Dr Anthony Venning
Room 819, Hughes Building
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Area of Research
Positive Psychology
Mental Health Promotion
Senior Appointments and Memberships
Registered Psychologist in South Australia
Member Australian Psychological Society
Affiliate Member College of Clinical Psychologists
Awards
PhD commendation, Adelaide Graduate Centre 2010
Australian Postgraduate Award 2006
School of Psychology Publication Incentive Award 2006
Cancer Council Summer Scholarship 2004-2005
Psychology Research Interests
Broadly, I’m interested in how a positive psychological approach can be used to promote mental health and combat the symptoms of mental illness. Put another way, in contrast to an exclusive focus on mental illness, I’m interested how the promotion of an individual’s positive strengths can buffer against the onset of mental illness, or lessen its future impact, and enable them to move towards a sustainable state of mental health. My research to date has focused on measuring and describing the mental health of adolescents, and how those with poorer states of mental health can move towards and reach a state of Flourishing in life (the Hope Activation Cycle). While I’m interested in continuing this research in an adolescent / young adult population, I’m also interested in the application of a positive approach to mental health in a Defence population to lessen the impact of PTSD and a Forensic population to reduce recidivism.
Recent Key Publications
Venning, A., Eliott, J., Kettler, L., & Wilson, A. (in press). Complete Mental Health in South Australian Youth: measurement, prevalence, and promotion, In C.L.M. Keyes (Ed), Mental Well-Being: international contributions to the study of positive mental health (accepted 2011). Netherlands: Springer Publications.
Venning, A., Kettler, L., Zajac, I., Wilson, A., & Eliott, J. (2011). Is hope or mental illness a stronger predictor of mental health? International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 13, 31-38.
Venning, A., Eliott, J., Kettler, L., & Wilson, A. (2011). Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. In R.J. Levesque (Ed.), Encyclopaedia of Adolescence (pp.439-447). New York, New York: Springer.
Venning, A., Kettler, L., Eliott, J., & Wilson, A. (2009). The effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with hopeful elements to prevent the development of depression in young people: a systematic review. International Journal of Evidence Based Healthcare, 7, 15-33.
Venning, A., Eliott, J., Kettler, L., & Wilson, A. (2009). Normative data for the Hope Scale using Australian adolescents. Australian Journal of Psychology, 61, 100-106.
