About Mark Ellis
Session title: The power of collaboration in creating a genuinely non clinical alternative to the emergency department for people experiencing suicidal crisis.
Biography: Mark is a Lived Experience Advocate, Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Peer Worker with 30 years of experience supporting people living with complex and enduring mental and emotional distress.
Mark has worked in a variety of professional roles across the Disability, Aged Care, Schools, Mental Health and Suicide Prevention sectors. He is currently the Service Leader of Safe Haven Wollongong – the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District’s Alternative to ED service funded by the NSW Ministry of Health as part of its Towards Zero Suicides initiative.
Mark lives in the Wollongong region and is a Lived Experience Member of the Illawarra Shoalhaven Suicide Collaborative, Roses in the Ocean’s Lived Experience Advisory Group, the Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD’s Towards Zero Suicides Steering Group and a Co-facilitator of the Shelter Peer Support Group.