Our branch covers the Loddon Mallee region from Kyneton in the south to Mildura in the north-west. Other major cities are Bendigo, (where most of the committee members work); Castlemaine, Swan Hill, Echuca, Rochester and smaller towns such as Heathcote, Goornong, Harcourt and Malmsbury. Members' expertise ranges from social psychology through to clinical, health, trauma, forensic, neuropsychology
and child and adolescent psychology. La Trobe University has played a significant role in raising the profile of psychologists and the APS in our region. Over the last year we have successfully conducted workshops in Treatment Readiness, Motivational Interviewing, Working with High-Risk Parents, and Working with Troubled Children in the School Setting. We also hosted a number of well-attended social network evenings titled, 'Psychology at the Pub', which featured a number of mental health professionals. Rural psychology courses need lots of support with the city-centric bias in tertiary education. These courses are often under attack, underfunded and poorly understood. Despite, or because of, these pressures on our rural academics and practitioners, we have been very busy. Every three or four years we have conducted a local conference and have attracted speakers on Conflict in the Family, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy and Social Justice. Historically, we have had enterprising and hard working committees though, like other regions, we struggle with involving all our local members, as with most committees. We seem to have a core group who regularly attend, then some who do so on an irregular basis and many who have little or no contact with the Branch. This may be partly due to the geographical spread of our members. Branch Chairs have a relatively easy job where there is a strong diverse committee. We get along well and most of our meetings are held over dinner in order to combine work with pleasure. This has been important and helpful in keeping the branch active and alive.
