Ep 179: Dr Mark Cross

Summary: ​Dr Mark Cross (@DrMCross) is a psychiatrist, author, television presenter and fellow board member of SANE Australia. For many years he ran the youth ward at Campbelltown Hospital in Sydney, however he's moved on from that to focus on other things. He's best known in Australia for his SBS TV show "Changing Minds", which worked to destigmatize community attitudes to mental illness - and he produced a book of the same name. Mark and I sit together on the board of SANE Australia which works to help more than 4 four million people in Australia who are affected by complex mental illness including OCD, borderline personality disorder, bipolar, PTSD, eating disorders and schizophrenia. I'm grateful to be a part of the board there, and relish working alongside Mark and other board members to help change attitudes in our society about complex mental illness, and help show that a diagnosis does not necessarily mean you're a danger to yourself and others - and that a rich and full life is indeed still available for you. Mark has a fascinating story, and I'm grateful he took the time to speak with me and indeed to be so open with his story. Come and sit as Mark and I pick away at the last of the catering left after a board meeting, and enjoy a chat in a boardroom in Paddington Sydney on a blue autumn afternoon.