Dr Lynda Berends, BEd, BSc (Hons), Grad Cert HE, PhD
Program Leader, Health Services Research & Evaluation

Lynda is an established leader in alcohol and drug health services research, having undertaken program and system reviews, policy development work, and capacity building research projects. Her work ranges from single site evaluations to national reviews and international capacity building projects. Projects often sit across multiple care systems and sometimes include justice. Examples of her work include the co-ordination of Victoria’s alcohol and drug treatment service system review in the domains of adult/general, youth and rural; the development of standards and an evaluation framework for methadone maintenance clinics in Yunnan; the outcome evaluation of a court-based bail diversion program in Queensland and the review of Australia’s national drug treatment research centres (NDRI, NDARC, NCETA).

Lynda has over 60 publications, which include peer reviewed articles, book chapters, discussion papers, and technical reports. She has made over 40 conference presentations. A feature of Lynda’s work is the production of plain language summaries which are made available to research participants as well as the general public.

Areas of interest
Social research on health service delivery and health systems; studies about consumer perspectives on treatment needs and improvements to service delivery models; the relationship between stigma and treatment seeking.

Contact details
lynda.berends@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8448

Dina Eleftheriadis
Research Assistant

Dina is currently employed as a Research Assistant at Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, and has been working in the Health Services Research and Evaluation (HSR&E) program since January 2008. Dina has been involved in a range of projects, assisting with project administration, data collection and analysis. Such projects include Anxiety Treatment Clinic evaluation, the Mental Health and Addictions Workforce Development Infrastructure Evaluation and the Queensland Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment (QMERIT) evaluation.

Dina is currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy).

Contact details
dina.eleftheriadis@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8461

Dr Barbara Hunter, BA (Hons), PhD
Senior Research Fellow

Barbara commenced with Health Services Research and Evaluation in 2009. Prior to this Barbara developed expertise in community based and policy based research, with the Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board, Melbourne (MFB), and the Department of Education and Training, Victoria. She has been responsible for designing and managing projects assessing community needs and future risks across a range of areas, and developing strategies for emergency management organisations to address these concerns.  She has also been involved in the evaluation of community safety and emergency management programs.

Barbara’s PhD, completed at the Criminology Department, University of Melbourne, explored understandings of illegality and healthy/unhealthy behaviours within the electronica sphere, including drug use, drug dealing and driving under the influence of drugs.  Through interviews, observations, media analysis and an extensive literature review the research explored methods utilized by young people to balance the multiple arenas in which they interact, and the ways they make sense of notions of self and belonging within these arenas, with a specific focus on the leisure sphere of electronica (the ‘rave scene’). 

Areas of interest
Community based interventions; social and cultural explorations of alcohol and other drug use; qualitative research methods; social dynamics and social function/dysfunction.

Contact details
barbara.hunter@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8493

Pauline Kenny, BSocSci
Research Fellow

Pauline has over 7 years of clinical experience and has worked across a broad range of service settings. Her work within research commenced in 2006 within the Clinical Research Program at Turning Point in 2006, and she has since joined the HSRE Program as a Research Fellow. Her project work has included the revision of the AOD Withdrawal Clinical Guidelines for Victoria, the evaluation of the From Go to Whoa training dissemination project, the Psychostimulant: Natural History of Withdrawal Project, as well as the PsyCheck National Dissemination Evaluation.

Pauline is completing her Masters in Assessment and Evaluation at the University of Melbourne, and her current project work includes coordinating the evaluation of the Queensland Magistrates Early Referral into Treatment (QMERIT) pilot program.

Areas of interest
Models for research into practice; dual diagnosis within Indigenous communities.

Contact details
pauline.kenny@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8403

Dr Sarah MacLean, BA(Hons), MA, PhD
Post-doctoral Research Fellow

Sarah is a sociologist with sustained interest in analysing and contributing to the development of health and welfare policy, particularly as it affects marginalised and young people and users of alcohol and other drugs. In 2007 Sarah completed her PhD research, a qualitative study of the meanings of inhalant use and of associated policy and intervention in Australia.

Sarah recently co-authored ‘Volatile Substance Misuse: A Review of Interventions’ (2008) with Associate Professor Peter d’Abbs. The review has been published by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing as part of the National Drug Strategy Monograph series.  Sarah has published articles in academic journals including Drug and Alcohol Review, Contemporary Drug Problems, Drugs, Education Prevention and Policy, International Journal of Drug Policy, Journal of Youth Studies and Youth Studies Australia.

Areas of interest
Young people’s substance misuse; inhalants; drug and alcohol policy development.

Contact details
sarah.maclean@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8412

Janette Mugavin, BSocSc, GradDip App Stats
Senior Research Assistant

Janette has a background in social research, with specialist qualifications in statistical analysis. Janette commenced with the Health Services Research and Evaluation team in February 2006 and she also works part-time with the Alcohol Policy Research Centre at Turning Point on projects that involve population based data sets and the exploration of alcohol related harms.

Recent Health Services Research and Evaluation projects that Janette has been involved in include reviews of public hospital responses to inpatient drinking patterns, access and intake models for AOD treatment, and community-based interventions on alcohol and inhalant problems. Janette’s particular strengths include consultation, data management, and quantitative analysis.

Areas of interest
Community based interventions; drug and alcohol policy development.

Contact details
janette.mugavin@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8406

Bridget Roberts, BA(Hons), MA, PostGrad Cert Education, PostGrad DipEvaluation
Research Fellow

Bridget has worked in the Turning Point evaluation team since 2001. She has found a late-career passion for evaluation after a background in education, outdoor adventure therapy and a variety of management and training roles in the health and community sector in the UK and Australia. Bridget is also a PhD candidate at Monash University studying deinstitutionalisation.

Areas of interest
Participatory research. Qualitative and mixed evaluation methods. Mental health and alcohol and drug issues. Community performing arts.

Contact details:
bridget.roberts@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8474

Amy Swan, BA(Hons), MA(Crim)
Research Fellow

Amy is an alcohol and other drug researcher with ten years experience in the field. With a background in criminology, Amy has pursued her interests in forensic research at Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, working in the Health Services Research and Evaluation Program on a range of projects exploring the interface between drug use and the criminal justice system. She has expertise in the evaluation of single and multiple programs, program models and service systems, has conducted needs analyses, best practice reviews, and treatment outcome studies, and developed a number of AOD clinical treatment guidelines.

Over the last ten years, Amy has produced 44 publications of which half pertain specifically to diversion and forensic issues. Her increasing profile in the AOD and forensic sector at the local and national level is evidenced by invitations to disseminate in peer review publications and at state and national conferences.

Areas of interest
Forensic research, evaluation, online responses to AOD issues.

Contact details:
amy.swan@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8457