Nursing, Midwifery & Indigenous Health

I trained as a General and Psychiatric Nurse in the UK, before undertaking my teaching certificate and then a 'night school' MA in State, Policy and Social Change, with a major in Ethnic Minorities and Mental Health Care. My PhD, at La Trobe University in Victoria, is an examination of mental hospital administration and the decline of moral therapy as the treatment of choice in lunatic asylums.

Formerly, I was the Assistant Director of Nursing, and Practice Development Advisor at a large mental hospital in another state of Australia. I have taught at the University of South Australia and at La Trobe, and for around ten years in the hospital sector. I also have experience in a community mental health team in a rural and remote setting in South Australia, as well as in the usual range of in-patient settings.

Teaching Interests

Teaching Interests

• Course Coordinator - Graduate Certificate in Rural Mental Health Nursing
• Mental Health Nursing
• Management, clinical decision making

Career Highlights

• Winner of Faculty of Science Award for Academic Excellence (Teaching) 2009.
• Nominated for Vice-Chancellor's Award for Reaching Excellence 2009

Research Interests

• Ethical decision making by health professionals
• Historical aspects of mental health nursing
• Ageing and depression
• Cultural issues in mental health
• Generational aspects of mental health workforce development
• Rural mental health
• History of mental health service provision in Australia

Professional Activities

Memberships

• ANZAME: Association for Health Professional Education
• Australian College of Mental Health Nurses

Professional Activities

• Mental Health Nurses Advisory Group (MHNAG)

Publications

• Crowther, A (ed) 2008, Nurse managers, a guide to practice, Ausmed, Melbourne
• Crowther, A 2008, Counselling your staff, Ausmed, Melbourne.
• Crowther, A 2008, Managing relatives concerns, Ausmed, Melbourne.
• Crowther, A., Jefferey, R2007, Group reflective practice as clinical knowledge enhancement in a rehabilitation mental health nursing setting, Focus on Health Professional Education: A Multi-disciplinary Journal, ANZAME, Adelaide
• Crowther, A (ed) 2004, Nurse managers, a guide to practice, Ausmed, Melbourne
• Crowther, A 2004, Counselling your staff, Ausmed, Melbourne.
• Crowther, A 2004, Managing relatives concerns, Ausmed, Melbourne.
• Crowther, A 2003, 'The Asylum in Victoria', in Mackinnon, D &
  Coleborne, C, Madness in Australia; Asylum, history and heritage, Queensland
  University Press, Brisbane.
• Crowther, A (ed) The La Trobe Bendigo Pfizer-Roerig Mental Health Nursing Monographs (Bendigo. La Trobe University, 1999)
• Crowther, A Aspects of contemporary multiculturalism and mental health in Andrew Crowther (1999) ibid.
• Crowther, A, Gloria, L, Nayda, R, Wotherspoon, J. Nursing Students from Non English speaking Backgrounds Undertaking CLinical Practicum, and Alternative Approach. (Adelaide, University of South Australia, 1994)