Professional Advisory Body

I provide assessment and treatment of ADHD in teenagers and adults, starting at about 16 and continuing into later life as needs be. I am in full-time private practice in Nedlands. My focus is on medication treatment and I liaise closely with colleagues who provide the essential aspects of a multimodal treatment approach e.g. psychologists and coaches.

I have over 30 years experience treating ADHD, as well as being involved in published research, and supporting community and professional ADHD groups. Specifically, I’ve been on the Professional Advisory Body of ADHD WA since 1994 and on the management Board since 2017.

OAM, ADHD WA Management Board Chair, Member of ADHD WA Professional Advisory Body, ADHD Coach and Consultant.

Michele has been supporting people with ADHD since 1995 through ADHD WA, and currently serves on the Board and PAB. She has completed a PhD in the field of ADHD. Aside from her academic qualifications Michele’s coach training is extensive. She completed her basic studies with CoachU in 2009, and then went on to study advanced coaching techniques with the ADD Coach Academy (ADDCA). She holds coaching credentials with the International Coach Federation (ICF) and the Professional Association of ADHD Coaches (PAAC). She is a member of the teaching faculty at the ADD Coach Academy, and a registered mentor coach.

Michele coaches adults, university students, high school students and parents to achieve their goals. Her coaching creates an ongoing collaborative partnership employing her extensive, ADHD knowledge, best coaching practices, and ADHD-friendly skills & tools to bring about positive personal and professional change for her clients. Together with her clients she observes what is preventing them from reaching specific goals, explores ways in which they can maximize strengths, talents, and passion, and designs strategies to suit the ADHD client’s learning, processing, and organisation styles.

Shelley Blakers is an educator who specialised in children with learning difficulties, disorders and or disabilities. She was involved in the awareness of ADHD from the beginning in Western Australia and helped establish LADS (now ADHD WA). Shelley’s career spanned 49 years as a teacher and principal and during that time was an advocate for children with vulnerable learning needs, including ADHD, learning disability and Developmental Language Disorder. She has been a consultant and professional learning leader.

Sylvia Byers is an educator currently working with students, their parents, teachers and allied health professionals. Some of these students experience school related difficulties due to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Sylvia believes in the importance of a team approach to teaching/learning situations so that the child has the best opportunity to achieve. This belief is partly based on the amount of waking time a student spends at school – up to six hours in the classroom and at least an hour of supervised time outside the classroom.

The combination of these times allows the opportunity for each child’s academic, social/emotional and physical needs to be recognised and met, through a team approach. Sylvia maintains that some students need to be given more time than others.

Sylvia’s past experience includes teaching in primary schools and from 1972 specialising in students experiencing specific learning difficulties in primary, secondary and adult education; Principal Chidley Educational Centre in Mosman Park – a boarding school for 48 country primary aged students identified with specific learning difficulties.

Currently retired from full time teaching with the Education Department W.A. she joined the Retired Educator Volunteers for Isolated Students Education. (REVISE W.A.); Rotary Foundation Cadre member – audits international language related assignments. Sylvia began teaching in 1955.

Dr Murray Chapman is a private psychiatrist based at Salvado Clinic in Subiaco. Originally from the UK, he has lived and worked in WA for 20 years, initially in the Kimberley, before moving to Perth in 2016. He has specialist interest in ADHD, ASD and Addictions, and has a large practice focusing on these areas. He also has an interest in emerging treatments such Neurostimulation, working within Modalis, a community based rTMS provider, and novel Psychedelics.

Davinder is a West Australian trained doctor and psychiatrist who has worked as the Head of Youth Mental Health and has a private practice at Hollywood Private Hospital. He has further postgraduate training in mood and anxiety disorders, psychotherapy, autism assessments and youth mental health. He also has an academic appointment as an Associate Professor of Psychiatry. Davinder worked in the Youth and Adult Complex Attentional Disorders service in the public sector and remains a strong advocate for ADHD assessment, comorbidity evaluation and holistic management of patients with ADHD.

Chantalle is a Psychologist with a post-graduate qualification in Education. Chantalle has worked as a psychologist in primary and secondary schools for twenty years. She has experience in government, independent and Catholic schools in both Perth and Sydney. In her current role, she works with teachers and families in the journey from initial identification of students with learning and behaviour needs, through to ongoing management after diagnosis. As well as having a professional interest in ADHD, she also has a personal interest as she has a son with ADHD Combined Type.

Derek Cohen has been working with children and families for nearly 40 years. He trained as a clinical psychologist in South Africa, entering private practice to specialise in child development in 1983. He migrated to Australia in 1987. Initially accepting a position at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, the lure of sunsets over the ocean and the best beaches in the world enticed him to Perth at the end of 1988. There followed 10 years as a senior clinical psychologist with the Health Department Child Development Clinics, a couple of years concurrently with the Autistic Association of WA, and a return to full time private practice in 1998.

Derek has been a member of the Professional Advisory Board of ADHD WA for 25 years. He was a founding member of the WA Registry for Autism Spectrum Disorders in the mid 90s, which set up the diagnostic protocol that began in Western Australia, and became the model for the rest of Australia. He has sat on a number of advisory committees for clinical psychology. He is currently on the committee for the Institute of Clinical Psychologists.

In the area of ADHD, Derek has worked intensively with ADHD children and their families for 30 years. He combines in assessment and treatment a background in neuropsychology, behavioural- and developmental psychology. His treatment approach is geared towards creating practical strategies for managing and improving a child’s specific needs. He has run many workshops for ADHD WA over the years, and is happiest when sharing insights with others in this area.

Professor Stephen Houghton is Professor and Director of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Wellbeing Research Clinic at The University of Western Australia and a Visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde, School of Psychological and Health Sciences, Glasgow, Scotland. He is a registered psychologist with an international reputation in the leadership of multi-site large-scale research projects in child and adolescent developmental psychopathology. He has been Chief Investigator on over 20 externally competitive funded research projects and has over 200 high quality journal publications to his credit. Professor Houghton has successfully supervised over 130 Higher Degree thesis students to completion and has conducted numerous invited international conference presentations. His is widely reported in the international media. He is a recipient of a National Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) Excellence in University Teaching Award (Social Sciences Category), and an ALTC Citation for Outstanding Contribution to University Student Learning. He was also a recipient of the UWA Vice Chancellor’s Senior Research Award for distinguished achievement in research, scholarship, and sustained career excellence.

Zyron trained as a Clinical Psychologist, first at the University of South Africa, and in 1983 completed his Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology (Cum Laude) at the University of Port Elizabeth in South Africa. On his arrival in Perth in 1988, he commenced work in a Child Development Centre dealing primarily with child-related behaviour and developmental problems and problems related to marriage and family life. It was here that he developed and interest in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Zyron is the principal clinical psychologist at Premia Consulting Psychology in Osborne Park, Perth and has been in private practice since 1984.

Zyron is a member of the following professional organisations: The Australian Psychological Society (APS), The APS College of Clinical Psychology, The Institute for Private Clinical Psychologists of Australia (IPCPA), and The Association of Clinical Psychologists of Australia (ACPA). He has been on the Professional Advisory Board of ADHD WA for over twenty years.

Zyron’ s main clinical interests are parenting issues, child behaviour problems and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children and adults, marital and sexual problems, and adult coping with life problems,

Dr Mark Parker graduated from UWA in 1988. Internship at Fremantle hospital in 1989 then worked at PMH. Advanced training in Psychiatry and Neurodevelopmental Paediatrics. Fellowship of Royal Australasian College of Physicians in Paediatrics in 1996. Worked as Paediatrician for the Kimberley in 1997 after a stint with Medicines Sans Frontieres. Masters in Public Health and Masters in Tropical Medicine 2000. Worked in General Paediatrics in Bunbury and the southwest until 2002, returning to Perth and working in General Paediatrics since then. Now based in private practice Wembley with the majority of his work being in Neurodevelopmental Paediatrics.

Dr Aggie is a General Paediatrician, with a special interest in infant and parent mental health and neurodiversity. She completed her specialist training at Royal Darwin and Princess Margaret Hospital and has further qualifications in Infant and Parent Mental Health through the University of Melbourne. She continues to work at Perth Children’s Hospital as well as consulting privately. She is passionate about her work with families and their children, and as a mother of two neurodiverse children herself,  understands the chaotic juggle of parenting and modern life.

Bethany is a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist who has worked with adults and children across numerous public and private settings in WA since 2009.
She has lived experience with ADHD and is committed to understanding and raising awareness of the functional impact that ADHD can have on communication, social interaction, and learning.
She looks forward to a future with reduced stigma and improved societal support for individuals with ADHD.

Dr Andrew Leech holds a Bachelor of Medicine / Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle, graduating in 2009.  Andrew achieved the FRACGP fellowship in 2014 and completed the child health diploma through the University of Sydney.  In 2020, Andrew was selected to take part in the RACGP Future Leaders Program.  Andrew also works as an educator for medical students and GP registrars and is the host and creator of “The Kids Health Network” podcast. He has presented at several events on childhood health and mental health topics. This year, Andrew was selected to be part of the WA Health Clinical Advisory Group Taskforce reviewing Mental healthcare in children which is still ongoing. He was awarded the RACGP ‘Legend’ Award for his commitment to improving General Practice awareness in WA in 2021.

Tim has lived experience as Dad of two teenage children with ADHD. He is an Associate Professor, Personal and Professional development, UNDA School of Medicine Fremantle, with an academic interest in supporting medical students with ADHD.

He has spent more than 20 years in private general practice, in Aboriginal primary health care, public health and teaching, with previous corporate governance appointments at the Heart Foundation WA, Rural Health West, WAGPET and as Chairperson of a primary school board.

He is a member of the Australian ADHD Professional Association (AADPA), ADHD WA Professional Advisory Body, and the RACGP ADHD/ASD Special interest group.

Berry Johnston, Principal Occupational Therapist at Lil Peeps OT for Kids has over over 20 years experience as an occupational therapist. Berry graduated from Curtin University in 2002, with a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy and is a member of the Developmental Occupational Therapy Association, Professional Member of Early Childhood Intervention Australia and Associate member of the Australian Institute of Management. Berry is currently completing her PhD looking at the efficacy of a prewriting program and also co supervised final year OT honours students.

Supporting children with ADHD in schools is a key component of the occupational therapy support that she provides including advocacy and using a strengths based approach. As a mother of 4 daughters, one with ADHD, Berry has a keen focus on ensuring all children experience success and realise how their talents will make a valuable contribution to our society.

Dr Oz is a Clinical Psychologist and Director of ANIMA Health Network, a clinical psychology and neuropsychology practice in West Leederville. In addition to his professional expertise, he brings a unique perspective as someone who has lived with ADHD, being diagnosed later in life. This dual perspective allows him to bridge the gap between clinical practice and personal experience, fostering a deeper understanding of the challenges individuals with ADHD face.

He has presented and delivered workshops on many topics, including schema therapy, Adult ADHD, and complex trauma, as well as contributing as a guest on podcasts. He is also an adjunct research fellow at the Curtin University EnAble Institute, where he is investigating the intersection between developmental trauma, adverse childhood experiences, and Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMS) in Autistic and ADHD individuals.

Kate is a senior corporate Lawyer with 15 years’ experience in workplace health and safety, industrial relations and employment law.  She is an experienced advocate driven to provide consistently excellent legal services and solutions in a collaborative environment, and has a passion for providing proven strategies and optimal outcomes for clients.

Professor Wai Chen is Professor, Psychiatry Discipline Lead, Curtin Medical School, Curtin University, and Professor, enAble Institute, Curtin University. He has research interests in child, adolescent and youth mental health, in particular, in the areas of ADHD, neurodevelopmental disorders, emotional dysregulation, deliberate self-harm and personal recovery. He is a consultant psychiatrist and clinical professor of youth mental health service, for adolescent and youth psychiatry at Fiona Stanley Hospital, Perth, WA. He also holds adjunct professor positions at Graduate School of Education, UWA, School of Medicine (Fremantle), Notre Dame University Australia, WA, Department of Psychology, Murdoch University.

He served between 2011-2013 as an external peer reviewer for the DSM5 Clinical and Public Health Committee (DSM5 CPHC) during the DSM5 revision. He served as a member of the international expert advisory panel for Legatum Institute, advising the compilation of the “Health Pillar” within the Legatum Global Prosperity Index, compiled annually for 149 countries and as a complementary index of GDP for informing federal and national government policies. He is a member of the international Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) consortium. He has contributed a recent chapter on Child Neuropsychiatry in Oxford Textbook of Neuropsychiatry, published by Oxford University Press (2020); and been commissioned to author and edit a book on the theories, treatments and clinical practices of ADHD, by invitation from Sage Publication, London.

Louise Wichmann is a qualified pharmacist with years of experience working as a clinical pharmacist at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Western Australia. Louise has a lot of experience with ADHD and its treatment. She frequently recommends therapy for and counsel patients with ADHD, including answering any questions they have regarding their ADHD medication. Louise also educates other health professionals regarding ADHD and its treatment.