The Australian Mental Health Prize winnersThe Australian Mental Health Prize winners
All In The Mind
Janne McMahon has drawn on her own lived experience of mental illness to advocate for patient-centred care. Professor Gavin Andrews introduced cognitive behaviour therapy to Australia. Meet the dual winners of the 2018 Australian Mental Health Prize.
28:57•4 Nov 2018
Champions of Change: Jan McMahon, Gavin Andrews and the Future of Mental Health Care
Episode Overview
- Lived experience of mental illness can shape more humane, genuinely patient-centred services when people are involved from the start.
- Borderline personality disorder is highly stigmatised, yet people can and do recover, especially when services follow good clinical guidelines and clinicians are well trained.
- Recovery is described as reaching a point where symptoms no longer meet clinical criteria, life is functioning, and the problem is "not part of my life anymore".
- Cognitive behavioural therapy uses practical experiments to challenge self-defeating thoughts, with people often continuing to improve after treatment ends.
- Quality web-based CBT programs can be as effective as in-person therapy and offer a cheaper, more accessible option for many people.
“"Treatment works. It shouldn't cost an arm and a leg. You can recover and not relapse, and be able to say, 'That's not part of my life anymore.'"”
What are the common struggles and victories in addiction recovery and wider mental health? This episode of All In The Mind focuses on two joint winners of the 2018 Australian Mental Health Prize, offering grounded hope rather than quick fixes. First up, mental health advocate Jan McMahon describes how her own "very dark" years of illness slowly shifted into purposeful action.
She talks about getting through days by setting tiny tasks, the life-saving role of her psychiatrist, and how being asked to share her lived experience in a home-support trial "changed my life" by giving her a reason to get up in the morning. Jan explains why she founded the Private Mental Health Consumer Carer Network and why she fights so hard for people with borderline personality disorder, calling for services that are genuinely patient-centred, not designed around bureaucracy or finance.
Then psychiatrist Professor Gavin Andrews brings six decades of clinical and research experience to the microphone.
He outlines how common mental disorders such as anxiety, depression and substance abuse often improve over time, and what he means when he talks about genuine recovery: being symptom-free, able to "work and love", and to say, "It's not part of my life anymore." He breaks down cognitive behavioural therapy in plain language, describing it as "applied common sense" that teaches people to test self-defeating thoughts in real life.
Gavin also talks about PTSD, explaining how repeated, supported retelling of traumatic memories can reduce their power, and why high-quality web-based CBT can be as effective as seeing a therapist in person, at a fraction of the cost. This conversation suits anyone touched by mental health problems or addiction—whether personally, in family, or in support roles—who wants grounded examples of what can help, and why treatment and advocacy are worth fighting for.
What might it change for you to believe that treatment can work and that your voice matters in how services are shaped?
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