Dr Sally Hunt is a Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor. Sally was the inaugural Convenor of the Master of Professional Psychology Program at the University of Newcastle from 2018 - 2026, training provisionally registered psychologists. She is also the Convenor of HDR programs in the Discipline of Psychology. 

She has worked both clinically and in a research capacity in the field of mental health for over 20 years, focusing on comorbidly occurring conditions including affective disorders, psychosis, personality disorders, and alcohol/other drug use problems. Sally has experience in the use of neuropsychological assessment, cognitive behaviour therapy, motivational interviewing and mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques among these populations.

Sally completed her PhD in 2015 under the supervision of Professor Amanda Baker and Emeritus Professor Pat Michie in the Priority Research Centre for Translational Neuroscience and Mental Health at the University of Newcastle. Sally’s PhD examined the neuropsychological profiles of people presenting with comorbid depression and alcohol use disorders. 

Sally’s research interests include developing and building an evidence base for e-Health interventions for co-occurring disorders and the wider dissemination of these evidence-based treatments into practice. Her post-doctoral focus has been on women's mental health, particularly problematic alcohol use by women, and psychological birth trauma. She is currently developing assessment tools and interventions to better identify and intervene in this population.

Recent collaborations include the NNN Program with Prof Tamara Blakemore (UoN), and psychological birth trauma with Dr Katrina Prior (USyd) and Dr Abi Rose (Liverpool John Moores University). 

More recently, her translational work has been recognised with a UoN School of Medicine and Public Health Staff Award for Early Career Research and Innovation Excellence (2017), and the Australian Rotary Health Impact Award (formerly the Knowledge Dissemination Award) 2018. Sally is a current recipient of the 2020 University of Newcastle Women in Research Fellowship.

Research Expertise: Developmental Psychology; Alcohol & Other Drug Use; Clinical Psychology; Mental Health; Counselling; Depression; Psychosis; Cognitive Behaviour Therapy