Three things we learned at the Australian Nurses and Midwives Conference

Several hundred members converged on the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre at the end of May for the 2025 Australian Nurses and Midwives Conference. Over a jam-packed two-day program, we were brought to tears – and uplifted – by disability advocate Dr Dinesh Palipana, and entertained with fascinating insights from behind the scenes of worldwide smash hit Bluey; we learned about successful initiatives to help young people reduce alcohol and other risk-related trauma, and heard about several of ANMF’s recent ground-breaking wins.

Below are a few other selected highlights from across the conference.

A new way to make sense of the impact of complex trauma and adversity

Dr Haley Peckham from the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Mental Health Nursing won many fans with her presentation on what she calls the neuroplastic narrative and neuro-ecological diversity – the topic of her thesis. She joked that she would normally devote an entire day to discussing its neuroscientific and evolutionary biology impacts, ‘but today it’s a slide’.

Dr Peckham opened her presentation with a quote: research is to see what everyone else has seen and to think what nobody else has thought. ‘The neuroplastic narrative,’ she began, ‘offers us a new lens to help us think differently about what is already known.’

Thus introducing the concept of neuro-ecological diversity, she delved into neuroplastic mechanisms like epigenetics, neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity and white matter plasticity to explain how early relational experiences form neural pathways, and that this offers an ecological rather than a pathological way to make sense of the impact of complex trauma and adversity.

Specifically, she drew on the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACES) and life history theory to argue that early life experiences lead to adaptations, not pathologies, and called for a shift in perspective, away from pathologising patients with elevated ACES and towards recognising their ‘symptoms’ as successful adaptations for survival in various environments.

Why mental health professionals should worry about the physical health of people living with mental illness

Australians are unequally unwell, Associate Professor Caroline Johnson told us.

Both Associate Professor Johnson, from the University of Melbourne, and Professor Adrienne O’Neil, from Deakin University, addressed the alarming disparities between the physical health of people living with mental illness and the physical health of the general population.

Associate Professor Johnson gave more of a general overview of the problem, while Professor O’Neil looked more specifically at the link between mental health and cardiovascular health.

Both presenters pointed to the fact that the link between mental and physical health is a two-way relationship, highlighting the need for integrated care approaches.

People living with mental illness, Associate Professor Johnson said, are at greater risk of premature death from conditions such as lung, breast and colon cancer, ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular diseases, for example, while half of all premature deaths are in people with mental health conditions.

Three in five of these deaths of people living with mental illness are preventable. For instance, there are more preventable cancer deaths in the 22 per cent of people who accessed mental health treatment than total cancer deaths of the 78 per cent of the population that did not.

Speaking about the physiological, genetic, biobehavioral, psychological and social determinants that link mental and cardiovascular health, Professor O’Neil noted that there is a pro-inflammatory condition associated with depression, which can be cardiogenic, and that people with serious mental illnesses like major depression, schizophrenia or bipolar are more than six times as likely to die from cardiovascular disease.

These links can only be explained in part by behaviours, such as smoking, that are more prevalent in people with serious mental illnesses, or by the fact that psychiatric drugs can contribute to premature mortality.

Compounding the problem, Professor Johnson said, is that only half of people living with mental illness report that mental health professionals took their concerns about their physical health seriously.

So what can we do about it?

Primarily, nurses and midwives can be advocates for systemic change and the importance of addressing stigma. Some practical steps suggested included auditing current practices, implementing preventive health checks, and creating supportive environments. Collective impact is vital, and help can be found from organisations like Equally Well and SANE Australia.

Zahra’s story

Arman Abrahimzadeh brought the auditorium to tears as he relayed the story of his mother, Zahra, who migrated to Australia with her husband and children in 1997 – and who was later murdered by her husband in front of hundreds of witnesses at a Persian New Year event. She had just turned 44.

A born storyteller, Arman share his life story, from his childhood in Iran to the land of hope the family experienced when they first arrived in Australia. He painted a picture of his father as a domineering force in the family’s life while revealing how incrementally family violence behaviours can escalate, and how the normalisation of such behaviours endangers lives.

In 2015, five years after their mother’s murder, Arman and his sisters established the Zahra Foundation Australia, a not-for-profit that supports women impacted by domestic abuse.

Having experienced homelessness and poverty when they were forced to flee the family home in 2009, Arman and his sisters’ guiding principle for the Foundation is that survivors of domestic abuse shouldn’t have to choose between an abusive environment or living in poverty. The Zahra Foundation thus provides free programs, services, education and grants promoting economic wellbeing and empowering participants to build a life free from both poverty and abuse.