Education and training team

Andy Bouwman

With over 10 years of experience as a mental health social worker in Victoria’s public mental health services, Andy has developed his expertise in supporting individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) across community and acute settings. As a senior clinician and member of Spectrum’s ACT and Complex Care teams, Andy delivers individual therapy and leads group programs, combining clinical excellence with a compassionate approach. His passion for sharing knowledge, innovative approaches, and empowering other clinicians led him to join the workforce development team, where he is dedicated to enhancing skills and promoting best practices through engaging training and presentations.

Andy’s deep understanding of BPD, shaped by years of direct clinical work with those living with the disorder, provides him with invaluable insights into the complexities of the condition. This firsthand experience enables him to communicate in a relatable and practical manner, bridging the gap between theory and practice. His ability to break down complex concepts, while addressing the emotional and psychological nuances of BPD, has made him a trusted educator at Spectrum for clinicians seeking to deepen their expertise in this area. His educational sessions are designed to foster a deeper understanding of BPD, ensuring clinicians are equipped with the tools they need to provide high-quality care.

Rita Brown

Rita, Associate Director of Lived Experience, is passionate about working with and advocating for the needs of carers, while also remaining sensitive to the needs of people with BPD, clinicians, and other workers.  In her work at Spectrum, she draws on her own lived experience as a family member of someone with BPD. Rita regularly facilitates peer to peer interactive workshops for carers. She also presents at conferences and forums throughout the state and nationally. Rita is also a volunteer, founding and current President of the Australian BPD Foundation.

Deborah Dick

A Senior Psychiatric Nurse with more than three decades’ experience in mental health, working in a variety of areas including inpatient, community, and crisis settings. Deborah has worked at Spectrum for over 25 years, providing consultation to public mental health services, training, and direct treatment for clients and their families. She has contributed to the development of specific courses for nurses working in mental health and has contributed to various nursing textbooks. Deborah is passionate about engaging clinicians to learn and think about how they may provide the best possible practice for clients struggling with complex mental health issues.

Dr Fiona Donald

A clinical psychologist at Spectrum within the Mentalization Based Treatment (MBT) and Complex Care teams. Fiona has a particular interest in how people with BPD experience treatment, publishing on the experience of recovery from consumer and clinician perspectives, as well as on the relationship between self-compassion and recovery.

Lilli Haig-Wood

A senior mental health Occupational Therapist with extensive experience in a variety of settings including public mental health (inpatient and community), forensics, specialist personality disorder services, and the homelessness sector. Lilli works part-time in the Spectrum ACT team, providing individual and group programs, as well as in neurodiversity clinic pilot project. She is passionate about working alongside clients who are diagnosed with personality disorder, empowering them to create meaningful and fulfilling lives.

Renee Harrison

A Senior Mental Health Nurse at Spectrum. She has extensive experience working in a variety of mental health areas, including Aged Care, Adult Services, and Child and Youth Mental Health. Renee has over a decade of experience working in the CYMHS Early Psychosis Team and continues to enjoy working with this age group. Throughout her career, Renee’s interest has extended to working with people who have personality disorder and complex trauma. 

Renee currently works with the DBT Team and is passionate about providing person-centered, collaborative care to help people create a life worth living. She is a Board Director at a Rural Mental Health Service and keen to ensure access to quality mental health care for all Victorians irrespective of their location. Renee joined the Workforce Development Team to share her knowledge, decrease stigma, and help create a positive culture in all mental health workplaces.

Jackie Knight

Jackie works as a Lived Experience Worker – Carer at Spectrum. She uses her lived experience as a carer for her son with mental health to support other carers. Jackie has been running various workshops for carers for nearly ten years and finds the experience both enlightening and rewarding. Jackie advocates for carers’ interests through her involvement with peak carer organisations. She has an educational background in psychology and public policy.

Kat Kahler

A qualified mental health nurse with over 15 years of experience working in acute and therapeutic settings in Victoria, interstate, and overseas. Over the past few years, she has worked as an emergency mental health clinician in a Metro Melbourne hospital whilst working part-time at Spectrum and in private practice. Kat enjoys providing clinicians with a space where they can reflect and learn and facilitates a variety of training courses within Spectrum.

Andrew Mottram

A senior clinical psychologist and accredited Mentalization Based Treatment practitioner and supervisor. While he has broad experience working with complex and severe personality disorder across therapeutic modalities including ACT and DBT, since 2016 his focus has been on Mentalization Based Treatment. Andrew’s work with Spectrum includes Complex Care Service consultation and treatment, as well as the delivery of Mentalization Based Treatment to groups and individuals. Andrew is passionate about this treatment approach and the value it represents for both consumers and clinicians.

Dr Julian Nesci

Julian is a highly experienced senior clinical psychologist and an accredited Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT) practitioner, supervisor and trainer, and an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Monash University (Eastern Health Clinical School). With extensive expertise in the field, he has made significant contributions through his work at Spectrum’s MBT clinic, where he is the clinical specialist, involved in providing individual and group therapy, supervision, and training. Additionally, Julian plays a vital role within the Complex Care Service, offering consultation and treatment for consumers, carers, clinicians, and services.

Julian’s clinical background includes working with individuals with severe eating disorders, acute mental health issues, and in the adolescent forensic field. Along with his colleagues, his work has earned accreditation for Spectrum’s MBT program from the renowned Anna Freud Centre in London, further solidifying his standing as a trusted expert in this specialized area.

Passionate about advancing psychotherapy for individuals with complex difficulties, Julian is dedicated to supporting the growth and delivery of mental health services within Australia. As the current coordinator and key contact for the new Australian MBT Institute, he actively engages with a wide audience of professionals, fostering meaningful dialogue and sharing his vision to enhance the field of psychotherapy.

Dr Mithira Nithianandan

A consultant psychiatrist at Spectrum. She has received training in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Mentalization Based Treatment. Mithira believes that training and support for the mental health workforce are crucial for addressing the needs of people with personality disorder. She has a particular interest in supporting primary care providers to work therapeutically with clients living with BPD.

Cathryn Pilcher

Cathryn Pilcher is an Occupational Therapist and the Associate Director of Spectrum: specialising in personality disorder and complex trauma, in Melbourne, Australia. 

Cathryn completed her DBT training with Behavioral Tech, the Portland DBT Institute and other internationally recognised DBT experts. Along with DBT training, Cathryn was integrally involved in developing the core competencies training for working with BPD and train-the-trainer program as part of the National Training Strategy with the BPD Foundation and has trained numerous clinicians across Australia. 

In her role she provides training, consultation, supervision and direct treatment and is passionate about supporting systems to work as effectively as possible with people with personality disorder and those presenting with complex needs.

Dr Alex Potter

A senior clinical psychologist and MBT therapist. He has experience working with clients who have complex personality disorders within community, forensic, and private practice settings. At Spectrum, Alex is a member of both the MBT team - running groups and working with individual clients – and the Complex Care Service, providing treatment and consultation. Alex sees MBT as a dynamic and flexible modality for working with people who experience personality disorder.

Associate Professor Sathya Rao

Associate Professor Sathya Rao is the Executive Clinical Director of Spectrum. Sathya is a consultant psychiatrist and holds an adjunct clinical associate professor position at Monash University. He treats people who experience complex trauma and personality disorder. He provides second opinions and secondary consultations for complex clinical conditions associated with personality disorder. 

Sathya directs clinical research and has published research papers, book chapters, and co-authored books on borderline personality disorder. Sathya has taught clinicians across Australia for many years and was the head of the psychiatry training program of Victoria for the RANZCP. 

He was the recipient of the 2020 Meritorious Award of the Victorian Branch of RANZCP. In recognition of his contributions to psychiatry, Sathya received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) (General Division) in June 2022. He was a member of the NHMRC Clinical Practice Guidelines development committee, 2012. He is also the Vice President of the Australian BPD Foundation. He is the President of Australasian Association for Research and Treatment for Personality Disorder (AART-PD).

Olivia Smith

Senior Project Coordinator in the Workforce Development Team. After completing her Bachelor and Honours degree at the University of Manchester, Olivia emigrated to Australia and trained to be an event manager in Canberra. She brings a decade of experience from the hospitality sector into her work coordinating Spectrum’s educational training sessions. These include professional development workshops, annual conferences, Research Forums, Project ECHO webinars as well as lecture series and supervision sessions.

Dr Samantha (Sam) Tabak

A senior clinical psychologist and board-accredited supervisor. She has over a decade of experience working in Child and Youth Mental Health services, psychiatric triage, intensive outreach teams, early psychosis, and forensic settings, utilizing psychotherapy frameworks such as MBT, DBT, ACT, and Open Dialogue-informed therapy. 

Sam currently works in the complex care service, workforce development, and the neurodiversity clinic at Spectrum. She also works with young people and their families in private practice. Sam believes in a person-centered and collaborative approach to treatment and support.

Joanne (Jo) Veltkamp

Jo is a experienced Mental Health Nurse with wide ranging expertise in both private and public mental health settings. With a strong commitment to supporting individuals and their families, Jo has developed a particular interest in working with people and carers who have lived experiences of personality disorder and complex trauma.

Currently working as a Senior Clinician at Spectrum, Jo works alongside the Lived Experience Team and the Intake Team to provide compassionate and tailored care. Her work extends to supporting adolescents and adults in public mental health settings.

Marianne Weddell

Clinical Manager and Clinical Specialist at Spectrum. She is a Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years’ experience in public and private settings, treating a wide range of disorders, managing teams, training staff, and supervising/mentoring clinicians. Marianne has a special interest and significant experience working with borderline personality disorder. Her particular focus is developing service and family systems that work effectively in this space. Marianne believes in therapy as a tool to help people understand themselves, their passions, and build a life worth living.