My skills, experience and academic history
Director and Consultant
Ms Robyn Hopkins MPH
I have an extensive history, training and career and specialist knowledge of working in the drug and alcohol sector and more recently in primary health care in the custodial setting. I am a specialist QUIT educator with knowledge and training not only working with tobacco but also in chewing tobacco (betel nut) I have trained teams under each of the above specialist areas. As a project manager I was responsible for the roll out of the first Australian Correctional Jurisdictions Smokefree policy.
Personal Skills
§ Strong balance between academic theory and hands on practical skills.
§ Committed to ethical practice with knowledge of how to work within complex systems.
§ Research and analytical skills
§ Ability to consult and incorporate local knowledge
§ Agency collaboration
§ Project management
§ Community and stakeholder engagement
§ Master of Public Health
§Post-graduate qualifications in Health Science (Management focus), Public Sector Management.
§Comprehensive knowledge of working in the public sector and the systems of government.
§ Strategic and cognisant of political imperatives.
§ Media management.
§ Published and co-authored several tobacco research papers.
§ Specialist trainer in tobacco cessation
§ Knowledge of the principals of introducing change management in the workplace with sensitivity, focus and the client outcome as the priority.
§ Strongly committed to the principals of mentoring and coaching to develop staff capacity.
§ Strong balance between academic theory and hands on practical skills.
§ Committed to ethical practice which has afforded me knowledge of how to work within complex systems.
§ Research and analytical skills
§ Agency and stakeholder collaboration
§ Experience in Project management and community engagement
§ Ability to sensitively consult with a range of stakeholders.
Key Achievements:
Led a number of International Consultancy’s with the WHO and the UN specifically in the area of tobacco control or in Prisoner Health with the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime. For more information please refer to each page which addresses this work.
§ Project managed and lead the development and implementation of the first Australian adult corrections smokefree program. This included continuous review and evaluation for outcome and effectiveness including research with Menzies post-release abstinence.
§ Promotes the opportunity cost that by improving prisoner health and wellbeing there can be related reductions in reoffending as well as resulting in better investment in the community health sector.
§ Organised and chaired the Corrective Services Administrators Conference (CSAC) National Medicare Working Group meetings.
Previously a key member on the Northern Territory Tobacco Control Action Committee (NTTCAC). This committee developed the Northern Territory (NT) Tobacco Action Plan 2019–2023 which provided a clear strategic direction for those working in tobacco control to implement specific activities with an aim to improve health outcomes in NT. Its focused efforts on providing increased awareness on the harmful effects of tobacco smoking, support for people to quit, greater access to clinical interventions, implementation and monitoring of smoke-free workplace policy and legislative support in the NT. This action plan is being monitored by the Northern Territory Tobacco Control Action Committee (NTTCAC). https://digitallibrary.health.nt.gov.au/prodjspui/bitstream/10137/7581/3/Tobacco%20action%20plan.pdf
Public health has added to my skill base by enabling me to understand the key public health concepts, principles and resources. The Master program,Menzies School of Health Research has a strong leaning towards indigenous health. The indigenous health papers have added to my skill base by enabling me to more broadly understand the key public health concepts, principles and resources. It has a focus on inequity and social and environmental determinants of health and how this influences an individual, a family or a community’s ability to function. This knowledge influences many of the areas I have worked in. There is also a critical interrogation of the relationship between the health of indigenous peoples, colonisation, disempowerment and impact on governance and leadership. Influences from key sociological concepts enables me to reflect on how social and cultural factors influence actions with all government provision of services systems. The thesis I am currently writing is “Relapse to smoking and other substance abuse and its link to recidivism.”
PUBLISHED RESEARCH
1 Hefler, M. P., Thomas, D., & Hopkins, R. (2016). Successes and unintended consequences of the Northern Territory's smoke-free prisons policy: Results from a process evaluation. Public Health Research and Practice, 26(2),
2 Dolan, K., Hopkins, R., Trends in cancer incidence and survival for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in the Northern Territory, Letter to the Editor MJA. 2017
3 Spaulding, A. et al (2018) Smoking in Correctional Settings Worldwide: prevalence, bans and interventions. Epidemiologic Reviews 40 (1)
4 Jin X, Kinner SA, Hopkins R, et al. Brief intervention on Smoking, Nutrition, Alcohol and Physical (SNAP) inactivity for smoking relapse prevention after release from smoke-free prisons: a study protocol for a multicentre, investigator-blinded, randomised controlled trial BMJ Open 2018
5 Hopkins, R. (2022) Smokefree NT Prisons: Supporting incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people to be smokefree. Menzies School of Health Research.