I will be delivering a keynote at the Australian Universal Wellbeing Symposium 2026 in Brisbane on 27–28 August 2026. My presentation, Seeing Mental Health and Wellbeing as a System: From Complexity to Prevention-Focused Action, will explore how systems thinking and systems modelling can support prevention-focused action for complex mental health and wellbeing challenges.
The symposium brings together people from health, education, government, community services, business, research, and related sectors to explore prevention-first approaches to Universal Wellbeing. Its focus on prevention, implementation, wellbeing systems, and cross-sector collaboration strongly aligns with my work in systems modelling, mental health policy, participatory modelling, and evidence-informed decision-making.
This presentation draws on my work within the Right Care, First Time, Where You Live program, which uses participatory systems modelling and simulation to support better decision-making for youth mental health system.
In my keynote, I will discuss how mental health and wellbeing challenges are not isolated problems, but patterns produced by complex systems. These patterns emerge through the interaction of many conditions, including education, employment, housing security, social connectedness, health and social services, economic environments, and public policy.
This way of thinking has important implications for prevention. If mental health and wellbeing outcomes are shaped by interacting systems, then prevention-focused action requires more than fragmented programmes or short-term responses. It requires ways of understanding the wider system, recognising feedback processes and delayed effects, examining trade-offs, and identifying leverage points where change may have the greatest long-term impact.
I will also discuss the role of participatory system dynamics modelling as a shared learning and decision-support process. System dynamics models are not only technical tools. When developed and used well, they can help policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and communities make assumptions visible, explore possible futures, test intervention scenarios, and strengthen collective understanding of complex social problems.
I am looking forward to contributing to the symposium and engaging with others working to advance prevention-focused, evidence-informed, and systems-oriented approaches to wellbeing.
More information about the symposium is available here: https://www.nzcdi.ac.nz/australian-uw-symposium-2026
Learn more about my presentation: https://www.nzcdi.ac.nz/au-keynote-presenters