What if the key to better hepatitis C care is rethinking what we mean by “culturally safe”?  

ASHM’s interactive Forum returns for its fourth year with a dynamic three-part design to challenge assumptions, centre lived experience and turn person-centred care into practical system change. Expect bold conversations, hands-on sessions and real-world strategies you can take straight back to practice. 

Click HERE to view the printable flyer.

Click HERE to view the program.

Date, Time & Platform:  

Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2026 

Time zones:

Platform: Online – Zoom 

Target Audience: 

All health workers, including clinicians and prescribers, service managers, nurses, AOD workers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers, peer workers, and other health professionals who work in any setting with priority populations and are involved in the assessment and work-up of people with hepatitis C in Australia. 

Speakers/Facilitators: 

Chairs

• Dr Jacqui Richmond – RN, Program Manager, Workforce Development and Health Service Delivery, Burnet Institute, Melbourne.
• Dr Joss O’Loan – Co-Founder of The Kombi Clinic, Senior Lecturer, GP and Addiction Medicine advanced trainee, Queensland

Keynote and Academic Speakers

• Prof Carla Treloar – Centre for Social Research in Health and the Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales.
• Collins Adu – PhD Candidate, Centre for Social Research in Health, University of New South Wales.
• Prof Kate Seear – Australian Research Council Industry Fellow, and Research Impact Director, Faculty of Business and Law, Deakin University

Community, Clinical and Lived Experience Contributors

• Jenny Grant – Education Coordinator, Hepatitis SA
• Richard Kennedy – National BBV and Operations Lead, AIVL, New South Wales
• Dorrit Grimstrup – Prison Transition Coordinator, QuIHN, Queensland
• Belinda Ott – Prison Transition Coordinator, QuIHN, Queensland
• Chris Kinlyside – Lived Experience, Queensland
• Jon Kok – Lived Experience Representative, LiverWELL, Victoria

Practice and Service Delivery Speakers

• Esha Leyden – Peer Harm Reduction Coordinator, QuIHN, Queensland
• Liz Tehan – Nurse Navigator, HepLink, Hepatitis Australia, New South Wales
• Karen Nicolaysen – Operations Manager, NTAHC Alice Springs, Northern Territory
• Lucy Hanrahan – Pharmacotherapy Nurse Practitioner, Gateway Health, Victoria
• Caddie Russell – Program Manager, Gateway Health, Victoria

Course Components: 

• 3-hour interactive Forum: 
  • Part 1- Webinar Presentation: Reframing Safety and Person-Centred Care 
  • Part 2- Interactive Panel Discussion: Lived Experience, Stigma and Intersectionality 
  • Part 3- Workshop: Translational of Practice and System Level Action 
• Completion of the post-course evaluation survey  

Learning Outcomes: 

1. Describe how person-centred care and universal safety principles can strengthen the quality and cultural responsiveness of health and community service. 

2. Recognise how stigma, unconscious bias, and intersecting identities influence people’s experiences of care, access to services, and health outcomes.

3. Apply lived experience insights to support greater inclusivity, trust, and responsiveness within clinical, community, and service settings. 

4. Identify practical and scalable translational strategies to support system-level improvement and more equitable care pathways. 

Endorsement and CPD:  

Acknowledgements

ASHM would like to acknowledge the National Steering Committee —  represented by people with a living or experience, and national, state, territory, and local health services — who have guided the development and planning of the Forum. 

Endorsement is currently pending. This activity may be suitable for self-claiming 3 CPD hours with your professional body. 

Funding:  

This course received funding from the Australian Centre for Disease Control.