Dr Jaelea Skehan

Jaelea Skehan is currently the Special Adviser to the Office of the Prime Minister’s National Suicide Prevention Adviser. She has taken leave until December 2020 from her substantive role as the Director of Everymind. Jaelea also holds a conjoint appointment with the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle and is a registered psychologist. Jaelea is passionate about finding better connections between research and practice and ensuring knowledge translation in suicide prevention policy and practice. She is a member of the Research Advisory Group for the National Suicide Prevention Research Fund, sits on Movember’s Global Advisory Committee, is a member of the International Taskforce on Suicide and the Media and contributes to local, national and international programs and research.

Jaelea has led and supported translational research across settings, but has a particular interest in media reporting of suicide, communication about suicide, workplace suicide prevention and finding better ways to harness and support those with lived experience of suicide, including families and friends. She completed her PhD in 2019 with a focus on suicide prevention.