The Society of Digital Psychiatry, in collaboration with JMIR Mental Health, an open access, peer-reviewed journal published by JMIR Publications, invites you to an exclusive symposium-style webinar spotlighting innovative research from leading digital mental health scholars across Australia.
This event will feature three distinguished speakers presenting their latest findings on pressing topics in digital psychiatry—ranging from the role of AI in research, to strategies for increasing youth engagement, to innovations in suicide aftercare.
Date: September 30th, 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM AEST
*September 29th, 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM EST
Speakers and Topics
Carla Gorban – The “Secret Sauce” of Digital Mental Health: How Navigators Drive Adoption and Improve Care
Digital measurement-based care technologies offer mental health services greater flexibility to meet the evolving needs of young people, while supporting clinicians in managing growing demand. Yet adoption remains limited, with many clinicians and service leaders cautious about integration. Drawing on her work as a Digital Navigator in real-world services, Carla Gorban will share original research demonstrating how Digital Navigators can boost engagement among young people, clinicians, and service staff—ultimately improving care and outcomes.
Read Carla’s related work here and here
Dr. Natasha Josifovski and Dr. Mark Larsen – Challenges and Considerations in Digital Suicide Aftercare: Lessons from the RAFT Trial
Brief contact interventions may play an important role in suicide aftercare. This discussion will share findings from the RAFT trial of a text-message brief contact intervention, while examining broader issues of research quality in digital mental health. Drawing on meta-analyses and lived experience perspectives, Dr. Larsen will discuss challenges related to recruitment, co-design, and participant fraud in digital trials.
Read Natasha and Mark's related work here
Dr. Jake Linardon – The AI Revolution in Mental Health Research: Hype vs. Reality
Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used to support academic tasks such as writing, coding, and evidence synthesis. However, their uptake among mental health researchers—and their variable performance—remains poorly understood. Dr. Linardon will present new findings on (1) researchers’ practices and attitudes toward LLMs, and (2) the prevalence of citation “hallucinations” across diverse mental health topics.
Read Jake's related work here
Guests:
Carla Gorban
Carla Gorban is a Digital Navigator and lived experience researcher with the Youth Mental Health and Technology team at The University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre. Her published work focuses on integrating the Digital Navigator role in youth mental health services to support personalized, digitally-enabled, measurement-based care. Drawing on her ongoing frontline experience, Carla continues to shape the development of the Digital Navigation field in Australia.
Dr. Natasha Josifovski (presenting)
Natasha Josifovski is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Black Dog Institute. Her research examines the social determinants of suicide, with a particular focus on minority populations, including LGBTQIA+ communities. She also explores how digital technologies can be leveraged to address these social determinants to prevent suicide.
Dr. Mark Larsen
Mark Larsen is an Associate Professor in Digital Health at the Centre for Big Data Research in Health at the University of New South Wales. His research focuses on responsible and safe use of digital approaches and data for suicide prevention.
Dr. Jake Linardon
Dr. Jake Linardon is a Senior Research Fellow at Deakin University whose research program is focused on using innovative technology to advance the delivery of personalized interventions and assessments for mental disorders, with particular focus on eating disorders.
Moderator:
John Torous, MD, MBI; Cofounder, Society of Digital Psychiatry
Dr Torous is the director of the Digital Psychiatry division in the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, an affiliated teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, where he also serves as a staff psychiatrist and member of the academic faculty. He has a background in electrical engineering and computer sciences; he earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley, before pursuing medical school at the University of California, San Diego. Dr Torous completed his psychiatry residency, fellowship in clinical informatics, and master’s degree in biomedical informatics at Harvard. He actively investigates the potential of mobile mental health technologies for psychiatry and has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and 5 book chapters on the subject. Dr Torous serves as the editor-in-chief of JMIR Mental Health.