Professor Richard Bryant Hon FAPS
President’s Award for Distinguished Contribution to Psychology in Australia

Award type: Showcase

Profession Bryant is an internationally renowned disaster expert who has been involved in recovery work in most of the major disasters in Australia and around the world spanning over 3 decades. His contribution to the field of disaster recovery, and to the development of the APS knowledge base and resources has been immense. 

Most recently Professor Bryant and his team have been conducting a research trial to help understand the most effective ways to manage COVID-19-related stress and mood changes. Richard is also a 20-year tenured researcher in the nature, course, and treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, and works in creating some of the programs for treatment. Considered the world-leading authority in early psychological factors that occur immediately after trauma and that influence long-term trajectories of mental health.

Professor Bryant’s research has led to major policy and practice shifts locally and internationally in relation to how trauma survivors are managed. His Traumatic Stress Clinic – the largest treatment centre in Australia – helped NSW become the first jurisdiction in the world to reduce PTSO in first responders, generating a mental health strategy for survivors of bushfire. In a world first, Professor Bryant also adapated his early treatment protocol to develop a video conferencing program to address the mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bryant has worked on many Australian and international projects aimed at reducing PTSD and other mental health disorders following trauma exposure. These include the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, the 2004 Asian tsunami, and Hurricane Katrina. For example, he worked with the Thai Ministry of Health to develop a mental health initiative to manage the effects of the tsunami on mental health. Following Hurricane Katrina, he was invited to co-develop a mental health protocol for managing disasters in the USA. Bryant adapted his protocol in the aftermath of the major Black Friday in Australia, which government authorities adopted as the mental health response to the disaster. In addition, he served on the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-5 Working Group on Traumatic Stress Disorders and the World Health Organisation's ICD-11 Traumatic Stress Advisory Group to develop the new diagnostic definitions of traumatic stress disorders.