Peter McEvoy

Professor at Curtin University | Mental Health Domain Co-Lead

Research Area: Psychology

My research focuses on

• How we can better understand, assess, and treat mental health challenges.

My research aims to

• Improve the mental health and quality of life of the community, particularly for people who find that their mental health challenges significantly interfere in their ability to reach their potential.

I work closely with

• Centre for Clinical Interventions (CCI) where I work with the team to improve the assessment and treatment of anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.
• Community groups to identify ways of improving the mental health and wellbeing of their members and clinical services to evaluate and improve consumer outcomes.

Pete’s Story

I began my career as a clinical psychologist helping people experiencing severe anxiety and depression. It was always important to me that my clients received the best quality of care and the best outcomes. With a passion for promoting mental health and wellbeing within my community, I pursued research to investigate how we can better understand, assess, and treat mental health challenges.

I believe that it is critical to integrate research within existing mental health services. Research helps us to ensure that these services are working for people, to understand for whom they are not effective and why, and to know how mental health services can be improved. I am motivated to ensure that everyone receives the support they need to flourish, whenever and wherever they need it.

Ensuring that mental health support systems have genuine impacts for our community has always been important to me. I enjoy collaborating with consumers and the mental health workforce, as they are best placed to inform the research we do. A highlight of my career with Curtin has been co-leading the Co-designed Roadmap for Mental Health Research Strategy in WA (CO-ROAMERS WA) with Consumer Representative Ben Horgan. Together, this project involved thorough consultations with consumers, carers, and mental health professionals to identify the most critical research questions that, if answered, would have the largest impact on the mental health of the WA community.