Conference awards

The International Mental Health Nursing Conference provides mental health nurses the opportunity to share their knowledge and experience with other attendees in-person. The topics vary each year to align with the Conference theme, with speakers enjoying the opportunity to present on new ways of approaching a matter. Delegates walk away with a fresh perspective on the topic.

Award recipients and an explanation for each category are listed below.

First Time Presenter award

General award

Research award

Stan Alchin award

Best Poster award

First Time Presenter award

The Best First Time Presenter Award is presented to the individual who has never presented at the College's international  conference or any other conference with more than 200 delegates. First time presenters will not have previously presented outside of their organisation/place of work/tertiary institution.

Previous winners

2014 - Alex Fenlon
Mental Health Nursing and the Partners in Recovery Program: improving coordination of services
2015 - Christine Cummins
2016 - Rebecca Lofts and Jo Ryan
Mental Health Nursing in a correctional environment: How do we incorporate recovery-oriented practice?
2017 - Lynne Campbell
A Nurse's Experience: Working on the Thin Blue Line - collaborative approach to crisis management
2018 - Jos Middleton
Furtherest corner, finest care
2019 - Ellen Davies
Integrating research and practice: Development and testing of the Needs in Recovery Assessment (NiRA)
2022 - Patrick Gould
The role of mental health nurses in addressing vaccine equity through a co-designed vaccine program

General award

The General Award is presented for the best paper presented reporting on management/administration/policy issues, project work, Masters, PhD or other research that does not meet the criteria for the Research Award and the Stan Alchin Award.

Previous winners

2014 - Sandra Hyde
Project-based learning in a Bachelor of Nursing unit: a pilot study
2015 - Julie Blackburn
2016 - Robert Trett and Stephen Elsom
Recovering a Lost Art, teaching psychotherapeutic skills to practicing mental health nurses
2017 - Matthew Ball
Facilitating a trauma informed and recovery orientated approach to psychosis - challenges and rewards
2018 - Christine Cummins
The Challenges of caring: Ethical Dilemmas in Health Care
2019 - Julie Bradshaw
Integrating care: What asylum history can tell us
2022 - A tie between
Elizabeth Kuzmanovska and John Wooderson
The starting point is the end result, not the behaviour that gets you there

Niall Higgins
A non touch approach using artifical intelligence to assist nuring intermittent visual observations

Research award

The Research Award is presented to the best research paper presented.

Previous winners

2010 - Vincent Drinkwater, Antony Mullen, and Jon Chesterson
Paddling PRN - rates of PRN use by a psychiatric intensive care team
2010 - Runner ups
S.Matthew, P.Walsh, I.Munro, T.O'Brien
Sailing towards recovery: client initiated rehabilitation

Dianne Wynaden
The Scope of Practice of community mental healt nurses: Define our pratice or paddle alone
2011 - Kim Foster, Andrea McCloughen, and Cynthia Delgado
What is known about the physical health and wellbeing of emerging adults with mental illness?
2011 - Runner ups
Matt Dilges
Integrating theoretical concepts to practice for intervening with systems and children impacted on by trauma

Etty Matalon and Ursula Perry
Quitting Cannabis 1-6Kim Foster, Andrea McCloughen, and Cynthia Delgado
2012 - John Hurley and Paul Lindsey
Realistic evaluation of nurse-led services within Scottish Police holding cells
2012 - Runner ups
Mike Hazelton
Mental health in comprehensive nursing education: is the fabric really that threadbare?

Fiona Gosling
Weaving mental health into the fabric of the courts
2013 - Ian Munro and Sini Jacob
Don't go ahead or behind, walk alongside to understand the real meaning of recovery
2013 - Runner ups
Andrew Watkins
Nurse-obtained metabolic monitoring within a psychiatric hospital

Terance McCann
Bibliotherapy
2014 - Maggie McIntosh
Is the post anaesthetic care of patients receiving ECT and patients undergoing minor general anaesthesia comparable?
2014 - Runner ups
Bindu Joseph
"Working towards shaping the future, little known"; An exploration of the experiences of being an overseas trained nurse from Kerala, India; and working in mental health in Australia

Peter Santangelo
Shaping recovery-focused mental health nursing for the future: report of a grounded theory study 
2015- Andrew Watkins
2016- Phillip Maude
2017- David Ekers
2018 - Teresa Kelly 
Every heart matters: A call for a radical approach to addressing cardio-vascular inequalities
2019 - Sione Vaka
Ūloa, an ethnic model of integrating mental health care
2022 - A tie between
Simone Harvey, Jennifer Bennett, and Erica Holder
Challenging traditional approaches to clinical governance. Mental health nurses leading change.

Fiona Little
Thriving at work: Intepreting the perspectives of rural nurses providing mental health care

Stan Alchin Award

The Stan Alchin Award is presented to the best clinical paper presented by a clinician or group of clinicians. To be eligible for the ACMHN Stan Alchin Award it is a requirement that presenters and authors are clinicians.

Previous winners

2010 - Sue Wilson
Assessment of risk and management of metabolic syndrome: a nurse-led clinic for consumers of mobile assertive mental health care teams
2010 - Runner ups
Blackford and Benham

S. Trueman
2011 - Margaret Sullivan
Drowning not waving! Identifying stress and trauma during pregnancy and the early years. Lifesavers in adult mental health settings
2011 - Runner ups
Derrith Harris
Working with people who kill

Shannon Asa 
Learning to swim between your own flags: Assisting young people with a disability to make ethical judgements and develop healthy sexuality
2012 - Scott Trueman
Engaging Aboriginal clients in remote mental health services; who assesses the assessor? It's a foreign experience for most
2012 - Runner ups
Nadia de Vecchi 
Introducing art therapy into psychiatric rehabilitation in rural Australia: a reflective description

Melissa Walker 
Understanding Indigenous women's social and emotional wellbeing and wellness program development in conjunction with ATSI women
2013 - Vincent Drinkwater
Collaborative Approach to the Management of Acute Behavioural Disturbance
2013 - Runner ups
Karen Collidge and Joanne Webb
Expanding the clinical practice domains and developing  collaborative models of care – The Mental Health Nurse and Family Based Treatment (FBT) for young people and their families who are experiencing anorexia or bulimia nervosa

Janice Jankovic
Talking the same language
2014 - Judith Foord
SSHOPS - A suicide prevention pilot project for a nurse practitioner model of care
2014 - Runner ups
Matthew Ball
Reigniting the passion of the human to human relationship: the courage to suffer

Ah-Nya On
From the locked wards of mental institutions to nurse entrepreneur - the journey
2015- Nicole Butterfield 
2016- Katie Bleus and Antony Mullen
Addressing power inequalities in people a Community MH Service: A positive risk taking approach
2017- Anita Mansfield
The elephant in the ward: Metabolic syndrome and what nurses in acute settings can do
2018 - Justine Fletcher
Impact of Safewards training and subsequent implementation into practice in Victoria
2019 - Judith Foord
Mental Health Nurse Practitioners in crisis services-central to integrated care!
2022 - Nirosha Kodikara
E-health and Tele-Health Mental Health Services During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Best Poster Award

Previous winners

2014 - John Riley
The Wik Warriors Story
2015 - Maria Fitzgerald
2016 - A tie between
Josephien Rio
The enactment of accountability be mental health nurses

Anita Cregan
Students intention to work in mental health: analysing their motivation
2017 - Glynis Thorp
Royal Flying Doctor Service Southeast Section Mental Health Service
2018 - Christine Palmer
A biomedical view dismisses the human experience of trauma
2019 - Renee Hall
The role of the mental health facilitator in student learning
2022 - Katrina Campbell
Knowledge and attitudes of MHN's working with people in BPD in crisis roles in Australia