Service to psychology

Dr Christopher Lennings of Woy Woy has been awarded an Order of Australia Medal in the general division on the 2013 Queens Birthday Honours List.

Dr Lennings was awarded the OAM for service to psychology and to the community.

"I have tried to make a difference in a lot of people's lives, by both direct work, and working with people as a volunteer in agencies, mostly with reference to young people," said Dr Lennings.

"I have had a strong social justice orientation throughout all my work, paid and unpaid, and I suspect that this sense of commitment and finding the value in others has something to do with my nomination," he said.

Dr Lennings said it was "a huge honour and so left field" to receive the award.

"It is not something I ever thought about," he said.

Dr Lennings said he loved the "intangibles to success" the most about his work.

"That is not money or the passage of time, but status among my peers, increased knowledge and skill, respect, friendship, and feeling I am making a difference."

Dr Lennings has been the founding director and clinical and forensic psychologist of Lennings Seidler Collins Psychology since 2008 and provides pro-bono forensic and clinical psychological services and preparation of court reports.

He has been the director of LennMac Consulting since 1998 and a panel member of the Barnardos Adoption Panel since 2007.

He received ministerial appointment on the Accreditation Panel for Counsellors working with Sexual Abusers, NSW Commission for Children and Young People in 2002 and was a member of various review committees from 2005 to 2009.

He was also an occasional member of the NSW Psychology Board Tribunal from 2004 to 2010 and a member of the Collaborative Research Committee for Juvenile Justice NSW from 1997 to 2004.

He was a member of South Western Sydney Youth Drug Rehabilitation Unit, NSW Department of Health from 1997 to 2004, a member of the Legislative Evaluation Committee for Tobacco Advertising, Department of Health and Aged Care from 2002 to 2003 and an occasional member of the Professional Standards Committee, NSW Psychologists Registration Board since 2002.

He is the current honorary associate of the Department of Psychology, Macquarie University and was a part-time lecturer from 1996 to 2002.

He is also the current honorary associate in the Faculty of Health Science at the University of Sydney and was a senior lecturer in psychology, School of Behavioural Sciences from 1996 to 2009.

He is the current honorary associate for the Police Academy at Charles Sturt University and was a lecturer in the School of Social Science at Queensland University of Technology from 1994 to 1996.

He has also been a part-time clinical psychologist for the Department of Veterans Affairs since 2000, a part-time clinical psychologist for the Juvenile Justice NSW since 1997 and a part-time clinical psychologist for Legal Aid since 1996.

He was the senior research associate for Brisbane North Alcohol and Drug Service in1995, a senior clinical psychologist at Yasmar Juvenile Detention Centre for the NSW Department of Family and Community Services from 1987 to 1990 and has been a member of the Australian Psychological Society since 1987.

He has also been a member of the NSW Executive Committee for the Australian Psychological Society since 1988, a member of the College of Forensic Psychologists since 1993, a member of the College of Clinical Psychologists since 1996,a member of the NSW Executive Committee for the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law since 1998 and a clinical member of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Treatment of Sex Abusers since 1999.

He was a member of the College of Counselling Psychologists from 1995 to 2003 and a member of the College of Community Psychologists from 1986-1996.

He is also the co-author, publisher and reviewer of over 90 scientific papers, journal articles, reports and books including Breaking the Juvenile Crime Cycle, Opportunistic intervention to reduce suicide risk among alcohol and substance misusing clients and Co-morbidity in young offenders: Implications for management.

Kaitlin Watts, 4 Jun 2013

Interviewee: Christopher Lennings

Email, 3 Jun 2013

Susan Fischer, Honours Secretariat