Faculty Member

Dr Johanna Lynch is a retired GP who has devoted her career to understanding and caring for those whose distress is often ignored or minimised in our community. She now works consulting to national projects on domestic violence, child sexual abuse and sexual assault, as well as researching ways to assess distress that do not miss violation, neglect, and injustice. She also offers individual and group supervision to multidisciplinary clinicians who want to learn how to offer strengths-based, trauma-informed whole person care.

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Johanna's clinical work included working as a GP in the Brisbane Bayside for ten years followed by 15 years working as a GP psychotherapist caring for adult survivors of neglect and trauma who had often received multiple mental health and physical diagnoses without anyone listening to their life stories. During those years she pioneered the establishment of the first transdisciplinary trauma clinic in Australia - named Integrate Place (2009-2013) This practical clinical work of being with those in our community who are often marginalised, misunderstood, and categorised with multiple mental health diagnoses has led her to search for approaches to the whole person that are applicable across disciplines. She has pioneered approaches that actively work against the fragmentation caused by trauma and neglect.

Johanna also teaches medical students and works as a clinical academic as Senior Lecturer with The University of Queensland's General Practice Clinical Unit. She is a clinical advisor to a domestic and family violence program with Brisbane South PHN and to Blue Knot Foundation, is on the ALIVE National Centre for Mental Health Research Intersectoral policy committee, and is president of the Australian Society for Psychological Medicine that educates supports and champions GPs and allied health providers who offer complex whole person care. She teaches mental health skills and trauma-informed care to GPs, medical students, and multidisciplinary clinicians.

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2019 PhD The University of Queensland
2016 Fellowship Australian Society for Psychological Medicine
2007 Graduate Certificate (Grief and Loss) The University of Queensland
2003 Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
1992 MBBS The University of Queensland

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Research Interests

Transdisciplinary methodology

Whole Person Care

Trauma-informed care

Sense of Safety

Holding the complex whole: generalist philosophy, priorities and practice that facilitate whole-person care

Lynch, Johanna M., Thomas, Hayley R., Askew, Deborah A. and Sturman, Nancy (2023). Holding the complex whole: generalist philosophy, priorities and practice that facilitate whole-person care. Australian Journal of General Practice, 52 (7), 428-433. doi: 10.31128/AJGP-01-23-6686

Whole person assessment for family medicine: a systematic review

Thomas, Hayley Robyn, Best, Megan, Chua, David, King, David and Lynch, Johanna (2023). Whole person assessment for family medicine: a systematic review. BMJ Open, 13 (4) e065961, e065961. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-065961

The Craft of Generalism clinical skills and attitudes for whole person care

Lynch, Johanna M., Driel, Mieke, Meredith, Pamela, Stange, Kurt C., Getz, Linn, Reeve, Joanne, Miller, William L. and Dowrick, Christopher (2021). The Craft of Generalism clinical skills and attitudes for whole person care. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 28 (6), 1187-1194. doi: 10.1111/jep.13624

A whole person approach to wellbeing: building sense of safety

Lynch, Johanna (2021). A whole person approach to wellbeing: building sense of safety. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003044833

Biology and experience intertwined – trauma, neglect and physical health

Lynch, Johanna and Kirkengen, Anna Luise (2019). Biology and experience intertwined – trauma, neglect and physical health. Humanising mental health care in Australia: a guide to trauma-informed approaches. (pp. 195-208) edited by Richard Benjamin, Joan Haliburn and Serena King. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780429021923-15

Beyond symptoms: Defining primary care mental health clinical assessment priorities, content and process

Lynch, Johanna M., Askew, Deborah A., Mitchell, Geoffrey K. and Hegarty, Kelsey L. (2012). Beyond symptoms: Defining primary care mental health clinical assessment priorities, content and process. Social Science and Medicine, 74 (2), 143-149. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.08.043

'I thought I was about to die': management of non-fatal strangulation in general practice

Victoire, Anousha, De Boos, Julia and Lynch, Johanna (2022). 'I thought I was about to die': management of non-fatal strangulation in general practice. Australian Journal of General Practice, 51 (11), 871-876. doi: 10.31128/AJGP-10-21-6195

Recognising and responding to domestic and family violence in general practice

Lynch, Johanna, Stone, Louise and Victoire, Anousha (2022). Recognising and responding to domestic and family violence in general practice. Australian Journal of General Practice, 51 (11), 863-869. doi: 10.31128/AJGP-03-22-6375

Where the joy comes from: a qualitative exploration of deep GP-patient relationships

Thomas, Hayley, Lynch, Johanna, Burch, Emily, Best, Megan, Ball, Lauren, Sturgiss, Elizabeth and Sturman, Nancy (2023). Where the joy comes from: a qualitative exploration of deep GP-patient relationships. BMC Primary Care, 24 (1) 268, 1-14. doi: 10.1186/s12875-023-02224-0

‘Things we are expected to just do and deal with’: Using the medical humanities to encourage reflection on vulnerability and nurture clinical skills, collegiality, compassion, and self-care

Kelly, Michaela, Lynch, Johanna, Mainstone, Penny, Green, Alison and Sturman, Nancy (2022). ‘Things we are expected to just do and deal with’: Using the medical humanities to encourage reflection on vulnerability and nurture clinical skills, collegiality, compassion, and self-care. Perspectives on Medical Education, 11 (5), 300-304. doi: 10.1007/s40037-022-00724-w

Myth-busting: role of the GP in primary mental health care.

Stone, Louise, Spielman, Karen, Tam, Michael, Lynch, Johanna, Su, May, Senior, Tim, Price, Karen, Chalmers, Sarah and Burton, Gwendoline (2022). Myth-busting: role of the GP in primary mental health care. . Insight+.

Heard, known, and safe in general practice? An interview study with patients with severe and persistent mental illness

Sturman, Nancy Jennifer, Williams, Ryan, Wyder, Marianne and Lynch, Johanna (2022). Heard, known, and safe in general practice? An interview study with patients with severe and persistent mental illness. BJGP Open, 6 (2) BJGPO.2021.0201. doi: 10.3399/bjgpo.2021.0201

The Craft of Generalism clinical skills and attitudes for whole person care

Lynch, Johanna M., Driel, Mieke, Meredith, Pamela, Stange, Kurt C., Getz, Linn, Reeve, Joanne, Miller, William L. and Dowrick, Christopher (2021). The Craft of Generalism clinical skills and attitudes for whole person care. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 28 (6), 1187-1194. doi: 10.1111/jep.13624

Long-term antidepressant use in general practice: a qualitative study of GPs' views on discontinuation

Donald, Maria, Partanen, Riitta, Sharman, Leah, Lynch, Johanna, Dingle, Genevieve A., Haslam, Catherine and van Driel, Mieke (2021). Long-term antidepressant use in general practice: a qualitative study of GPs' views on discontinuation. British Journal of General Practice, 71 (708), BJGP.2020.0913-e516. doi: 10.3399/bjgp.2020.0913

The effects of social group interventions for depression: systematic review

Dingle, Genevieve A., Sharman, Leah S., Haslam, Catherine, Donald, Maria, Turner, Cynthia, Partanen, Riitta, Lynch, Johanna, Draper, Grace and van Driel, Mieke L. (2021). The effects of social group interventions for depression: systematic review. Journal of Affective Disorders, 281, 67-81. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.11.125