As we count down to the TheMHS Sydney Forum 2026, we’re excited to continue our interview series spotlighting the speakers who will help shape the conversation around help when you need it – urgent and crisis support in mental health.
In these short, light-touch interviews, we invite speakers to share their perspectives, experiences, and the insights that guide their work — offering a chance to get to know the people behind the presentations ahead of the Forum.
We’re excited to welcome Sheila Nicolson, who brings expertise and perspective that will help shape conversations on effective crisis response and meaningful support in moments that truly matter.
BIOGRAPHY
Sheila Nicolson is Service Director for North Shore Ryde Mental Health Service in Sydney, NSW. Beginning her career as a frontline mental health clinician in the early 1990’s, Sheila’s career in mental health spans over 30 years. Sheila is an experienced clinician, manager, author and educator committed to providing compassionate, evidence-based care. Over the decades, Sheila has worked across emergency, hospital and community settings developing a deep understanding and expertise in crisis intervention, risk assessment, and therapeutic engagement with individuals experiencing mental health challenges.
Passionate about bridging the gap between theory and practice, Sheila’s work focuses on integrating frontline experience with strategic leadership to create sustainable, compassionate mental health systems which are person centred, trauma informed and recovery orientated. As a leader working both in management and education roles at the university level Sheila has successfully led multidisciplinary teams, implemented service improvements, and championed staff wellbeing and professional development.
Her leadership style blends strategic vision with empathy, fostering collaborative cultures that prioritise safety, recovery, and dignity for consumers and their families. Passionate about advancing mental health services, Sheila has contributed to policy development, quality improvement initiatives, and mentoring the next generation of mental health professionals in her commitment and work to advance mental health service delivery. Sheila’s career reflects a steadfast commitment to improving outcomes for those with a lived experience while supporting the workforce that serves them.
What has been a highlight of your career thus far?
I have been privileged to work clinically with individuals and families, mentor the next generation of mental health professionals, and contribute towards policy changes that improve mental health service delivery. Making a tangible difference in someone’s wellbeing and walking alongside them from crisis to recovery has been the most rewarding part of my career. I have used knowledge and learnings from this in developing and improving services I have led by shaping everyday practices through a combination of empathy, compassion and the evidence base.
When I take myself back to the early 1990s, I remember starting work on a Crisis Team as a student social worker. The old ‘Gladesville Mental Hospital’, formerly known as the ‘Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum’, which had been established in 1838 had officially closed in 1993 with the last inpatient services ceasing in 1997.
The closure was part of a broader movement towards deinstitutionalization, which aimed to shift mental health care from large hospitals to community based treatment.
It was a transformational time characterised by advancements in psychopharmacology, and the widespread adoption of evidence-based psychotherapy with the release of the DSM V1 revolutionising psychiatric diagnosis with the introduction of new disorders such as Bipolar 2. As part of the multi-disciplinary Crisis Teams we would drive around in our Ford Lasers home visiting people in their homes providing intensive support sometimes up to 3 times a day as an alternative to hospital. We would often escort individuals to appointments and refer to the time spent driving as ‘Laser Therapy’ as it was an opportunity to engage in authentic conversation as part of the counselling process.
These changes laid the foundation to current practices today.
What is a wellbeing activity or practice that is a staple in your life?
When working in mental health, it’s essential to have practical strategies up your sleeve to both support your own mental health and provide effective support across a diverse spectrum of conditions for those individuals with whom we are caring. Supporting your mental health with a combination of daily habits and social connections helps build and maintain personal resilience day to day.
For me small and consistent habits include physical exercise, mindfulness and connecting with others. I start my day walking my two dogs, Peggy and Nellie, though the bush as the sun comes up and then I go to the pool and swim 20 laps – 1 km, while my son Jett goes to the gym at the same facility. I love our routine and chats in the car in the mornings to kickstart the day.
What does “help when you need it” mean to you?
Help can mean different things to different people depending on the unique mental health journey they may be on, but one thing that is common is mental health challenges don’t wait for the “right” time. They can quietly surface and/or arrive unexpectedly and turn lives upside down. In these moments, what matters most is knowing that help is not just available but it’s accessible, responsive and compassionate. This can make the difference between despair and hope.
A prompt call back and a same-day appointment or home visit can reassure someone they are not alone. Support is not a single moment but is a commitment to walking alongside someone for as long as they need providing connectedness and continuity.
Crisis intervention models of care are essential in providing immediate support during acute distress and need to be flexible and person-centred to address the specific needs of individuals and situations by understanding the person’s unique circumstances and tailoring the intervention to meet their needs.
Are there any tools, models, or practices you’re currently exploring that excite you?
Relational practice and co-design in mental health are integral to creating supportive and effective mental health services and I am particularly interested in how we are engaging people with lived experience in improving crisis care. Relational practice emphasizes the importance of relationships and experiences in achieving outcomes that are more responsive to the needs of the population by walking alongside individuals enabling them to be the experts in their own lives.
This collaborative approach is known to lead to better outcomes as it can not only be applied to direct clinical work but when combined with co-design at a service planning and development level it creates a more inclusive mental health system promoting and strengthening connection between those using and delivering crisis care.
Throughout my career in leadership I have adopted a conscious leadership lens. This is largely because mental health is not just about strategy and outcomes, it is about peoples lives of which self-awareness, empathy, shared responsibility and value driven decision making are key elements. For me this is why relational practice and competence has nicely complimented my style of working and in my mind need to be at the heart of mental health services as we plan for the future.
Can you give us a little sneak peek of what your presentation will cover?
My presentation will take you on a walk down memory lane reflecting on my time working on crisis teams in the 1990s, examining how we currently deliver crisis interventions within an acute mental health framework and exploring how future services should look, with the aim of establishing comprehensive and effective health care systems ensuring individuals experiencing a mental health crisis receive the appropriate support and care at the right time.
HEAR FROM SHEILA AT THEMHS SYDNEY FORUM 2026
What a Good Crisis Response Looks Like For Australia
Public Mental Health Service Perspective
Having worked in public mental health for over 30 years, Sheila has seen first first-hand the ways that a good response to mental health crises can have profound, ongoing impacts on those seeking help. From this public health perspective, she will walk us through what we once did, what we currently do and discuss ways that the public mental health system can work to improve outcomes for those needing care.
What a Good Crisis Response Looks Like For Australia – Q&A
This session is a short panel discussion, facilitated by the MC, and gives the audience the opportunity to respond with questions to the speakers from the What a Good Crisis Response Looks Like For Australia session.
