Patrons
Emeritus Prof. Bruce Tonge AO
Patron
Prior to his retirement in 2012 he was the Foundation Head, School of Psychology and Psychiatry and Head of the Discipline of Psychological Medicine at Monash University and also the Senior Clinical Advisor of the Mental Health Program of Monash Health at Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne, Australia. He has a distinguished record of clinical work, teaching and research in child psychiatry. He established the internationally recognised Monash University Centre for Developmental Psychiatry and Psychology. He continues to have clinical, research and teaching interests in the area of developmental psychiatry with a particular focus in the areas of Autism Spectrum Disorders and behavioural and emotional disturbance in children and adolescents with intellectual disability and neurodevelopmental disorders, parent education and skills training public mental health interventions, and treatment outcome studies in childhood anxiety and depressive disorders.
Carole Crean
Patron
Carole’s career and passion for helping problem young people started as a secondary school science teacher. Transitioning to the Victorian Education Department, working in policy development, it was at this time that Carole ventured into the mental health realm with the Mental Health Foundation of Australia (MHFA) and working with the Southern Health Mental Health Program, looking at consumer education to clinicians. In 2003, Carole participated with the MHFA establishing the initiative “Embrace the Future - Young Australians Mental Health and Wellbeing” an mental wellness awareness and education project for Australian youth. This initiative has developed into “Resilience Australia” promoting awareness and development of resilience for Australians from conception for the prevention of mental illness issues. In 2017 she became Secretary of the Mental Health Foundation Australia (MHFA) at the amalgamation of the Mental Health Foundation of Australia and the Mental Health Foundation of Victoria (the oldest NFP and NGO organisation in the mental health sector in Victoria). She was re-appointed as the Patron of Mental Health Foundation Australia in 2019.
