I am a writer, researcher and educator who works as an Associate Professor in Mental Health with the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine at the Australian Catholic University in North Sydney, NSW,, Australia. I have written over seventy journal articles, books and and book chapters on topics related to mental healthcare and history, which have been published internationally in a variety of languages.
After working as a youth pastor at a couple of local churches and studying at theological college, I entered nursing in my early twenties and soon developed a passion for mental healthcare. After a number of years working in acute hospital and community based services, I founded Australia’s first nurse practitioner led mental health charity, ROAM Communities (ROAM was an acronym for Recovery through Ownership Action and Management), which I led from 2005-2015. During that time, I partnered with organisations such as Housing NSW, Juvenile Justice NSW, Sydney City Council, the Ted Noffs Foundation, and the Salvation Army, and was priveleged to receive several awards. In 2009 I won a Churchill Fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, which enabled me to research Nurse Practitioner led homelessness services in North America. After seeing the scale of homelessness there and realising that Australia could easily follow a similar path I started to become interested in using research and education to improve approaches to mental healthcare.
I am particularly interested in how people’s narratives of life history, sense of identity and purpose relate to mental health and wellbeing. I believe that improving historical awareness has potential to improve our ability to cope with the present, and may also be used to develop a vision for the future. Picking up on such themes, my first book, The Remarkable Mr and Mrs Johnson, released by Australian Scholarly Press in May 2023 is my first book.
I hold a Bachelor degree, a Master’s degree and a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing. I have been a keynote speaker at mental healthcare events alongside influential politicians John Brogdon and Morris Iemma and respected academics, Professor Ian Webster and Ian Hickie. My work has also been featured in a variety of national media pieces in the Sydney Morning Herald and Australian newspapers and television and radio interviews with media personalities including Jessica Rowe and Alan Jones.
I live in Sydney, NSW where I enjoy coffee, reading, writing, running, thinking, playing golf and meeting new people. If I can assist you by collaborating on a research or education project please feel free to reach out via email at, toby.raeburn@acu.edu.au and I would be pleased to meet you.
tobyraeburn.com 