OUR STORY
Since meeting in a forensic mental health unit 25 years ago, we have embraced a unique connection with a shared insight and shared values about the quality of care that should be accessible for people with mental health concerns.
What followed was a focus on improving the training and consultative support provided to workers and their organisations.
Since 2016, we have provided training and consultation to multiple teams, in over 30 organisations, across 12 industries in 5 countries.
We are proud of what we have achieved, but our work is not finished. We have now created a suite of 8 key workshops that specifically respond to the essential training needs of organisations.
Andy and Brett - Directors of Our Curious Minds
Andrew Carroll
DIRECTOR
I have worked in mental health since qualifying as a doctor in England in the early 1990s.
In my clinical work as a psychiatrist, I have mainly worked with justice-involved consumers in hospital, community and prison contexts. I am now using that forensic experience in my role as a Medical Advisor at the Victorian Department of Health, with a special focus on prison mental health care.
For many years now I have also written reports at the request of legal practitioners representing clients with mental health issues. This has given me a good insight into how courts, tribunals and other systems work (or sometimes fail to work) for such clients.
I continue to be involved in research that informs the evidence base for safer, trauma-informed care for mental health consumers. I hold an honorary position as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science at Swinburne University of Technology and have published journal papers and book chapters on subjects related to risk and values-based care .
Over my career it has been my privilege to play a role in developing services and systems that enable recovery and opportunity for people living with mental health challenges. My work with Brett Bridges at Our Curious Minds is part of this journey.
Brett Bridges
DIRECTOR
I have worked in mental health since qualifying as a mental health nurse in Melbourne in the early 1990s. My curiosity and subsequent passion for mental health emerged alongside my experience with it as a carer.
My clinical work has taken me on a broad journey across specialist fields of personality disorder, trauma, acute mental health, complex care, forensic mental health, alcohol and other drugs, intellectual disability and corrections.
In my roles as a senior clinician, complex care specialist, supervisor and trainer, I have been privileged to work with clients and their families faced with challenging and complex issues, and in providing guidance to the clinical and psychosocial professionals supporting them. Additionally since 2008 I have been providing psychotherapy services to people who experience complex trauma and personality disorder.
I love my work and have met a number of amazing and inspiring people in my career, that have both motivated and shaped my practice. These collaborations have resulted in the development of a number of workshops, contributing to conference papers and a book chapter on working with complex issues in personality disorder.
In 2016 I formed Our Curious Minds with my colleague Dr. Andrew Carroll and together we have been actively contributing to service and system developments that enable recovery and opportunity for people living with mental health challenges.
Ingrid Ozols
LIVED EXPERIENCE CONSULTANT
I am an Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health Monash University and founding director of mental health at work (mh@work®) where I work as a mental health and suicide prevention consultant. I have 25 years’ of collaborative experiences in diverse co-production contexts, where my work portfolio has been and continues to be, extensive.
Starting in 2000’s, I was a lead consultant in the development and delivery of the earliest evidence-based workplace psychologically safe initiatives and advocacy.
I am proud to have played a role in the development and facilitation of employer ‘duty of care’ guidelines, in O.H.& S. Legislation, focusing on the creation of psychologically safe work environments.
Other professional activities that keep me on my toes includes national and state levels education and training in clinical and non-clinical workforces, including Consumer and Carer policy reform and research. Further augmented by countless memberships on boards, advisory groups, committees at local, state and national levels.
My work is informed and motivated beyond my personal journey managing mental health and suicidal vulnerabilities, recovery and traumatic growth, by countless people, families, friends, colleagues, employees and employers, to shake up stigma, to bring change – and this is an important motivator for my work.
Like all of us I wear many hats, as a mum, a wife, a lover of furry children (a proud cat lady) and sporting my purple hair. I love serving the community, travelling and on occasions doing nothing!
You can reach me at : www.mhatwork.com.au and at www.linkedin.com/in/ingrid–ozols–am–7064248