Jaelea Skehan

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Jaelea Skehan is the Director of Everymind and a Conjoint Teaching Fellow with the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle. She is a registered psychologist with expertise in the prevention of mental ill-health and the prevention of suicide. Jaelea is an advocate for finding better connections between research and practice and for ensuring a national focus on the promotion of mental health and wellbeing, and the prevention of mental ill-health to complement treatment and recovery approaches. Jaelea has worked across a range of settings and sectors and has been instrumental in the development of flagship programs for Everymind including national work with the media under Mindframe, workplace mental health programs, suicide prevention programs and many others. She is the co-lead of the nationally funded Prevention Hub, an integrated research translation initiative for preventing anxiety and depression.

Experience

  • 2005–present
    Conjoint Teaching Fellow, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle
  • 2012–present
    Director , Everymind

Education

  • 2019 
    University of Newcastle, PhD Psychiatry (suicide prevention)
  • 1998 
    University of Newcastle, BA Psych (Hons)

Publications

  • 2019
    ). Information needs of people after a suicide attempt: A thematic analysis, Patient Education and Counselling
  • 2019
    Do Australian media apply recommendations when covering a suicide prevention campaign?, Journal of Public Mental Health
  • 2018
    Crafting safe and effective suicide prevention media messages: outcomes from a workshop in Australia, International Journal of Mental Health Systems
  • 2017
    Developing Social Media-Based Suicide Prevention Messages in Partnership With Young People: Exploratory Study, JMIR Mental Health
  • 2013
    Suicide bereavement and the media: A qualitative study, Advances in Mental Health 11(3): 218-232
  • 2012
    Empowering future practitioners: A curriculum approach to enhance ‘Response Able’ communication about mental health issues, Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal, 13(2): 50-58
  • 2012
    ). Reporting suicide: interpreting media guidelines., Australian Journalism Review, 34(2): 45-56
  • 2009
    Integrating the reporting of suicide and mental illness into journalism curricula, Journalism and Mass Communication Educator.
  • 2007
    Keeping Pace with Current Issues in Reporting Suicide and Mental Illness, Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 4(2), 107-118.
  • 2006
    Reach, Awareness and Uptake of Media Guidelines for Reporting Suicide and Mental Illness, International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 8(4): 28-34.
  • 2006
    Effectiveness of briefings to promote understanding of reporting suicide and mental illness, Australian Journalism Review, 28(2): 113-126.
  • 2005
    Reporting suicide and mental illness for Indigenous Australians, Australian Journalism Review, 27(2):25-42.

Honours

Australian Financial Review and Westpac 100 Women of Influence Awards 2014; Co-lead Prevention Hub; IASP taskforce for suicide and the media.

Contact Jaelea for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision