Associate Professor Eóin Killackey

A/Prof Eóin Killackey is a Senior Research Fellow and Clinical Psychologist at Orygen Youth Health Research Centre and the Centre for Youth Mental Health at The University of Melbourne. Following completion of his doctorate at Deakin University in 2000, he worked as a clinical psychologist across the adult inpatient and outpatient services of the Department of Psychiatry of Outer Eastern Health, based at Maroondah Hospital. In this role he worked primarily with adults with long-standing mental illnesses, as well as providing input into treatment plans of patients on the ward. He also worked at the Older Adolescent Service (now Youthscope) providing assessment and therapy to young people with non-psychotic illnesses.

A/Prof Killackey entered research as a therapist providing psychological interventions for first-episode psychosis in the ACE Project led by Professor Henry Jackson. Concurrently, he helped write the Australia and New Zealand Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Schizophrenia. He also helped to establish and manage the Grey Zone Project with Professor Alison Yung. In 2005 he was given the opportunity to pursue his interest in functional recovery of people with first-episode psychosis. This has led to him leading the first published randomized controlled trial of a defined model of supported employment in first episode psychosis in the world. A/Prof Killackey has been successful in attracting funding for a second trial which will significantly expand research into functional recovery at Orygen Youth Health.  He is also interested in evidence-based interventions in mental health and barriers to their implementation.

A/Prof Killackey has published 35 peer reviewed papers, 10 book chapters and 1 book, won $662,000 in competitive funding and a further $430,000 in non-competitive funding.