Administration and Reception
Phone: (03) 9288-3300
Fax: (03) 9288-3370
Email: vtpu@svhm.org.au

Associate Professor I. Harry Minas
Director, VTPU
Harry Minas graduated in medicine and surgery, and medical science, from the University of Melbourne, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists in 1985. In 1988 he was invited to take up the position of foundation director of the VTPU. He has served as a member of the Executive of the Mental Health Council of Australia and is on numerous state, national and international boards and committees. He has also been a member of state and national ministerial advisory groups. He has been prominent in the development of research, teaching and service development activities in the area of transcultural mental health and in the field of international mental health development. He has been a consultant to the Commonwealth Department of Human Services, the International Organization for Migration, and the World Health Organization, and leads a WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health and Substance Abuse.

Daryl Oehm
Manager, VTPU
Daryl Oehm is the Manager of VTPU and a registered Mental Health Nurse with extensive experience in adult, youth, and aged psychiatry; including several years work in alcohol and drug treatment, rehabilitation, and education services. He most recently worked as Clinical Manager of the Lower Hume Adult Community Mental Health Service. He has also completed a BA in Social Sciences, a Grad Dip in Education, a Grad Dip in Public Policy and a Masters in Community Development and Management, focusing on Northern Australia and the Asia Pacific region. He has worked in Secondary and Adult Education both in Australia and abroad (TESL), as a Drug Education Health Promotion Officer with the Victorian Government, a Senior Policy Officer in Aboriginal Health Strategy and Evaluation (Northern Territory), Services Director with Tiwi Health Board (Northern Territory), Lecturer at Batchelor Indigenous Institute (Northern Territory) as curriculum writer and course coordinator of Aboriginal Mental Health Studies, as a Project Worker on an HIV/AIDS prevention and support project hosted by the YMCA in Kwa Zulu Natal South Africa, in Program Development (South Africa, Malawi and Mozambique) with Australian Volunteers International, and sat on the Board of Management of the NT AIDS Council and Amity Community Services (NT). He maintains a keen interest in International mental health, international development, cultural issues, governance and program development.

Malina Stankovska
Education & Service Development Consultant, VTPU
Malina Stankovska is a community development worker holding a Bachelor of Economics (La Trobe University) and a Graduate Diploma in Community Development (RMIT).  She has worked extensively with people from different cultural backgrounds in both the aged and the mental health sectors.  Her experience includes assisting government and service providers to work more effectively with cultural diversity by undertaking consultancy in policy and service development.  This has included the development of systems, services and resources.  Malina has also undertaken community development initiatives aimed at improving the access of ethnic communities to aged and mental health services.  She was a member of the Ministerial Advisory Council for Cultural and Linguistic Diversity, Human Services 2003 – 2006 and is a recipient of the Victorian Government Award for Excellence in Multicultural Affairs for Service Delivery to Multicultural Victoria (2005).

Antonio Blanco
Education & Service Development Consultant, VTPU
Tony Blanco is a Registered Psychiatric Nurse with 20 years experience in mainly adult psychiatry. After his initial training at Royal Park Hospital he later gained postgraduate qualifications at Melbourne University. Tony commenced with the VTPU in February 2008 as an Education and Service Development Consultant but has had a strong interest in Transcultural Psychiatry since the late 1980s when he first held the Cultural Portfolio Holder position. He held this portfolio until his recent move to the VTPU. As well as clinical education for nurses, Tony has also been very involved in the development and expansion of culturally sensitive clinical practice through service development and training.

Dr Yvonne Stolk
Research and Education Consultant
Dr Yvonne Stolk is clinical psychologist who commenced with the VTPU in early 2005, working in the areas of research and education.  In the preceding seven years Yvonne worked for North Western Mental Health as Ethnic Mental Health Consultant. She obtained her PhD from the University of Melbourne's Centre for International Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, on the topic, "Development, Delivery and Evaluation of a Training Program in Cross-Cultural Psychiatric Assessment for Crisis Assessment and Treatment Teams". A particular research interest of Yvonne's is the analysis of census and mental health service utilisation data to examine access and equity for ethnic communities. This information is vital to planning culturally responsive services. Education activities include development of new clinically-focused transcultural professional development modules, lectures to post-graduate students of various disciplines, and delivery of professional development sessions for staff of mental health services. Yvonne has worked for eight years as a clinical psychologist in community and inpatient settings and is a co-author of the book Assessing Mental Health Across Cultures.

Dr. Can Tuncer
Consultant Psychiatrist, Convenor, VTPU Clinical Seminars
Dr. Can Tuncer is a consultant psychiatrist in private practice, and has worked with the Victorian Transcultural Psychiatry Unit (VTPU) since 1990. He is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP). He is a member of the Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrists and also the International College of Psychosomatic Medicine. Since 1995 he has convened VTPU clinical seminars (Cultural Perspectives in Clinical Practice), which include monthly clinical case discussion meetings for psychiatry registrars at St Vincent’s Hospital. He has been involved in research and training activities at the VTPU, including the Graduate Diploma in Mental Health Sciences (Transcultural Mental Health), at the University of Melbourne. As part of VTPU’s training programs, he teaches specifically in clinical transcultural psychiatry topics. He is a founding member of the Turkish Mental Health Network, which has a highly active role in providing education on mental health and mental illness to the Turkish community. In his psychiatric clinical practice, he provides primary and secondary consultations mainly to CALD patients. He has publications both in English and Turkish on culture and mental illness and other topics in psychiatry. One of his special interests is cultural variations in functional somatic symptoms.

Evan Bichara
Consumer Advocate
Evan Bichara is the Consumer Advocate for the Victorian Transcultural Psychiatry Unit (VTPU). Evan comes from an Egyptian background and speaks Arabic and Greek fluently. In addition to working in the VTPU’s Service Development and Education Programs, Evan provides consultation to planning and advisory panels; provides talks about mental health to community groups; is the Victorian Delegate of the Australian Mental Health Consumer Network (AMHCN) and the Chairperson of the AMHCN's CALD Consumer Subcommittee.  Evan has worked in a voluntary capacity in welfare organisations and has been a Community Visitor for the Office of the Public Advocate.  Evan convenes the "Spectrum of Cultures" consumer group whose members comprise CALD consumers of Victoria’s mental health system. This state-wide group is open to any consumer for either friendship support or "confidence building" and for advocating on transcultural issues in mental health.  In his spare time Evan has been a soccer coach and referee for Soccer Australia, and enjoys power walking, aerobics, swimming, gardening and reading. Evan strongly believes that consumer participation in mental health services, and physical activity can enhance one's well-being and lighten the burden that sometimes comes with mental illness.

Sylvia Collinetti
Education and Service Development Consultant
Sylvia has an MA in Counselling Psychology and is a Member of the APS College of Clinical Psychologists. She started with the VTPU in June 2006.  Sylvia has eight years experience working in the public mental health sector, having worked as an Italian Bilingual Case Manager/Psychologist at North West Area Mental Health Service, as the Ethnic Mental Health Co-ordinator for NorthWestern Mental Health and in the Psychology Clinic at Werribee Mercy Hospital.  Her Master’s thesis is titled “Second Generation Migrants and the Acculturation Process: an exploration of cultural identity, language use, and social context in the construction of the bi-lingual and bi-cultural self”.  Sylvia is very passionate about working in a culturally sensitive manner with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) consumers and carers who experience mental illness within their family.  Her area of interest is in child and adolescent mental health, as she believes that early intervention when a child is developing and identity is being formed can prevent the emergence of severe mental illnesses in later years.  Sylvia’s main focus is on psychotherapy and hopes in this position to explore how different modalities can be adapted to working with CALD clients and families, enabling clinicians to apply psychotherapeutic interventions in a culturally sensitive manner.

Sarah Murgia
Education and Service Development Consultant, VTPU
Sarah is a registered clinical psychologist who completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Melbourne and postgraduate studies at RMIT University. She commenced her current role at the VTPU as an Education and Service Development Consultant in 2006. Her previous experience has been in the public mental health system, working with adults with a range of mental health diagnoses, and providing direct clinical services and psychological intervention to individuals suffering mental illness and their families, within both mainstream and CALD communities. Sarah has also been involved in the Bilingual Case Management program, working with consumers and carers in the Italian community, and co-facilitating the Italian Carers Support Group in the North Western metropolitan region of Melbourne.  She has recently published research exploring the effects of refugee camp experiences, and arrival age on psychological functioning in young refugees and migrants. Sarah’s professional and research interests include child, adolescent and adult mental health, and exploring resilience among ethnic communities and within young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds.