Meet Elizabeth McEntyre

Dr Elizabeth McEntyre is a Worimi and Wonnarua woman through bloodlines and her Country spans Port Stephens, the Great Myall Lakes, the Barrington Tops, and the Hunter Valley in NSW.

Elizabeth is a Board Member of the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Hunter Local Land Services (covering to Mid North Coast, Lake Macquarie, Newcastle, and Upper Hunter), Mindaribba Local Aboriginal Land Council (covering Maitland and Lower Hunter Valley), and a Board Director of GP Synergy (NSW and ACT).

Elizabeth is a Doctor of Social Work (and Criminology), an accredited Mental Health Social Worker, the Aboriginal Official Visitor of prisons state-wide with the NSW Inspector of Custodial Services, and a member of the NSW Mental Health Review Tribunal conducting civil and forensic hearings.

Elizabeth has an extensive background of experience through her roles in both Government and the Aboriginal Community-led sectors providing a broad range of programs and services with Aboriginal peoples and communities including primary health, social and emotional wellbeing, criminal justice, disability, research, small business and strengthening Aboriginal families.

Elizabeth is a research consultant and advises several professional associations, service providers, Universities and consultative groups including the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP), Greening Australia, Griffith University, University of Sydney, and the University of NSW. With the latter, she is proudly associated with the Yuwaya Ngarra-li partnership between the University of NSW and Walgett Dharriwaa Elders Group to develop and implement innovative community-led solutions to address a range of complex challenges faced by the Walgett Community in remote NSW.

Elizabeth’s present research interests revolve around several studies, including assessing the disability needs of Indigenous prisoners, gaining an understanding about mental health and re-offending, investigating the impact of long-acting depot buprenorphine for prisoners with opioid dependence post-release, and documenting First Nations Peoples’ experiences and understanding of the forensic mental health system in NSW.