Our Clinical Advisory Group is a diverse team of clinicians who advise us on best practices in mental health service delivery.
Together, we design and refine features of the ReachOut service in response to trends and changes in mental health practice and policy, and identify opportunities to engage health professionals in our programs.
Coming from professions including psychology, psychiatry, general practice and social work, their diverse expertise helps us to improve ReachOut’s positive impact on the mental health of millions of young people.
Sera Harris, BSW (Hons), BFA
Social Work Educator
Dr Sera Harris is a social worker with over 25 years of experience, with practice grounded in youth work, homelessness, and mental health and wellbeing, alongside community and program development and evaluation. She is an Associate Professor in Social Work at Western Sydney University, where her research examines the use of technology in human services practice, including how AI can support, rather than replace, relational and reflective practice. Sera brings a practitioner's perspective to questions of how digital tools can be designed and used safely and meaningfully with young people and the workers who support them.
Dr Joe Tighe, PhD, BSc (Hons) Psychology, Bsc (Hons) Computing, Dip. Coaching, Dip. Computing
Registered Psychologist
Joe Tighe is a psychologist and founder of the Irish community development NGO Cultúr – Celebrating Diversity. Joe, who says he is ‘almost Australian now’, spent seven years working in social and emotional wellbeing in Rubibi/Broome in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. In collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents and youth to help tackle the plague of youth suicides in the region, Joe co-founded the award-winning Alive & Kicking Goals! suicide prevention project in 2008 – a peer-education initiative for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth.
Joe now works at the Australian Human Rights Commission on the Close the Gap Campaign and completed his PhD on the Ibobbly app, a world-first for evidence-based suicide prevention via apps. His areas of interest include community-owned suicide prevention, stigma reduction, peer education and technology for health.
Dr Jonathan Chandran MBBS, FRACP, B. Biotech, MIPH
Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine Physician and General Paediatrician
Dr Jonathan Chandran is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and a member of the Australian Association for Adolescent Health. He is a staff specialist in the Department of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Westmead Hospital. He also works in two youth clinics in Western Sydney caring for marginalised and vulnerable young people.
Dr Paul Fung, BSc (Med) MBBS MPsychiatry FRANZCP Cert. Psychotherapy Psych (Family and Couples) AFRACMA, MAICD, CF
Psychiatrist
Dr Paul Fung is a psychiatrist with a special interest in youth mental health. He is the Clinical Director of Mental Health and Wellbeing Services at Uniting NSW.ACT, the Academic Lead (Psychiatry) at Health Education and Training Institute (HETI), and Deputy Commissioner at the Mental Health Commission of NSW. He is a Churchill Fellow, Board Director of the Family Systems Institute, and on the HETI Higher Education Academic Board.
