About / Board and Advisory Committee
Our Board of Directors
Susana Bluwol
– Founder and Board Director
Susana Bluwol is the Founder and Board Director of Bipolar Australia.
Ms Bluwol is an educator, speaker, and peer leader who has presented at national and international conferences and appeared on SBS radio and television. She founded Bipolar Australia in 2014, and continues to use her lived experience of bipolar disorder to guide the organisation’s work. As an immigrant from Argentina, Ms Bluwol has a special interest in incorporating insights from the multifamily therapeutic community model, which was originally developed in Buenos Aires during the 1960s, into Australian best practice for bipolar.
Vicki Katsifis
– Director
Vicki has been working in the mental health sector for 28 years. She started as a peer worker in the inpatient and community setting. Vicki ran recovery groups and one on one sessions. She shared her lived experience in a purposeful and authentic way. She worked in multicultural mental health both state and nationwide coordinating consumer advocacy groups, pioneering a Speakers Bureau and various projects such as a DVD and Theatre performance piece. She worked as a trainer at the Mental Health Coordinating Council and currently has a position as the Senior Peer Learning Advisor/Educator at the South Eastern Sydney Recovery and Wellbeing College. She also has her own business in peer supervision.
Vicki started her personal recovery journey in her 20s and had many challenges with personal and professional achievements along the way. In the early days of a diagnosis with bipolar disorder, she experienced stigma, isolation, unemployment, and a revolving door of hospital admissions. After 5 years of this she became employed as a peer worker and found purpose and routine in her life. She completed a diploma of counselling and diploma of community services and was focused on her nutrition and exercise and incorporating relaxation techniques at the end of the day. She is a featured author on “In our own words” book and spoke of the importance of authenticity in her life. It took many years for Vicki to speak her truth and develop her self-concept, so authenticity is her highest value.
Vicki continues to work in mental health and hopes to contribute to Bipolar Australia in a meaningful way.
Osvaldo (Michael) Bluwol
– Founding Member
Michael Bluwol is a Founding Member of Bipolar Australia, its initial financial supporter, and the Honorary Secretary and Treasurer.
Born in Argentina, Michael migrated to Australia in 1983 as an Architect working in that field for a short time and later as a building consultant. He also held qualifications from the Ibero-American Conservatorium of Music and in 1987 obtained accreditation by the Australian Music Examinations Board and worked as a Piano, Theory and Musicianship Teacher as well as a performer and arranger. His third career change was in 1998 when he graduated as a Conveyancer from Macquarie University School of Law, and practiced as a Licensed Property Conveyancer for over 25 years. He is also the Principal of Rhodes IT, an e-commerce and virtual assistant firm. Michael is experienced in law and finance; he established Bipolar Australia’s regulatory framework and since its inception in 2014, continues to provide his broad-based knowledge attending to the organisation’s secretarial, financial and legal requirements.
Bernard Mitchell
– Director
Bernard “Bernie” Mitchell was elected as a Director of Bipolar Australia in 2016, and currently serves as a member of the Advisory Committee.
Mr Mitchell is an author, speaker, and life coach whose autobiography “Bipolar: A Path to Acceptance” has a 4.5 star rating on Amazon.com.au. He has owned and operated successful businesses in the real estate and coaching industries. Mr Mitchell supports Bipolar Australia’s work by combining his professional expertise of business ownership with his personal lived experience of successfully managing mental health challenges.