I was awarded my PhD in Psychology from The Australian National University in December 2010. I am a psychologist, member of the Australian Psychological Society, and academic member of the Australian College of Organisational Psychologists.

For six months post-PhD I was employed full-time within the Directorate of Strategic and Operational Mental Health, the Commonwealth Department of Defence (DOD), working as a project manager in a mental health research and program development role.

Since my appointment to Macquarie University in 2011 I have been conduct research in the area of human resilience and in particular military personnel resilience. 

I have established independent research capitalising on my expertise in occupational resilience. I have integrated a number of theoretical approaches to guide a program of applied research. My research, though diverse in context and participant groups, is guided by the aim of understanding resilience in the occupational domain and the impact on work performance. To date, my research has been focused on making a contribution to the conceptualisation and development of human resilience. This is most clearly evidenced in my work in driving the development and implementation of the resilience training for the Australian Defence Force and other large private and public corporations.

My research focuses on providing an answer to the question: How can we strengthen resilience in response to adversity? Although, accumulating research is demonstrating that moderate levels of adversity in one’s life can strengthen resilience the mechanism for this is yet to be identified. My recent theoretical work and research is beginning to support the idea that specific reflective practices can help to enhance the strengthening of resilience. This insight has led to the development of a unique resilience training package that focuses on enhancing coping and emotion regulatory self-reflection, rather than teaching specific cognitive-behavioural coping skills, which has historically been the approach.

I teach three units on the Organisational Psychology Master Program: 

1. Coaching and Positive Psychology
2. Counselling and Mental Health in Organisations
3. Applied Human Resource Management

TEACHING AWARDS

2013: Dr Monique Crane (2013). Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning.

2016: Associate Professor Barbara Griffin, Dr Ben Searle, Dr Monique Crane, Linda Yeomans and Professor Mark Wiggins (2016) Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Programs that Enhance Learning.

2016: Associate Professor Barbara Griffin, Dr Ben Searle, Dr Monique Crane, Linda Yeomans and Professor Mark Wiggins (2016) Faculty Awards for Programs that Enhance Learning

GUEST PRESENTATIONS

2017: Guest speaker at 2018 Australian Defence Force Resilience Forum.

2017: Panel member for the Women's Network Event The Imposter Phenomenon, Department of Industry, Innovation and Science- 12^th October, 2017.

2017: Chair of the Australian Workplace Health and Wellbeing Summit.

INVITED ARTICLES

2017: Article for The Ladders online management and leadership news ‘4 ways top leaders can build resilience in their teams’.

2016: Contribution to a cookbook for wellbeing aimed at veterinarians to promote awareness about veterinarian mental health (edited by: Anne Fawcett).

RADIO INTERVIEWS

Managing for Resilience - a guide for managers who want to support the resilience of their employees

The imposter phenomena - an insight into the imposter phenomena 

EMPLOYEE RESILIENCE SUPPORT

Founder of Resilience Research and Training Systems (www.occupationalresilience.com.au) to facilitate engagement with the broader community. As part of this out-reach program, I work with organisations to help them foster resilience within their workplaces using evidence-based interventions.

2017-current: Samantha Falon, Doctor of Philosophy (psychology). Principle supervisor

2016-current: Eric Delle, Doctor of Philosophy (psychology). Associate supervisor

2015-current: CAPT Danny Boga, Doctor of Philosophy (psychology). Principle supervisor

Completed 2016: Lynne Cruickshank, Professional Doctoriate Degree. Principle supervisor

Completed 2015: Phoebe Stoddart, Professional Doctoriate Degree. Principle supervisor

AWARDS

2015: My work on the impact of normal-range emotions on anaesthetist diagnostic skill won the prize for best research at the SimHealth Conference.

2010: Awarded the Defence Science and Technology prize for best research for my work in military resilience.