Dr Kate Davies
Post Doctoral Research Fellow
Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health
- Email:kate.davies@newcastle.edu.au
- Phone:(02) 4042 1623
Career Summary
Biography
Dr Kate Davies is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health, Faculty of Health and Medicine. Her research seeks to better understand and address inequalities that shape people’s experiences of health. Her current research is evaluating and examining a range of program and policy approaches that seek to improve mental health outcomes for rural and remote communities. She is leading an evaluation of the Farm-Link rural suicide prevention program and contributing to evaluations and critiques of a range of integrated care models. Kate’s previous research has produced evidence-based models and strategies for enhancing the participation of people who experience mental health issues in policymaking and service delivery. She has evaluated organisational learning approaches to integrating peer workers into community-based mental health teams and examined ‘lived-experience’ as a valuable and crucial source of knowledge and expertise. Kate has previously worked throughout the Asia-Pacific region in public health and disaster risk reduction roles and brings substantial policymaking and program management expertise to her research work.
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of Newcastle
Keywords
- disaster recovery
- evaluation
- international aid and development
- mental health
- service-user participation and lived experience
- sociology of health
Fields of Research
| Code | Description | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 111714 | Mental Health | 50 |
| 111708 | Health and Community Services | 25 |
| 111712 | Health Promotion | 25 |
Professional Experience
UON Appointment
| Title | Organisation / Department |
|---|---|
| Post Doctoral Research Fellow | University of Newcastle Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health Australia |
Academic appointment
| Dates | Title | Organisation / Department |
|---|---|---|
| 31/03/2016 - | Research Associate | Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health Medicine and Public Health Australia |
Professional appointment
| Dates | Title | Organisation / Department |
|---|---|---|
| 1/04/2012 - 20/12/2013 | International Advisor | Australian Red Cross Tonga |
Teaching
| Code | Course | Role | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| GEOG1030 |
Global Poverty and Development The University of Newcastle |
Lecturer and tutor | 1/03/2014 - 20/07/2016 |
Publications
For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.
Chapter (2 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 |
Gray MMA, Coates J, Davies K, 'Social development, the environment and the future of the planet', Future Directions in Social Development, Palgrave, London (2017)
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| 2014 |
Gray M, Agllias K, Davies K, 'Social justice feminism', The Routledge International Handbook of Social Justice 173-187 (2014)
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Journal article (7 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 |
Davies K, Gray M, 'The place of service-user expertise in evidence-based practice', JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WORK, 17 3-20 (2017) [C1]
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| 2017 |
Gray M, Davies K, Butcher L, 'Finding the right connections: Peer support within a community-based mental health service', International Journal of Social Welfare, 26 188-196 (2017) © 2016 The Author(s). International Journal of Social Welfare © 2016 International Journal of Social Welfare and John Wiley & Sons Ltd Gray M., Davies K., Butcher L. Findi... [more] © 2016 The Author(s). International Journal of Social Welfare © 2016 International Journal of Social Welfare and John Wiley & Sons Ltd Gray M., Davies K., Butcher L. Finding the right connections: Peer support within a community-based mental health service. This article reports on a qualitative study that examined the organisational enablers and barriers to implementing peer support work in an Australian, rural, community-based mental health service. Interviews with 19 peer and non-peer staff were conducted to identify attitudes towards peer support and whether there were organisational values, practices and strategies that might support the implementation of peer support. The findings revealed that peer support workers were valued for their ability to build trusting connections with clients and to accept client choice in a non-judgemental way. However, peer support workers tended to ¿fill service gaps¿ within intensive, administrative case-management environments. These findings highlight the importance of an organisational-wide approach to integrating peer support, where the responsibilities for adopting new ways of working fall to all staff, not just the peer support workers themselves. Key Practitioner Message: ¿ Practitioners placed high value on the peer support workers on their teams due to their unique personalised engagement with clients; ¿ The roles of peer support workers were poorly understood by team members; ¿ Organisational integration of peer support principles could improve the way all staff engage with clients to reflect a recovery orientation.
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| 2016 |
Ariong SB, Gray M, Davies K, 'Sociocultural context and the success of international aid on National Agricultural Advisory Services program in eastern Uganda', Journal of Social Development in Africa, 31 165-195 (2016) [C1]
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| 2015 |
Davies K, Gray M, 'Mental health service users' aspirations for recovery: Examining the gaps between what policy promises and practice delivers', British Journal of Social Work, 45 i45-i61 (2015) [C1] © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. This paper draws on findings from an Australian study of mental he... [more] © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. This paper draws on findings from an Australian study of mental health service users' perspectives on service user participation to examine the challenges for translating recovery policy into practice. It considers the ways in which national mental health policies and developing welfare reforms reflect and/or contradict the highly personal mode of recovery important to service users; though they seemingly signal potential wins for service user empowerment, they are accompanied by losses for those who do not fit neatly into clinical categorisations. The service users (n = 11) and service providers (n = 6) interviewed for this exploratory qualitative study revealed that recovery was a lifelong process of fluctuating capacity and described a system poorly equipped and often unwilling to move beyond tokenistic modes of participation. The analysis of service user perspectives against the backdrop of policy reform reveals the ongoing tensions between personal and clinical definitions of recovery.
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| 2014 |
Davies K, Gray M, Butcher L, 'Lean on me: the potential for peer support in a non-government Australian mental health service', Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development, 24 109-121 (2014) [C1]
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| 2014 |
Davies K, Gray M, Webb SA, 'Putting the parity into service-user participation: An integrated model of social justice', International Journal of Social Welfare, 23 119-127 (2014) [C1]
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| Show 4 more journal articles | |||||||||||
Review (1 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Davies K, 'Book Review of Frontiers of Social Research: Japan and Beyond (2009) |
Conference (12 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Davies K, Livingstone F, Booth A, '¿It made it real': Applying rural suicide prevention gatekeeper training in everyday life', International Journal of Qualitative Methods (2017) | ||
| 2017 | Livingstone F, Davies K, Handley T, 'How effective are they? An evaluation of community and clinician-targeted rural suicide prevention workshops' (2017) | ||
| 2017 | Davies K, Blacklock N, Turner N, Livingstone F, 'We-Yarn: Starting the discussion about Aboriginal suicide prevention' (2017) | ||
| 2016 | Davies K, Handley T, Livingstone F, de Jaeger A, '"Making the journey easier": An evaluation of community- and clinician-targeted rural suicide prevention workshops', "Making the journey easier": An evaluation of community- and clinician-targeted rural suicide prevention workshops (2016) | ||
| Show 9 more conferences | |||
Report (11 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Davies K, 'Review of the Division of Local Government and Community Development, Ministry of Internal Affairs', Government of Tonga, 35 (2017) | ||||
| 2017 | Davies K, 'Final evaluation of the Kiribati Red Cross Society Community-based Health Program', Australian Red Cross (2017) | ||||
| 2017 |
Handley TE, Davies K, Rich J, Booth A, Considine R, 'Mental health of Port Stephens youth: Needs analysis study for Caring for Our Port Stephens Youth', Caring for our Port Stephens Youth, 62 (2017)
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| Show 8 more reports | |||||
Thesis / Dissertation (1 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Davies K, Service-user perspectives on evidence: Shaping participatory mental health and homelessness services, University of Newcastle (2012) |
Grants and Funding
Summary
| Number of grants | 8 |
|---|---|
| Total funding | $481,298 |
Click on a grant title below to expand the full details for that specific grant.
20175 grants / $342,468
Central Coast LHD Integrated Care Formative Evaluation$133,604
Funding body: Central Coast Local Health District
| Funding body | Central Coast Local Health District |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Professor David Perkins, Doctor Hazel Dalton, Doctor Kate Davies, Doctor Tonelle Handley, Doctor Donna Read, Mrs Angela Booth |
| Scheme | Research Grant |
| Role | Investigator |
| Funding Start | 2017 |
| Funding Finish | 2017 |
| GNo | G1700888 |
| Type Of Funding | Other Public Sector - State |
| Category | 2OPS |
| UON | Y |
GPâs with a Special Interest in Mental Health$100,000
Funding body: Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network
| Funding body | Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor Kate Davies, Doctor Hazel Dalton, Professor David Perkins, Louise Upton, Sarah Connor, Jane Connolly, Sean Mutchmor |
| Scheme | Research Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2017 |
| Funding Finish | 2018 |
| GNo | G1701306 |
| Type Of Funding | Other Public Sector - Commonwealth |
| Category | 2OPC |
| UON | Y |
Early career research PhD scholarship$78,864
Funding body: The University of Newcastle
| Funding body | The University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Kate Davies |
| Scheme | Early Career Researcher PhD Support |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2017 |
| Funding Finish | 2020 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | N |
IMHpact evaluation$20,000
Funding body: Mid North Coast Local Health District
| Funding body | Mid North Coast Local Health District |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Pamela Johnson, Lee Ridoutt, Victoria Hirst, Donna Read, Kate Davies, David Perkins |
| Scheme | Mid North Coast Local Health District Research Support program |
| Role | Investigator |
| Funding Start | 2017 |
| Funding Finish | 2017 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Other Public Sector - Local |
| Category | 2OPL |
| UON | N |
Evaluation of We-Yarn Aboriginal suicide prevention workshops$10,000
Funding body: Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network (HNECC)
| Funding body | Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network (HNECC) |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Kate Davies, Nicole Turner, Donna Read, Angela Booth, Tonelle Handley |
| Scheme | Mental health |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2017 |
| Funding Finish | 2017 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Other Public Sector - Local |
| Category | 2OPL |
| UON | N |
20162 grants / $48,830
Needs Analysis Study - Mental Health of Port Stephens Youth$41,330
Funding body: Caring for Our Port Stephens Youth (COPSY)
| Funding body | Caring for Our Port Stephens Youth (COPSY) |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor Tonelle Handley, Doctor Kate Davies, Doctor Jane Rich |
| Scheme | Research Project |
| Role | Investigator |
| Funding Start | 2016 |
| Funding Finish | 2016 |
| GNo | G1601159 |
| Type Of Funding | Grant - Aust Non Government |
| Category | 3AFG |
| UON | Y |
Farm-Link evaluation$7,500
Funding body: Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network (HNECC)
| Funding body | Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network (HNECC) |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Kate Davies, Angela Booth, Tonelle Handley, David Perkins |
| Scheme | Mental health |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2016 |
| Funding Finish | 2017 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Other Public Sector - Local |
| Category | 2OPL |
| UON | N |
20141 grants / $90,000
Social Work$90,000
Funding body: University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts
| Funding body | University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Professor Mel Gray, Doctor Kylie Agllias, Doctor Amanda Howard, Doctor Tamara Blakemore, Doctor Leanne Schubert, Doctor Milena Heinsch, Doctor Kate Davies, Ms Tiani Hetherington |
| Scheme | Research Programme 2014 |
| Role | Investigator |
| Funding Start | 2014 |
| Funding Finish | 2016 |
| GNo | G1400923 |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | Y |
Research Supervision
Number of supervisions
Total current UON EFTSL
Current Supervision
| Commenced | Level of Study | Research Title | Program | Supervisor Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | PhD | Peer Support and Rural Mental Health | PhD (CommunityMed & ClinEpid), Faculty of Health and Medicine, The University of Newcastle | Principal Supervisor |
| 2016 | PhD | Access to Service Delivery for Ethnic Women of Reproductive Age in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) in Bangladesh | PhD (Gender & Health), Faculty of Health and Medicine, The University of Newcastle | Co-Supervisor |
Research Projects
Evaluation of the Farm-Link rural suicide prevention program 2016
Dr Davies is leading an evaluation of the Farm-Link program; a suicide prevention program delivered in rural New South Wales by the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health.
The purpose of the research is to evaluate the impact of the Farm-Link program. The Farm-Link program is delivered by the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health with funding support from the Australian Government – Department of Health. The program aims to support the mental health and wellbeing of people who work on farms in the New England North West region of New South Wales. The evaluation will look at whether, and how, people who have participated in Farm-Link training activities are able to use the skills and knowledge from this training in their day-to-day lives. It will evaluate the impact of the program on people’s attitudes towards suicide, their knowledge regarding suicide and suicide prevention and their self-care. Community members and professionals who have participated in training activities will have an opportunity to give their feedback about the relevance and usefulness of their participation in the Farm-Link program and the findings from the research will inform improved program designs in the future.
Edit
Dr Kate Davies
Positions
Post Doctoral Research Fellow
Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health
Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health
Faculty of Health and Medicine
Casual Academic
Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health
School of Humanities and Social Science
Faculty of Education and Arts
Contact Details
| kate.davies@newcastle.edu.au | |
| Phone | (02) 4042 1623 |
Office
| Room | HMRI, Level 4 West |
|---|---|
| Building | Hunter Medical Research Institute |