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Dr Susanna Every-Palmer 2019 thumbnailMBChB (Akld), MSc in Evidence-based Health Care (with Distinction, Oxon) FRANZCP, Adv Cert Forensic Psychiatry (RANZCP), PhD (Otago)

Susanna is an academic psychiatrist who is passionate about using multidisciplinary research collaborations to inform the highest quality evidence-based care for people with mental illness.

Alongside her role in the university, Susanna is concurrently employed at the Central Regional and Forensic Services. She has worked in a number of different areas across the mental health sector, including as Clinical Director and Director of Area Mental Health Services (DAMHS) of the Forensic and Rehabilitation Services covering courts, prisons and inpatient and community forensics across New Zealand's lower north island and as New Zealand's Acting Director of Mental Health at the Ministry of Health.

Between 2021–2023, Susanna was the Chair of the New Zealand Committee of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and a Board Member of the Council of Medical Colleges. She is currently a Vice-President of the Pacific Rim College of Psychiatry and Co-secretary of the World Psychiatry Association Section on Multi-morbidity.

Susanna completed medical training at Auckland University and obtained RANZCP Fellowship in 2008 and an Advanced Certificate in Forensic Psychiatry in 2010. She has a Masters in Evidence Based Medicine from Oxford University and her PhD focussed on mitigating harms in the treatment of serious mental illness.

Contact details

Email susanna.every-palmer@otago.ac.nz

Positions

  • Head of Department, Department of Psychological Medicine
  • Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, MHAIDs, Te Whatu Ora
  • Vice President Board Director for the Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrists
  • Deputy Editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
  • Co-secretary of the World Psychiatry Association Section on Multi-morbidity

Research summary

  • Mental health service development and co-design
  • Reducing health inequities in mental health care
  • Multidisciplinary management of serious mental illness

Research interests

Susanna's academic and clinical interests include

  • Reducing health inequities in mental health care
  • Multidisciplinary management of serious mental illness, especially schizophrenia
  • Antipsychotic treatment and its side effects, with a particular focus on clozapine
  • Forensic psychiatry: legal frameworks, prisons, and forensic rehabilitation
  • Trauma-informed care
  • Mental health service development and co-design

Susanna is interested in supervising postgraduate students in any of the research areas listed above or related areas. Please contact her directly

Publications

Korman, N., McMahon, L., Lappin, J., Every-Palmer, S., Northwood, K., & Siskind, D. (2024). State of the art approaches to management of treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 58(Suppl. 1), (pp. 33-34). doi: 10.1177/00048674241241938 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Watson, R., Hammans, L., Hansby, O., Barry-Walsh, J., & Every-Palmer, S. (2024). The psychological cost of holding office: Analysis of stalking, harassment, and gendered abuse of parliamentarians in the post-COVID era. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 58(Suppl. 1), (pp. 152-153). doi: 10.1177/00048674241241938 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Rutledge, E., Ross, B., Bell, E., Flewett, T., Hansby, O., & Every-Palmer, S. (2024). 'And it worked!' Experiences of receiving Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy for PTSD among people with serious mental illness. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 58(Suppl. 1), (pp. 66-67). doi: 10.1177/00048674241241938 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Every-Palmer, S., Hansby, O., Flewett, T., Dean, S., Weatherall, M., & Bell, E. (2024). A real-world randomised controlled trial of Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy compared to usual treatment for PTSD in adults with psychosis. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 58(Suppl. 1), (pp. 66). doi: 10.1177/00048674241241938 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Hansby, O., Bell, E., Flewett, T., & Every-Palmer, S. (2024). Recognising post-traumatic stress disorder as a common comorbidity with serious mental illness. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 58(Suppl. 1), (pp. 65). doi: 10.1177/00048674241241938 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

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