Melissa Branjerdporn
Melissa is a highly experienced Social Worker with 30 years of diverse practice across community development, supervision, sexual abuse counselling, youth justice, child protection, forensic child and youth mental health services, and specialist teams addressing eating disorders and complex trauma. For the past seven years, she has excelled as a Clinical Educator at Queensland Health's Learning Centre, where she has been instrumental in redeveloping suicide prevention training programs and is the lead content writer.
In 2024, Melissa completed her Master of Suicidology at Griffith University, conducting qualitative research on the influence of suicide prevention training on Emergency Department clinicians' behaviours, the findings of which she presents at this conference. Additionally, she provides crisis support and stabilisation for individuals in acute suicidal distress through her work with the Brief Therapy Clinic.
Melissa also holds a Master of Counselling and a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. She is also an accredited trainer in Youth Mental Health First Aid and Conversations about Suicide, reflecting her commitment to equipping professionals with the skills necessary to provide compassionate care. She recently retired from her voluntary positions on the board of Open Doors Youth Service, in Queensland, where she served as General Member and Secretary.
Abstracts this author is presenting: