Kristen Douglas

Kristen Douglas has a Bachelor & Master of Education and over 27 years’ experience in the education, health, mental health, suicide, not for profit, and government sectors. Kristen has significantly contributed to the synergy between education and mental health in Australia. From guiding government policy to leading transformational change and national reform. Kristen has led many national and state initiatives in the critical areas of whole school approach, youth mental health, principal leader mental health and wellbeing, and leading teams through complex environments like COVID. Kristen has authored several national resources and frameworks and specialises in the impact of suicide, complex events, trauma, and natural disasters on schools and communities and how they respond and recover. Kristen continues to lead a large multi-disciplinary national team of mental health and education professionals to support primary and secondary schools across Australia from promotion, prevention, early intervention, intervention, to postvention. She is a highly respected and sought presenter nationally and internationally on the topics of educational leadership, health and wellbeing, suicide, mental health, critical incident response and recovery, and other related topics.

Supporting the leaders to lead: Why support for school leaders is critical for community recovery and healing

Many Australian schools and their communities have been impacted by adverse events or incidents in recent years. The recovery and healing from these types of events require strong and calm leaders who can guide their community through recovery and healing.

In this presentation Kristen will explore concepts of resilience versus distress tolerance, the essential elements of psychological first aid, and psychosocial supports and assets. This session will unpack the critical areas of preparedness, response, and longer term recovery including anniversaries of events. Kristen will also explore the difference between individual healing and recovery to whole community healing and recovery.

With the right tools and techniques leaders can effectively accelerate the window recovery allowing schools, individuals, and whole communities to return to function and heal.