Rate My Professor Tonelle Handley

Dr. Tonelle E. Handley serves as a Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle's Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health, within the School of Medicine and Public Health. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Newcastle, where her doctoral thesis, "Suicide in urban and rural Australia: determinants, moderators and treatment options for suicidal thoughts and behaviours," was supervised by experts including Kerry Inder, Frances Kay-Lambkin, and Brian Kelly. Her earlier qualifications include a Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology, both obtained from the University of Newcastle. Handley's career trajectory includes research positions across university and health sectors, bolstered by a PhD scholarship and a postdoctoral fellowship from Australian Rotary Health. Her work emphasizes quantitative approaches to psychiatric epidemiology, particularly in rural contexts.

Handley's research interests encompass rural mental health, suicide prevention, comorbid mental and substance use disorders, and the psychological impacts of environmental stressors such as drought and climate change on farmers and rural communities. She explores risk and protective factors for suicidal ideation, the predictive value of social integration and support, mental health service needs, barriers, and facilitators, as well as community attitudes and access to care. Key publications include "Drought-related stress among farmers: findings from the Australian Rural Mental Health Study" (Medical Journal of Australia, 2018), "The challenges of predicting suicidal thoughts and behaviours in a sample of rural Australians with depression" (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2018), "Concerns about climate change among rural residents in Australia" (Journal of Rural Studies, 2020), "You’ve got to have friends: the predictive value of social integration and support in suicidal ideation among rural communities" (Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 2012), and "Contributors to suicidality in rural communities: beyond the effects of depression" (BMC Psychiatry, 2012). These works, drawing from large-scale studies like the Australian Rural Mental Health Study, have garnered substantial citations and informed interventions, policy, and public health strategies to enhance mental health outcomes in underserved rural populations. Her contributions also extend to evaluations of suicide prevention programs, integrated care models, and the efficacy of online resources for suicidal individuals.