معرفی
Kate Schlicht is a Senior Research Fellow at Deakin University's Faculty of Health, School of Medicine, based at the Warrnambool Campus. She has been working at Deakin Rural Health on the Mental Health Academic project since 2008, contributing significantly to research in mental health, particularly in rural and remote Australian settings. Her work bridges academic research with clinical practice, maintaining an active role in the primary mental health team while conducting impactful studies that address critical gaps in rural healthcare delivery.
Schlicht is a registered nurse with an Intensive Care Certificate who previously worked in the public mental health system as a team leader. She has completed management training with a major in human resources, enhancing her leadership capabilities in healthcare settings. Her clinical background provides valuable context for her research on frontline healthcare delivery in resource-limited rural environments.
Her primary research focuses on comorbidity/mental health and chronic disease management, with special attention to decision-making in mental health contexts. Schlicht has been instrumental in developing and evaluating the 'TrueBlue' collaborative care model, which utilizes practice nurses as case managers for patients with depression alongside chronic physical conditions like diabetes and heart disease. Her work examines the experiences of rural nurses managing acute mental health presentations, highlighting systemic challenges and opportunities for improvement in rural mental health services. She has also contributed significantly to understanding workforce development needs for better management of physical comorbidities among people with serious mental illness.
Analysis of Schlicht's publication record reveals a consistent trajectory of research addressing mental health service delivery in rural Australia, with increasing focus on integrated care models that bridge physical and mental healthcare. Her work spans qualitative studies exploring provider experiences, randomized controlled trials evaluating intervention effectiveness, and implementation research examining barriers to service delivery. A recurring theme is the need for workforce development to address complex patient needs in resource-constrained rural settings, with particular emphasis on leveraging the skills of practice nurses to expand mental health service capacity.
- Translating mental health peer support into practice for consumers in rural and regional emergency departments: feasibility and pilot testing (2025-2026, $80,000 from Medibank Private Ltd)
- Brophy-Deakin Research and Evaluation partnership-key deliverables (2022-2025, $210,000 from Brophy Family & Youth Services)
- Evaluation of interprofessional education for multidisciplinary students in an Aboriginal health setting (2022-2024, $165,528 from Australian Government Department of Health)
Schlicht actively collaborates with researchers across Australia and has presented her findings at numerous national conferences. Her ongoing clinical work with South West Healthcare's debriefing team ensures her research remains grounded in real-world healthcare challenges, creating a valuable feedback loop between research and practice that enhances the relevance and applicability of her work to rural communities.
