Associate Professor Tracey Varker - Special Edition No. 5 for the Frontline Mental Health Conference 2026.
Presentation: Responder Assist: A Specialised Mental Health Service for Emergency Services Workers (1405hr 3 March 2026)

WARNING: This Episode discusses mental health themes.

This the fifth episode in a short special edition series where we hear from presenters of at the Frontline Mental Health Conference 2-3 March 2026 ( details here: https://anzmh.asn.au/fmhc )

Associate Professor Tracey Varker is a Director of Research at Phoenix Australia – Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, and an Associate Professor with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne. She leads a program of work focused on improving mental health outcomes for those who are at high-risk of encountering trauma or stress through their occupation. A/Prof Varker leads the Research function of Responder Assist, a Victorian support service for emergency services workers. She has published 70 research articles in posttraumatic mental health, and more than 70 reports for government and industry.

Find out more about the work Tracey and the team do:
https://www.phoenixaustralia.org/

More on Responder Assist:
https://www.phoenixaustralia.org/responder-assist/

A paper on the SOLAR research and smartphone app with firefighters:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-025-02092-1