Hala is the founder and director of Global Echo Consultants, and the Institute of non-violence. Her focus is gender equity and antiracism, acknowledging these are linked to economic and environmental justice. She specialises in working with individuals who use family and domestic violence, as well as providing professional training and clinical supervision to practitioners in the space.

Since 2003, Hala has spoken at various local, national, and international conferences as well as various radio and TV programs, in Australia and overseas. A receiver of several awards including the Victorian Award for Multicultural Affairs, an attendee at the Australian 2020 Summit in 2008, and a Vincent Fairfax Fellow since 2009. Hala is also the presenter of Groupwork Centre’s podcast Facilitate This! 

A lover of languages, people and creativity, Hala has lived, travelled, and worked in more than 50 countries and across the not-for-profit, public and private sectors.

Jolene Ellat is Director and Founder of the Domestic Abuse Resource and Training Group (DART Group) and the CEO of DART Institute.

Jolene is a domestic family violence (DFV) and sexual violence specialist with over 15 years of experience. She provides research, workforce development consultancy, professional training and supervision for government and non-government agencies and community groups. She provides policy and practice expertise in prevention, early intervention, perpetrator intervention, supervision and trauma recovery. She has a special interest in cultural diversity and competency when working with families from diverse backgrounds.

During her early career, Jolene worked with family law services in coordinated response and managerial roles. She provided women’s advocacy across Western Australia, conducted clinical interviews and wrote forensic reports to the Department of Justice.

Jolene is experienced in perpetrator intervention research and training. She facilitated and coordinated the Connect and Respect, men’s behaviour change program for the Department of Justice. She worked with peak bodies implementing the COVID-19 response (funded through the Department of Communities’) to ensure perpetrator visibility across Western Australia throughout COVID-19 and into economic recovery.

Jolene has a track record for leading multi-agency and multi-disciplinary approaches to FDV intervention. Recently, she conducted research into supporting the Family Domestic Violence Response Teams (FDVRTs) and facilitated cross-sectorial professional development with Police (WAPOL), child protection and the Coordinated Response Service (8 specialist sector agencies).

As a leading Safe and Together trainer, Jolene has personally delivered CORE training to over 600 practitioners across Australia. She has also designed and delivered professional training in prevention, early intervention, tertiary intervention and perpetrator intervention for the Department of Communities, Justice Department and WA Department of Health. Jolene has also customised programs such as supporting children recovering from FDV and FDV informed practice supervision training. She designs and delivers a series of webinars across Australia.

Jolene has an impressive academic and research record. She has led national projects, including the evaluation and recommendations towards the ACT’s Family Violence Safety Action Pilot. Jolene is an active contributor to academic publications. She presents nationally and internationally at conferences and is invited as a guest speaker on live panels.

Jolene is well qualified with a Bachelor of Arts Education/Psychology from Edith Cowan University, A Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Studies and Human Rights from Curtin University; a Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy from Notre Dame; and a Professional Certificate in Childhood Trauma from the University of South Australia.

Taimalelagi Mataio Faafetai (Matt) Brown, is a New Zealand-born Samoan author and renowned communicator who works to eradicate domestic violence by supporting those who perpetrate violence, to heal. A survivor of family violence and childhood sexual abuse himself, he originally started his domestic violence advocacy work by sharing his story with the men who frequented his busy barbershops as a way to foster vulnerability, healing, and connection.

Matt believes his true calling lies in his work to redefine society’s view of masculinity and help end the cycle of domestic violence plaguing families worldwide. For over a decade, Matt has hosted free men’s anti-violence support groups in locations like barbershops, construction sites, gang pads, prisons, and Indigenous spaces. He has facilitated multiple programs inside men’s and youth prisons and was named a Corrections NZ patron in 2020.

A New Zealand Māori (Ngāpuhi/Te Rarawa) wāhine, Sarah is a writer and producer who is passionate about the mandate of ‘creating violence-free communities’ and has worked alongside Matt to re-define the way we communicate about family violence with creativity and innovation. Since 2018, Matt and Sarah have partnered with the NZ Ministry of Social Development as ambassadors for their ‘It’s not OK Campaign’ and were funded to develop and launch an app; innerBoy to promote accessible healing for Indigenous men. Together the couple co-founded She Is Not Your Rehab and launched the concept in Matt’s 2019 TEDx talk. Matt says the movement is an invitation for men to acknowledge their childhood trauma and to take responsibility for their healing so that they can transform their pain instead of transmitting it to those around them.

The couple released their first book; an NZ #1 Bestseller; She Is Not Your Rehab to encourage intergenerational healing in 2021, raising $100k and donating 10k+ copies of the book to all NZ prisons; to every person incarcerated and launched a book club program inside prison. In November 2022 they opened the She Is Not Your Rehab art gallery in Christchurch, NZ, and a virtual gallery online that hosts the exhibition; ‘Who is She?’ in collaboration with Mr G; an acclaimed NZ graffiti artist.

In 2023, the couple launched innerBoy, their first mental health tech product for supporting men in healing from intergenerational trauma. It is a free and accessible app available to men nationwide. It was later released in Australia in 2024. She Is Not Your Rehab also launched Love U Bro Day in 2024. Every year on September 6th Love U Bro Day aims to spark important conversations around men’s mental health – birthed in empathy and love. During the 2024 campaign, over 17 million people were reached via the viral online videos for Love U Bro Day.

Sarah and Matt became members of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2022 and were awarded a Commonwealth Points of Light award by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as Head of the Commonwealth before she passed.

Dr Astrid Perry is the Head of Women, Equity and Domestic and Family Violence at SSI (Settlement Services International) a leading multicultural not-for-profit organisation providing a range of services in the areas of humanitarian settlement, accommodation, asylum seeker assistance, foster care and disability support in NSW. 

As a senior leader at SSI, Astrid is leading the implementation of the Women and Girls Strategic Plan that she has developed with her team to increase the focus on outcomes for women. Her passion to address Domestic and Family Violence led her to develop several DFV projects for multicultural communities, including a bicultural and bilingual Men’s Behaviour Change Program, to intensify the focus on advocacy for migrant and refugee women and their children. 

Astrid has held numerous positions on advisory councils such as TAFE Community Advisory Board, Australian National Council of Refugee Women, National Multicultural Advisory Committee Department of Human Services and Police Advisory Council on Ethnic Communities, to name a few. 

Astrid holds a PhD in Sociology, a Bachelor of Social Science and several other qualifications, including in residential care for children and young people and Diploma in Health Leadership.

Brodie Evans, Ph.D is the Practice Manager of the Responsible Men program at YFS Ltd and the current Secretary of SPEAQ Network (Services and Practitioners for the Elimination of Abuse QLD). Brodie has extensive experience facilitating, and supervising and training facilitators of men’s domestic and family violence perpetrator intervention group programs. Brodie sits on various other networks and committees contributing to the development of the domestic and family violence sector and advocacy for law and systems reforms in Australia including authoring key submissions. Recently, Brodie co-founded QTWAV (Queer and Trans Workers Against Violence) and continues to deliver training to build capacity of practitioners and services to respond to DFV in LGBTIQA+ communities. Coming from academia with over ten years of teaching and research experience, Brodie remains a Visiting Fellow for the QUT Centre for Justice.

Sarah specialises in primary prevention of violence, men’s behaviour change, and adult education. She is passionate about fighting for the rights of communities that are under attack within oppressive systems, in order to improve the social conditions for all. Sarah loves working creatively as a community capacity builder, caseworker, educator and facilitator in both mainstream and LGBTQSB+ communities to help build strength, solidarity, safety and hope in the process of change.

Hunter believes that breaking down rigid gender stereotypes and promoting healthy and respectful expressions of masculinity are vital steps towards reducing violence and making our communities safer for everyone. He is deeply committed to positive social change and has a history of advocacy and community engagement promoting the safety and inclusion of marginalised individuals and groups. With a wide-ranging background in the community sector, diversity training, community health promotion, and the fitness industry, he has worked on many projects addressing barriers experienced by a range of clients with complex needs. Hunter is always learning and is fascinated by the links between our physical, emotional, intellectual and relational selves.  

Elliott McMahon (he/him, living on Wurundjeri Country) is the Program Manager in Queerspace and Family Violence Response, Drummond Street Services. Elliott worked in Housing First homelessness programs as well as medically supervised injecting rooms before leading a flagship Alcohol and other Drug program with a focus on centering harm reduction and lived expertise in a crisis accommodation setting. Elliott’s current role focuses on supporting Queerspace housing, mental health and family violence programs to provide client centred interventions within a whole of family approach. Central to Elliott’s work is Drummond Street Services’ commitment to embedding intersectionality and family centred practice across programs. Elliott is passionate about developing evidence building and evidence based practice within the family violence space, particularly in working with LGBTIQA+ people who have used violence in family settings. 

Max is the Practice Lead in the Family Violence Team at Thorne Harbour Health, where they facilitate behaviour change groups for queer, trans, gay and bi men. Max is passionate about transformative, liberatory and anti-carceral approaches to working with people who have caused harm. They have been working in community projects and organisations addressing the intersections of interpersonal and systemic violence for ten years.

David is the Executive Director of Strategy and Growth at Communicare, and oversees the strategic and operational direction of all services within the organisation. In the last two and a half years he has jointly led the organisation through a period of transformational change to prepare the organisation for an everchanging world.

David started his career as a social worker, and brings considerable policy, leadership and strategy experience. David spent six years in WA State Government in the (former) Department of Child Protection implementing a range of child protection reforms, and in a previous tenure at Communicare was instrumental in the development of the Communicare Breathing Space program.

David is a social worker and has also graduated from the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is currently on the board of the WA Council of Social Service and past Co-Chair of the Western Australian Anti-Poverty Week Facilitation Committee.

Dr Gabrielle Morrissey is a distinguished academic, author, experienced not-for-profit CEO and media commentator on all aspects of relationships, from the healthy to the unhealthy. The author of 3 books, 17 years as a newspaper columnist, and former host of a nationally syndicated radio show on sex and love, Dr Gabrielle has listened to and helped every kind of relationship. Through her professorships at medical schools in the US and Australia, she has conducted research on what makes a relationship good or bad and shares her insights internationally at conferences and presentations. With lived experience of abuse of her own, she is passionate about children’s wellbeing, breaking the cycles of violence, and helping women in need as the CEO of Women and Children First, a leading domestic abuse and family violence prevention and response organisation.

Kristin Diemer is a sociologist and co-leads the kNOwVAWdata course for capacity building and global measurement of violence against women, including evaluation of programs for men who use violence, and assessment of social norms and community attitudes on violence against women.  She has published the first multi-sector, multi- indicator administrative data trend analysis and worked on law reform to remove the homicide defense of provocation, improve prosecution of sexual offences and reform of domestic and family violence laws.

She leads national and international multi-disciplinary research teams and is a global leader in applied research and knowledge exchange for policy and practice.  She participates in multiple national and international expert advisory committees including: the Gender Equality Metrics (GEM); the Australian National Community Attitudes on Violence against Women survey (NCAS); the Australian Personal Safety Survey (PSS); the WHO International Expert Working Group on estimates of VAW; and UNESCO/UNGEI expert group to establish measures of school related gender-based violence.

Luke is an accredited Mental Health Social Worker currently living on the stolen lands of the Nyangbal People of the Bundjalung Nation (Northern Rivers NSW). Luke has extensive experience in working with and responding to men who use violence at individual, group, organisational and whole-of-system levels. He has worked for over 23 years in the social services sector across Government departments, non-Government organisations, and private practice.  

Luke’s primary focus is on how we maintain transparent, collaborative, accountable and compassionate relationships with one-another and within our responses to injustice.

​Luke’s professional career within the DFSV sector has included clinical specialist roles, managing specialist DFSV services, providing external clinical supervision, and advisory roles at a State level. He is passionate about contributing to skill development and awareness-raising within himself, the sector and across the community. Luke is currently the director at The Centre of Change.

Susan Beattie is the Director, Policy and Systems at the Queensland Network of Alcohol and other Drug Agencies (QNADA), the peak organisation for the non-government alcohol and other drug treatment and harm reduction sector in Queensland. She is currently leading a project that aims to build the capacity of publicly funded mental health and alcohol and other drug services to respond to domestic and family violence in Queensland. Susan is also an Independent Decision Maker with the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse. She previously led the domestic and family violence death review process in Queensland including supporting the State Coroner in his position as Chair to establish the independent multidisciplinary Domestic and Family Violence Death Review and Advisory Board. More recently, she was a Director at the Independent Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Police Service Responses to Domestic and Family Violence (2022). Susan holds a Masters of Forensic Mental Health, a Bachelor of Behavioural Sciences (Psychology) and is a non-Executive Director for a number of different community boards and committees.

Michele (she/her) is responsible for providing expert clinical advice and resource development across the range of NADA strategic goals, informing the continued development of a skilled, competent and relevant AOD treatment sector. Other responsibilities include sector advocacy and representation with external stakeholders, as well as contribute to NADA policy responses and external policy development. She has worked in the AOD sector for over 25 years in a range of residential and non-residential settings in metropolitan and rural and regional settings. She holds qualifications in psychology, counselling, strategic organisational development, leadership and management and leadership coaching.

Dr Michael Flood is an internationally recognised researcher on violence against women, violence prevention, and men, masculinities, and gender. He has made significant contributions to scholarly and public understanding of men’s involvements in preventing violence against women and building gender equality, and to scholarship and programming regarding violence and violence prevention. Dr Flood also is an educator and advocate. He is the author of Engaging Men and Boys in Violence Prevention (2019), the co-author of Masculinity and Violent Extremism (2022), and the lead editor of Engaging Men in Building Gender Equality (2015) and The International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities (2007).

Tony is the Executive Manager of Clinical Practice and Quality at Family Life.

A psychotherapist, behaviour change facilitator and clinical supervisor, Tony has 10 years’ experience delivering trauma-informed leadership and resilience training to corporate and non-profit organisations.

He started his clinical career in the Alcohol and other Drugs (AOD) sector, working as an AOD forensic clinician, clinical supervisor and program manager. After upskilling as a Men’s Behaviour Change Facilitator, Tony broadened his clinical expertise beyond AOD to include working with men who use Family Violence (FV).

Spurred by his passion for innovation, Tony realised there were gaps, deficiencies and opportunities for improvement within the mainstream approaches to working with men using FV. He then went on to develop bespoke interventions aimed at working more effectively with men who use FV to help combat these shortfalls. Tony believes that the integration of psychotherapeutic philosophies and interventions is an essential component to working more effectively with men who use family violence.  

Qualifications:

Bachelor of Counselling (Australian College of Professional Psychology)
Graduate Certificate – Male Family Violence (Swinburne University)
Certificate – Clinical Supervision (LaTrobe University)
Graduate Diploma – Psychology (Monash University)

Dr Gabrielle Morrissey is a distinguished academic, author, experienced not-for-profit CEO and media commentator on all aspects of relationships, from the healthy to the unhealthy. The author of 3 books, 17 years as a newspaper columnist, and former host of a nationally syndicated radio show on sex and love, Dr Gabrielle has listened to and helped every kind of relationship. Through her professorships at medical schools in the US and Australia, she has conducted research on what makes a relationship good or bad and shares her insights internationally at conferences and presentations. With lived experience of abuse of her own, she is passionate about children’s wellbeing, breaking the cycles of violence, and helping women in need as the CEO of Women and Children First, a leading domestic abuse and family violence prevention and response organisation.

Hala is the founder and director of Global Echo Consultants, and the Institute of non-violence. Her focus is gender equity and antiracism, acknowledging these are linked to economic and environmental justice. She specialises in working with individuals who use family and domestic violence, as well as providing professional training and clinical supervision to practitioners in the space.

Since 2003, Hala has spoken at various local, national, and international conferences as well as various radio and TV programs, in Australia and overseas. A receiver of several awards including the Victorian Award for Multicultural Affairs, an attendee at the Australian 2020 Summit in 2008, and a Vincent Fairfax Fellow since 2009. Hala is also the presenter of Groupwork Centre’s podcast Facilitate This! 

A lover of languages, people and creativity, Hala has lived, travelled, and worked in more than 50 countries and across the not-for-profit, public and private sectors.