, then led the Cognitive Impairment Project, identifying a better way to care for patients with dementia and delirium. In 2017 Ellie was awarded health professional of the year by the WA Cosumer Council for her commitment to delivering person centrred care for people living with dementia and in 2019, at the personal request of the CE, led the wider East Metropoltian Health Service to become the first in WA to be recognised as working towards being a Dementia Firendly Health Service. Ellie is now Head of Physiotherapy for the Armadale Kalamunda Group, as well as their hospitals Dementia Lead. Ellie also holds the Director role for the National Dementia Training Australia (DTA) organisation (for WA and SA) is an environmental consultant for designing for people living with dementia, and sits on multiple expert National and International advisory panels to support best practice care.