Former Minister appointed as advisor to Youth Mental Health team
“We’re delighted to welcome the Honorable Victor Dominello as an advisor for our Youth Mental Health and Technology team at the Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney,” says Professor Ian Hickie, Co-director to the Brain and Mind Centre.
“Victor is recognised globally for the role he played in transforming public service delivery in NSW through initiatives such as the Department of Customer Service, Service NSW, and the Digital Restart Fund.
“He has a wide breadth of experience in technology transformation including his role leading the development and rollout of the Service NSW app."
The Honourable Victor Dominello and Professor Ian Hickie.
"Mental health is a very challenging and complex area for individuals who experience mental health concerns, and for policy makers alike. I’m honoured to be working with the Youth Mental Health and Technology team because I feel it provides the opportunity to have an impact and benefit the community as a whole.
“The mental health system is full of great people, doing great work, but at a system level it’s very fragmented and the work is very disparate. When you get that kind of fragmentation you’re not going to get the best outcomes for young people or for the community.
“I’m excited to see and learn more about the innovation that is happening in the Youth Mental Health and Technology team, and particularly in the 'Right care, first time, where you live’ program. The use of systems modelling and data to help decision-making processes at a regional level is unique and I think, in my experience, if we are not making decisions based on real evidence, then we are honestly just flying in the dark. The more data that we can have about difficult social challenges like mental health, then the more we optimise the prospects of impact,” says Mr Dominello.
Professor Hickie noted that, “While we have many exciting R&D developments in digital mental health, personalized assessment, use of personal wearable devices and enhanced coordination of care, translating those into real world, and human services, settings is really challenging. Genuine community engagement and civic leadership is critical. Victor’s experience in those fields is essential to taking these critical health and social issues forward.”