Dr Warren Bartik

I completed my Phd fulltime at UNE after commencing in 2011. The focus of my study was the impact of suicide on young people in rural Australia. A lot of my work over the prior 15 or so years was with the local area health service and NSW Mental Health and supporting the mental health of rural young people including suicide prevention so this area of suicide research was a logical extension.

My three and a half years of study and research was based on campus as part of Collaborative Research Network for mental health and well-being in rural and regional communities. The research required me to travel extensively in rural Australia and I was fortunate to attend international conferences in Beijing, Chennai, and Oslo to present my research. The CRN culminated with a conference at Coffs Harbour to present the broad array of work undertaken and I was the guest co-editor of the Advances in Mental Health Journal published in 2015 showcasing some of the innovative study undertaken as part of the CRN. I was fortunate to be awarded the Chancellors Doctoral Research Medal on the presentation of my PhD.

My study at UNE then supported my appointment to the position of the Clinic Director – UNE Psychology Clinic in early 2014. The clinic supports the placement training for UNE Psychology post-graduate students studying their Clinical Masters and offers psychological treatment to the general community. In 2017 under my directorship, the Clinic relocated to the Tablelands Clinical School. This move tripled the number of students on placement and enables them to operate in a modern facility co-located with the UNE Medical Centre and other allied health staff. This move also consolidated the Clinic as a major treatment and assessment facility in Armidale and the surrounding region.

At the start of 2020 I transferred to a Senior Lecturer Academic position in the Clinical Psychology Program and of course after just a few weeks of lecturing, we confronted the Covid-19 virus. This led to a rapid translation of lectures, tutorials, and Intensive schools to recorded and synchronous delivery of content to students via Zoom. The transition has been remarkably smooth and mirrors the translation of clinical services to clients via telehealth.

UNE has been extremely well placed and responsive with technology to support this change and I expect this mode of delivery will continue well beyond the Covid-19 recovery.

We are more than our work of course and in my spare time I support the local performing arts with performing, production and writing most often with the Armidale Playhouse and now the Armidale Drama and Musical Society. Over the years in Armidale I have performed in and been part of many plays and musicals and extended this to opera as a member of Opera New England and five magnificent and professional productions between 2013 and 2017. In 2016 I directed my first musical, The Who’s Tommy, and then directed the play PROOF in 2017. My most recent production was directing the successful musical Singing in the Rain in 2019 for the Armidale Drama and Musical Society.

The arts is good for my mental health and I encourage the UNE Alumni community to look after their own mental health particularly during this time of social restrictions….and make sure you all come to the next ADMS production held over to 2021 – Mama Mia!