Please find below a little bit about each of us and where our passion for this work lies. If you'd like to get in touch with any of us, please email: nspo@mentalhealthcommission.gov.au
We look forward to working with you.
Dr Alex Hains
A/Head of the National Suicide Prevention Office
Alex grew up in Adelaide, but now lives on Dharrawal Country in Wollongong with his wife and 3 sons. He is currently acting Head of the National Suicide Prevention Office, a specialist unit created to assist governments achieve a more comprehensive and coordinated national approach to suicide prevention. In this work, he has led a policy agenda that emphasises compassion, collaboration, high-quality supports, and a more genuinely preventative approach to suicide. His work has previously focused on children, young people and families; the unique needs of priority populations; and embedding lived experience into the mental health and suicide prevention systems.
Hayley Love
Senior Program Support Officer
Hayley Love is the Senior Program Support Officer responsible for delivering efficient and effective administrative and executive support to the Head of the NSPO, and, as part of the Partnerships and Engagement team, for assisting the team achieve its core engagement, communications and reporting objectives. Hayley is an experienced public servant with over 12 years’ experience working across many Commonwealth Departments. She is committed to developing meaningful working relationships with all stakeholders including with people with lived and living experience, the NSPO advisory boards, the Minister’s Office, across portfolios and jurisdictions, and with internal and external stakeholders. Hayley is highly motivated in providing support for the National Suicide Prevention Office’s vision of reducing suicidal distress and preventing suicide in Australia by empowering a coordinated whole-of-governments approach.
POLICY
Michael Cook
Director
Michael leads the Service System Policy team, which develops advice and solutions to enhance service systems and the diverse workforces that they depend upon. Michael has worked in dedicated suicide prevention roles for 7 years, including as implementation lead at Black Dog Institute for the LifeSpan integrated framework for suicide prevention, and Towards Zero Suicides lead for Sydney Local Health District. He also draws on experience as a psychologist working in correctional and alcohol and other drug settings, as well as private sector project management and systems design. Michael is passionate about using systems and policy levers to dramatically shift approaches to suicide prevention in Australia, aiming to improve our ability to better combat the diverse drivers of distress through policy and service response mechanisms that prevent people from entering suicidal crisis.
James Burchmore CSM
Assistant Director
James Burchmore CSM is an Assistant Director in the National Suicide Prevention Office, focusing on the data and translation work for the Office and the engagement with the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on the National Suicide and Self-harm Monitoring System. His goal is to see a collaborative approach towards shared suicide data across governments to provide evidence for reform and evaluation, and timely information for policy and service responses. Prior to this James has worked over 20 years in suicide prevention in the Australian Defence Force, Department of Defence, and the National Mental Health Commission. He was also seconded to the National Suicide Prevention Taskforce that delivered the National Suicide Prevention Advisor’s Final Advice.
Tegan Cotterill
Assistant Director
As part of the Service Systems Policy Team, Tegan contributes to developing guidance to enhance service systems and enable workforces to respond compassionately to people in distress. Prior to joining the NSPO Tegan worked for the National Mental Health Commission, on the NSW Health Towards Zero Suicides initiatives and as a coordinator for the LifeSpan Newcastle research trial. Tegan is an experienced social worker with subject matter expertise in suicide prevention developed through working in senior clinical, project and policy roles on local, state, and national initiatives. Tegan is passionate about suicide prevention and working collaboratively with a range of stakeholders including people with a lived experience of suicide to influence government priorities to achieve suicide prevention reform with an emphasis on improving outcomes for populations that are disproportionately impacted by suicide.
Caitlin Bambridge
Assistant Director
Caitlin is an Assistant Director in the Policy team at the National Suicide Prevention Office. Their lived experience of suicide drives their passion and dedication for meaningful reform of our suicide prevention system. Prior to joining the NSPO, Caitlin worked on developing suicide prevention legislation at NSW Government in the Mental Health Branch, spent over 4 years working in policy and government relations at the national peak Suicide Prevention Australia, and worked in policy and research roles at ACON and Mental Health Carers NSW. Caitlin is committed to implementing a whole of government approach to suicide prevention to address the social determinants of health that can lead to suicide.
Beth Williams
Senior Policy Officer
Beth joined the National Suicide Prevention Office in Aug 2024 as a senior policy officer. Beth is a provisional psychologist currently completing her Masters of Professional Psychology at LaTrobe University. Her honours thesis explored body image investment in young adult women, and she was previously a volunteer crisis supporter with Lifeline Australia. Prior to the NSPO Beth spent a number of years in the private sector as a senior management consultant, contributing to large scale organisational transformation. Her skills relate to strategic policy development, stakeholder engagement, and research and data analysis. Beth is passionate about the mental health landscape in Australia and contributing to suicide prevention through national policy reform.
PARTNERSHIPS AND ENGAGEMENT
Ina Mullin
Director, Partnerships and Engagement
Ina leads the relationship development and communication functions of the Office. She is committed to ensuring the voice of lived experience is central to the development of recommendations for reform. Ina moved to the Office after serving as Director, Communication and Engagement at the National Mental Health Commission. Her career and voluntary work has been grounded in the not-for-profit sector working in a number of services that support the mental health and wellbeing of people who are impacted by a broad range of social determinants. Most recently, she served as National Manager Communications and Public Affairs at Lifeline Australia. Ina is the Deputy Chair of the Board of GROW Australia, a national service providing intentional peer support for people living with mental health challenges.
Seryn Adams
Senior Partnerships and Engagement Officer
As part of the Partnerships and Engagement team, Seryn works on building and maintaining relationships with a range of stakeholders and partners. Coming to the National Suicide Prevention Office with more than six years’ experience working in suicide prevention in a regional Primary Health Network setting, where she managed and implemented a range of mental health and suicide prevention specific activity. Seryn was initiated into suicide prevention when implementing the LifeSpan research trial across the Murrumbidgee. Having worked within the sector and volunteered across a range of not-for-profit organisations, Seryn values highly the importance of collaboration and partnerships necessary to see the changes required to prevent suicide. It remains at the forefront of all Seryn's work that the voice of lived and living experience guides, informs, and shapes the outputs of the Office. Seryn lives and works by the mantra of rumble with vulnerability, communicate with courage and live into your values.
To get in touch with the National Suicide Prevention Office team, please email: nspo@nspo.gov.au