
Get to know: Douglas Mponda
#WeAreNorthern
Meet Douglas Mponda, Forensic Clinical Specialist/Registered Psychiatric Nurse.
Q: What is your coffee order?
A: I prefer a simple latte as I am not much of a coffee drinker.
Q: Tell me about your work as a Forensic Clinical Specialist (FCS) – what does it entail?
A: My work as an FCS is centered around what we refer to as the four pillars:
- Clinical consultancy, which can be primary (seeing the consumer face to face) or secondary consultancy where I meet with the clinician(s) and explore options with them. This way, we offer first line consultancy, offender specific risk assessment and intervention support to the mental health workforce for the following behaviours of concern – violence, threateners, stalking, sexual offending, general offending, querulous (vexatious) complainants, fire-setting and psychopathy. I also undertake joint assessments of consumers with a forensic history or potentially high risk of offending.
- Organisational service development and quality improvement which involves contributing to the development, review and evaluation of risk assessment and management frameworks in relation to target population. I also contribute to operational review of incidents involving consumers with an offending history.
- Workforce education and training through providing training on forensic mental health topics like principles of forensic mental health; risk assessment and management; role of mental health in offending; navigating the forensic system.
- Partnerships and networking via working with local mental health and justice sector in order to lead and support the development of strong collaborative relationships between Northern Area Mental Health Service (NAMHS) and local justice services to reduce gaps in service delivery, particularly during discharge, transfer to or release from prison. I also contribute to the development and review of protocols and processes between mental health services, justice system and local support agencies, including clear referral pathways, collaborative practice principles, information flow and timely communication mechanisms. External services I liaise with include: police; courts; prison based mental health services; Forensicare and non-government support providers. Within the NAMHS, together with my fellow FCS, we coordinate the monthly high risk review panel and I have been a standing member of the NAMHS Safety Committee.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your work?
A: I really enjoy the capacity building aspect of the role in that we try to make a difference in the clinicians’ way of thinking and how we offer them a different perspective of approaching risk, its assessment and subsequent management.
Q: How do you like to unwind after work?
A: Depending on how busy I would have been at work, I listen to a lot of podcasts, watch movies (to escape reality) or documentaries (to add onto my general knowledge base).
Q: What is one place you would like to travel to and why?
A: This is a difficult one to answer as there are many places I would like to visit. Included in my bucket list has to be trips to China and Japan. As an avid martial artist, I would love to visit some of the areas where certain styles of Karate and Kung Fu originated from so that I can pay my homage.