“One of Australia’s most loved and respected psychiatrists”

Ramsay Healthcare September 2021

 

 
 
 
 
 
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ABOUT MARK

Mark does doctoring differently. The first openly gay man to win “Community Father of the Year”, Mark also has lived experience of one of the conditions he treats - he’s been anxious since he was four. His empathy and humour make him one of Australia’s most loved psychiatrists.

LATEST MEDIA APPEARANCES

See Mark on the ABC’s Q and A

What is Anxiety?

https://iview.abc.net.au/video/NN2205H007S00

Mental Health Support and the LGBTIQA+ community

https://iview.abc.net.au/video/NN2205H008S00

Listen to Mark talk about grief on ABC Radio Sydney

https://vimeo.com/693811483



 

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Consultant Psychiatrist.

Doctor Mark Cross is a psychiatrist with clinical experience spanning 3 decades.

He graduated as a doctor in Cape Town, specialised in the UK, and has worked as a specialist in Sydney since 2005.

He holds senior conjoint lecturer positions at the Universities of NSW and Western Sydney. Mark has special interests in sexuality issues, mental health in the workplace and improving the care and quality of life of people with lived experience.

In 2015, he received the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists NSW Branch Meritorious Award for his “significant contribution” to psychiatry.

Mark is a board member of SANE

Campaigner and Author.

Mark was the lead psychiatrist on two series of the ground breaking ABC series Changing Minds.

He was also the medical consultant on the 8 part drama series Wakefield, also for the ABC.

He’s the best-selling author of two books, appears regularly in the media and on podcasts and is the founder of The Anxious Shrink on Facebook, which has reached half a million people - it’s anxiety advice that won’t make you more anxious.

 

Speaker

Mark is a much in-demand speaker at conferences, professional development events and educational and government establishments.

He takes the ‘heartsink’ out of talking about mental health and uses his own lived experience to engage, entertain and educate.

He doesn’t dumb down, but neither does he use technical clinical speak unless it’s appropriate.


Here’s an example: the first one minute of a recent speech on happiness.




TOPICS MARK SPEAKS ON…

 

Difficult conversations and how to have them

Whether it’s at work or at home, we all know the feeling of dread when we have to tackle a subject with someone who’s going to find it confronting. But there are tips and techniques from the psychiatric world you can use to make sure those conversations have a better outcome for both sides. Mark consults on this for major corporates as part of their employee development programs.

Anxiety

Mark’s a neurotic shrink who has lived with it all his life. When he disclosed, colleagues told him he should never discuss his own mental health. But through his own lived experience, Mark brings practical advice and stories that resonate with all of us.

Good Mental Health In The Workplace

The numbers of Australian workers on sick leave with mental health issues is rising. Mark describes how to create mentally healthy workplaces and help employees and their managers to flourish. Doing the work now may save a staffing crisis later.

LGBTQIA mental health issues

Mark is gay. He didn’t come out until his mid 20s – when he was growing up in South Africa homosexuality was illegal.  His community face prejudice and as a result have higher incidence of anxiety and depression. By combining his personal experience with his clinical knowledge, Mark connects with those marginalised by society.

 Young People – life after the pandemic.

The last two years have had an impact on us all – but what about those who missed out on their first kiss, their first under-age drink or just chilling with their friends for two years? This talk is for young people and everyone who cares about them. It’s about resilience and bouncing back, but also understanding they’ve experienced a unique set of circumstances.

Finding your happy

What is happy and how do you know if you’ve found it? Is happiness dictated by external circumstances and life going well? Or is it something we can bring from inside ourselves? Why are some people apparently happier than others, and should we by trying to achieve that?

 Professional Burn Out and how to avoid it

It’s more than two years since the pandemic began and many of us are exhausted - perhaps not depressed, but ‘languishing’. Mark would count himself amongst those. But he’s done the work on himself and now has a plan that will restore your energy and help you refund your energy.

Other services

Workplace Education

  • Mark works with major corporates, educational establishments and government agencies to ensure they have the right processes and procedures in place to ensure a mentally healthy workplace.

  • He can review and audit workplace wellness assets

  • He assesses Mental Health Risk in the workplace and then demonstrates how to minimise it.

  • He runs regular webinars on request.

 See the full version of Mark’s talk on happiness.

 
 

CHANGING MINDS

Mark championed film crews being allowed into locked mental health wards for the first time in Australia, to help destigmatise and demystify a world most of us hadn’t seen before. The result was the multi award winning Changing Minds Produced by Northern Pictures for the ABC.

The series was described by the Sydney Morning Herald as

‘Surely one of the most important programs in the history of Australian television.’

Review from The Age Green Guide

 
 

WAKEFIELD

Drama series for the ABC

theconversation.com.au

Wakefield credits Dr Mark Cross, who featured in Changing Minds, as consultant psychiatrist. Several mental health organisations are also acknowledged, including Mindframe, Headspace, Lifeline, Black Dog Institute, Beyond Blue, Mind Australia and SANE Australia. 

It is encouraging to see Australian screen producers collaborating with mental health experts to create authentic stories about mental health issues. This expertise encompasses many voices. 

With Wakefield, Kristen Dunphy has brought to the screen a fictional story inspired by her own experience as a patient and realised by her creativity as a screenwriter and showrunner.

The result is an original and complex portrayal of mental health

Mark talks about his involvement with the multi award winning drama series Wakefield and why he agreed to get involved

Wakefield review from The Guardian

Wakefield review from The Guardian

Books by Dr Mark Cross

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CHANGING MINDS

The go-to guide for mental health for family and friends. Written with Dr Catherine Hanrahan.

This is an excellent and much needed book. It's easy to read and understand, kind and intelligent, and demystifies many aspects of mental health difficulties and their treatments. I hope there is a copy of Changing Minds in every high school and public library in Australia. Many health professionals could do with a copy in their Christmas stocking too!

5 star review on Amazon



ANXIETY

Expert advice from a neurotic shrink who’s lived with it all his life.

“Mark’s book is an expert, deeply compassionate, practical guide to anxiety, in all of its manifestations.”

MAGDA SZUBANSKI





 Mark’s clinical appointment are looked after by dokotela.com.au