Paul Stevenson (psychologist)

Last updated

Paul Joseph Stevenson OAM (born 12 September 1955) is an Australian psychologist.

Contents

Professional career – disaster intervention and support

Stevenson has wide experience in general and trauma counselling and is widely recognised as an international trauma psychologist. [1] [2] [3] [4] His experience includes on-site involvement with the Moura Mine Disaster in 1994, the Port Arthur Massacre (Australia) in 1996, the Thredbo landslide in 1997, the Bali bombings in 2002 and 2005, the Marriott bombing (Jakarta) in 2003, the 2004 Australian Embassy bombing in Jakarta, the Indian Ocean tsunami recovery in 2004–05, the Victorian Bushfires in 2009, [5] He received a Medal of the Order of Australia for his work following the 2002 Bali Bombings. [6] [7] [8] the 2010–2011 Queensland floods, [9] [10] Cyclone Oswald, [11] [12] [13] and support for the families of those lost in Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. [14]

Professional career – refugee support and advocacy

Stevenson has worked as a psychologist at the Manus Regional Processing Centre and the Nauru Detention Centre, providing support to both staff and detainees. [15] He maintains that the levels of psychological trauma at these Centres are the worst he has ever seen, and that Australia has an ethical responsibility to ensure these Centres are closed down. [15] As a result of speaking out, Stevenson had his contract to work on Nauru summarily terminated by PsyCare. [16]

Professional views

Stevenson suggests that the traditional method of Critical Incident Stress Debriefing needs to be used with caution, and suggests that an eclectic and humanitarian approach is necessary for stress and trauma response. [17] Stevenson believes that to some extent psychological trauma may be a natural reaction to extreme circumstances, and we need to de-stigmatize this, as indeed we need to de-stigmatize mental illness. [17]

Politics

Stevenson was an Independent Candidate for the Senate (Queensland) in the 2016 Australian federal election. [18] [19] [20]

Critical recognition

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gold Coast, Queensland</span> Australian coastal city

The Gold Coast, also known by its initials, GC, is a coastal city and region in the state of Queensland, Australia, located approximately 66 kilometres (41 mi) south-southeast of the centre of the state capital, Brisbane. It is Queensland's second-largest city after Brisbane, as well as Australia's sixth-largest city and the most populous non-capital city, with a population over 600,000. The city's central business district is located roughly in the centre of the Gold Coast in the suburb of Southport. The urban area of the Gold Coast is concentrated along the coast, sprawling almost 60 kilometres, joining up with the Greater Brisbane metropolitan region to the north and to the state border with New South Wales to the south. Nicknames of the city include the ‘Glitter Strip’ and the ‘Goldy’. The demonym of a Gold Coast resident is Gold Coaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2002 Bali bombings</span> Terrorist attacks in Indonesia

A series of bombings occurred on 12 October 2002, in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attacks killed 202 people and a further 209 people were injured. General Da'i Bachtiar, the Indonesian Chief of Police at the time, said that the bombings was the "Worst act of terror in Indonesia's history".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campbell Newman</span> 38th Premier of Queensland

Campbell Kevin Thomas Newman is an Australian former politician who served as the 38th Premier of Queensland from 26 March 2012 to 14 February 2015. He served as the member for Ashgrove in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland between 24 March 2012 and 31 January 2015. He was LNP Leader from 2 April 2011 to 7 February 2015; Newman previously served as the 15th Lord Mayor of Brisbane from 27 March 2004 to 3 April 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Wilkie</span> Australian soldier, intelligence officer and politician (born 1961)

Andrew Damien Wilkie is an Australian politician and independent federal member for Clark. Before entering politics Wilkie was an infantry officer in the Australian Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Solution</span> Australian asylum policy from 2001

The Pacific Solution is the name given to the government of Australia's policy of transporting asylum seekers to detention centres on island nations in the Pacific Ocean, rather than allowing them to land on the Australian mainland. Initially implemented from 2001 to 2007, it had bipartisan support from the Coalition and Labor opposition at the time. The Pacific Solution consisted of three central strategies:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian immigration detention facilities</span> Facilities used to detain people under Australias policy of mandatory immigration detention

Australian immigration detention facilities comprise a number of different facilities throughout Australia, including the Australian territory of Christmas Island. Such facilities also exist in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, namely the Nauru Regional Processing Centre and the Manus Regional Processing Centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nauru Regional Processing Centre</span> Offshore Australian immigration detention facility

The Nauru Regional Processing Centre is an offshore Australian immigration detention facility in use from 2001 to 2008, from 2012 to 2019, and from September 2021. It is located on the South Pacific island nation of Nauru and run by the Government of Nauru. The use of immigration detention facilities is part of a policy of mandatory detention in Australia.

The following lists events that happened during 2002 in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florence Bjelke-Petersen</span> Australian politician and writer

Florence Isabel Bjelke-Petersen was an Australian politician. She was a member of the Australian Senate from 1981 to 1993, and was the wife of the longest-serving Premier of Queensland, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. She was styled as Lady Bjelke-Petersen upon her husband's knighthood, and was also known informally as Lady Flo.

Jason McCartney is a former Australian rules footballer, 2002 Bali bombing survivor, former coach of the AIS/AFL Academy, and former list manager at the Western Bulldogs. McCartney is currently the GM/ Head of Football at the Greater Western Sydney Giants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iona College Brisbane</span> Independent single-sex day school in Australia

Iona College is an independent Roman Catholic single-sex day school for boys, located in the Brisbane suburb of Lindum Queensland, Australia. Iona is operated by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a religious order that was founded in 1816 by Saint Eugene de Mazenod.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Laurence's College</span> School in South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

St Laurence's College is an independent Catholic primary and secondary school for boys, located in South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Founded by the Congregation of Christian Brothers in 1915. the school is a member of Edmund Rice Education Australia. As of 2021, the college had an enrolment of over 1913 students from Year 5 to Year 12. St Laurence's is affiliated with the Associated Independent Colleges sporting association.

Mohammed Sagar is an Iraqi, who was detained on Manus Island and Nauru between 2001 and 2006. Sagar became the last of approximately 1,300 refugees from the Middle East to be detained on Nauru under the Australian Government's "Pacific Solution" after an adverse security assessment was issued by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). He resettled in Sweden in 2007 after the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' efforts to secure asylum in a third country finally met with success.

Asylum in Australia has been granted to many refugees since 1945, when half a million Europeans displaced by World War II were given asylum. Since then, there have been periodic waves of asylum seekers from South East Asia and the Middle East, with government policy and public opinion changing over the years.

Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB) is a border protection operation led by the Australian Border Force, aimed at stopping maritime arrivals of asylum seekers to Australia. The operation is the outcome of a 2013 federal election policy of the Coalition, which commenced on 18 September 2013 after the election of the Abbott government. The operation has implemented a "zero tolerance" posture towards what it has termed "Illegal Maritime Arrivals" − a change in terminology from the previous government's "Irregular Maritime Arrivals" − in Australia, in conjunction with mandatory detention in offshore detention facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manus Regional Processing Centre</span> An offshore Australian immigration detention facility

The Manus Regional Processing Centre, or Manus Island Regional Processing Centre (MIRCP), was one of a number of offshore Australian immigration detention facilities. The centre was located on the PNG Navy Base Lombrum on Los Negros Island in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea.

The following lists events that happened during 2016 in Australia.

Linzi Marianne Wilson-Wilde is an Australian forensic scientist. In February 2021, she took up the position of Director of Forensic Science SA. She was formerly the director of the National Institute of Forensic Science, working for that organisation for 12 years.

Canstruct is a facilities management, construction, and service provision company based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, with operations in the Pacific region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Chandler-Mather</span> Australian politician

Max Chandler-Mather is an Australian politician and trade unionist. He is the Greens member for the Division of Griffith following the 2022 Australian federal election, having defeated the incumbent Labor Party member Terri Butler.

References

  1. ↑ "Lennon call for ban blasted", by Sue Neales. Hobart Mercury. 23 November 2006. Accessed 15 January 2013.
  2. ↑ ABC radio report, accessed 18 December 2012
  3. ↑ "No evidence for claim: psychologist", Star Observer, Issue 1125, 25 May 2012. Accessed 10 January 2013.
  4. ↑ Interview (within current affairs report), "The Great Pretenders", by Damien Hanson, A Current Affair. Channel 7 TV. 11 March 2013, accessed 14 March 2013.
  5. ↑ Queensland Government. Psychosocial Response and Recovery Symposium Archived 22 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine , accessed 19 April 2010.
  6. 1 2 "Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) entry for Mr Paul Joseph STEVENSON". Australian Honours Database. Canberra, Australia: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 17 October 2003. Retrieved 19 February 2020. For service through the provision of assistance to victims and their families following the bombings which occurred in Bali on 12 October 2002.
  7. ↑ "Footage of the aftermath of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre has appeared on YouTube", by Meryl Naidoo and Barian Ward. The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia). 28 July 2011. Accessed 9 January 2013
  8. ↑ ABC radio interview on the 10th anniversary of the Bali Bombings, 17 October 2012, accessed 19 October 2012
  9. 1 2 "Selfless work recognized", Southern Star (Brisbane), 5 September 2012, p.12, accessed 5 September 2012
  10. ↑ "Stress goes up at flood times", South-West News (Brisbane), 3 October 2012, p.11., accessed 5 October 2012
  11. ↑ Radio interview with 4BU on 6 February 2013, accessed 17 February 2013
  12. ↑ "Bundy under the pump", by Bill Hoffman, Sunshine Coast Daily, 9 February 2013, accessed 17 February 2013
  13. ↑ Interview, "Bundaberg Floods", with Damien Hanson. Today Tonight (TV current affairs programme, Channel Seven). 26 February 2013.
  14. ↑ Deutrom, Rian. 2014. "Trauma psychologist says family of Mary and Rod Burrows and Cathy and Bob Lawton 'unified and doing OK'". Brisbane Courier-Mail, 2 April 2014, accessed 4 May 2014.
  15. 1 2 Doherty, Ben; Marr, David (19 June 2016). "The worst I've seen – trauma expert lifts lid on 'atrocity' of Australia's detention regime". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  16. ↑ Doherty, Ben (21 June 2016). "Offshore detention whistleblower loses job after condemning 'atrocity' of camps". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  17. 1 2 Stevenson, Paul. Postcards from Ground Zero. Burleigh: Zeus Publications.
  18. ↑ "Paul J. Stevenson OAM, Australian Democrats, Federal Senate Candidate Queensland Wide | Sunshine Coast Queensland 2010 Federal Election Queensland Senate Candidates". Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  19. ↑ http://www.warwickdailynews.com.au/…/australian-demo…/37896/ [ dead link ]
  20. ↑ Lester, Sophie. "Candidate keeps bastards honest".
  21. ↑ Councillor Margaret de Wit presents United Nations Awards Archived 4 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine , 30 August 2012.
  22. ↑ "International Acclaim" [ permanent dead link ]Style Magazine (Brisbane), September 2012. p.20
  23. ↑ "Go-to-Guy when Disaster Strikes" Archived 4 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine , by Heather Grant-Campbell, The Senior, 31 October 2012, accessed 17 November 2012
  24. ↑ "United Nations Association of Australia Queensland – Community Award Presentations" Archived 11 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine , United Nations Association of Queensland Newsletter, Vol.8, No.8, October 2012. p2. Accessed 8 May 2013.
  25. ↑ Australian Association of Psychologists, accessed 6 May 2010
  26. ↑ Australian Democrats Queensland Division Newsletter, Vol.5, No.2, October, 2014. p2.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.