Academy Fellow

I am one of the leading mental health social workers in Australia, and an academic who has significantly influenced mental health service provision in the areas of reducing coercive practice, recovery, and social inclusion. My work demonstrates a high-level capacity to engage in collaborative, interdisciplinary research and I am making major contributions to new policy and practice directions that are having a significant impact on people with severe mental health conditions. My qualifications are Bachelor of Behavioural Science, Bachelor of Social Work, Masters in Policy and Law and PhD. My current position is Professor and Discipline Lead in Social Work and Social Policy at La Trobe University. I am also an honorary principal research fellow in the Centre for Mental Health in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne. I have a professional background in Social Work and a career long commitment to the mental health field of practice dating back to 1985. I have over 100 peer reviewed publications as well as book chapters and multiple research reports. My research activity has fostered strong interdisciplinary partnerships, working in collaborative research teams with academics from a range of disciplines and universities, across Australia and internationally. My teams have also included people with lived experience and partner organisations. I have therefore had the opportunity to be involved in research and evaluation activities that are highly participatory and contribute to making a difference for people experiencing mental illness and psychosocial disability. I have a long-standing commitment to undertaking research on the effectiveness, implementation and implications of Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) and this represents a significant commitment driven by the importance of this topic to mental health service delivery and human rights in Australia. I am currently leading an ARC Discovery Project investigating the implementation of CTOs across Australia. My expertise on the intersection of practice, policy, law and mental health has led to ministerial appointments and advisory roles in mental health law and policy development. My most recent ministerial appointment was to the Board of Victoria’s new Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing and I am a long standing community member of Victoria’s Mental Health Tribunal. I was an invited expert witness for the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System (RCVMHS) and I am a member of the expert advisory group for Victoria’s new Mental Health and Wellbeing Act. My work was cited by the RCVMHS 98 times in their final report. A review of evidence regarding models of care for people living with persistent and complex mental health needs that I co-led was also cited extensively in the RCVMHS final report and helped shape the recommendations for system transformation. 

Professor and Discipline Lead in Social Work and Social Policy, Department of Community and Clinical Health, School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport at La Trobe University (2018 - )

Honorary Principal Research Fellow in the Centre for Mental Health in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne (2018 – )

Sessional community member of the Victorian Mental Health Tribunal, reappointed in April 2018

Board Member of the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing (2022- )

Scientific Advisory Committee member (2018 - ) of Ending Loneliness Together. 

Executive member of the World Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation (WAPR-Australia) (2017 - )

Member of the Australian Association of Social Workers 

Member of the Expert Advisory Group – Mental Health and Wellbeing Act 2022 (2020-)

1. Harvey, C. A., Zirnsak, T. M., Brasier, C., Ennals, P., Fletcher, J., Hamilton, B., ... & Brophy, L. M. (2023) Community based models of care facilitating the recovery of people living with persistent and complex mental health needs: systematic review and narrative synthesis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, 1259944.

2. Doroud, S. N., King, A., Zirnsak, T. -M., Brasier, C., Hall, T., Jordan, H., & Brophy, L. (2023). Creating "an oasis of hope, inclusion and connection": students and stakeholders' experiences of a pilot Recovery College. Journal of Mental Health, 1-9.

3. Oostermeijer, S., Brasier, C., Harvey, C., Hamilton, B., Roper, C., Martel, A., . . . Brophy, L. (2021). Design features that reduce the use of seclusion and restraint in mental health facilities: A rapid systematic review. BMJ Open, 11(7). 

4. Brophy, L., Edan, V., Kisely, S., Lawn, S., Light, E., Maylea, C., ... & Zirnsak, T. M. (2021). The urgent need to review the use of CTOs and compliance with the UNCRPD across Australian jurisdictions. International Journal of Mental Health and Capacity Law, (28), 3-9.

5. Brophy, L., Kokanovic, R., Flore, J., McSherry, B., & Herrman, H. (2019). Community treatment orders and supported decision-making. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10, 414.