A/Prof James Courtney is an Associate Professor and Director of the Turner Clinics at the Monash School of Psychological Sciences. He provides a clinical governance role for research and community facing activities across the clinics and holds oversight for the establishment of clinical services, training opportunities, and clinical research programs. James leads the Trauma Clinic and is also an academic staff member in the Doctor of Philosophy (Clinical Psychology), Doctor of Philosophy (Clinical Neuropsychology), and Master of Clinical Psychology programs with teaching responsibilities for psychopathology and psychopharmacology at this applied post graduate level. He supervises PhD candidates with a focus on trauma projects and provides clinical supervision of provisional psychologists from several training pathways as well as psychologists undertaking the registrar training program. James is also a registered Worksafe Independent Medical Examiner (Psychology). 

James has pursued a clinically focused career that encompasses roles in the public sector as a trauma specialist, private practice, and government consulting roles. He has specialist expertise in the assessment and evidence-based treatment of mental health disorders associated with occupational exposure to trauma and responses to natural disasters. He was employed in a pivotal role with the State trauma service in the years following the Black Saturday bushfires where he managed the delivery of clinical services to bushfire affected communities in rural and remote settings and provided supervision to clinicians in outreach services. He has strong experience with frontline responders and emergency services, military personnel from numerous theatres of war, and veterans. He has contributed significantly to the education and training of clinicians and remains committed to the training of our ‘next generation’ of psychologists in evidence-based care.  

James holds specific research interests in the clinical treatment of trauma related mental health disorders associated with occupational exposure in the emergency services. He has established associations with several industry partners to investigate the efficacy and outcomes of novel programs with a specific focus on achieving meaningful reduction in trauma symptomatology, return to work potential, and concurrent management of comorbidities. His research has focused on theoretical aspects of PTSD as a construct, and the negative outcomes associated with shift work; notably, sleep dysfunction, fatigue, and mood related disorders. He is currently focused on the relevance of complex PTSD to chronic occupational exposure to trauma.  

James has developed a regional presence as an invited speaker at several international conferences including Kathmandu, New Delhi India and New Zealand where he has delivered keynote presentations and masterclasses to train clinicians in trauma informed assessment and interventions. James has a working relationship with the Indian Association of CBT where he provides clinical guidance to the growing presence of psychology and has delivered specialist lectures at Amity university in New Delhi. In a local context, James is collaborating with several industry partners including the Code 9 Foundation, The Police Association, DXC, WorkSafe Victoria, the Australian College of Paramedicine, and the NSW State Insurance Regulatory Authority where he has delivered seminars to several hundred case managers on trauma informed care.