Tony started his career in science studying at the University of Queensland and spent the first part of his working life with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and then with CSIRO working on food crops, predominantly tropical and sub-tropical tree crops. He worked all over the Northern Territory, NSW and Queensland and in these varying roles and got to meet all sorts of incredible people. Many of these projects also took Tony to India and the Philippines.

Tony’s passion for business and science found him working for various levels of government and multinational businesses as a Technical Officer, Research Scientist, Business Development Manager, Sales Manager, Area Manager and Territory Manager, and was also fortunate enough to work on projects with large national and international organisations, regional councils and mining
companies.

Tony also became a member of the IFYS Board in the early 2000’s and after being contracted to conduct a 3-month Business Review of the company in 2013, decided to take on the role of Managing Director and has led the organisation for the last 10 years. IFYS now employs well over 850 staff across much of Queensland and delivers services in Child Protection, Early Intervention, Child Sexual Exploitation, Disability, Housing & Homelessness and Community.

Heidi is a proud Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman, who grew up in towns across Western Sydney and Western NSW.

She has a deep understanding of the issues facing her Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and has devoted her life to breaking the cycle.

With personal and familial experience within foster care and kinship care, and over 17 years of experience working in the NSW Foster Care system, Heidi is passionate about supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, as well as their families.

A staunch advocate for family preservation and restoration, kinship care and the recruitment of culturally appropriate carers, Heidi believes the core of her work is about advocating for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.

While Heidi works tirelessly to recruit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers, there are not enough to meet the needs of the community. Heidi believes this advocacy is her personal and cultural responsibility, and she is determined to help create change and empower others to change, too.

What drives Heidi to continue her work is the hope for the emerging generation of empowered Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be strong in their culture and connected to family, land and community.

Heidi has been part of the NBAC family through its many evolutions, working as Operations Manager during its tenure as Link-Up NSW Aboriginal Corporation, and as Aboriginal General Manager while managed by Barnardos Australia until its incorporation in 2019.

Heidi also currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Leukaemia Foundation, the Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies and the Financial Legal Rights Centre.

Kathy is the Senior Practitioner in the Centacare Unify Program. Her passion for birth family as an important base for healthy child development, identity formation, and psychological safety, has led her from the family and relationship counselling sector to child protection. For the past 8 years she has worked alongside families as part of the Centacare Unify Team, where she has been involved in the development and implementation of the therapeutic case work model. She offers a wealth of experience in how this respectful and trauma informed approach can support healing for vulnerable children and families, in what can often be a difficult field to affect change. Using this model Kathy has witnessed parents bravely face their trauma to step away from entrenched patterns of DV, substance misuse and maladaptive behaviours to become the person and parent they long to be, with a view to vulnerable children feeling safe at home with birth family.

Sam is a senior social worker and manager with 25 years’ experience in the child protection system. After experiencing the system from many varied roles in Australia and the UK, and observing its potential to both help and harm, Sam has found a natural home at Centacare in Adelaide. Here he is focused on building and supporting resilient and emotionally safe teams to work with children, young people, and families in a kind and cooperative manner, to empower them to make sustained change and exit the system with dignity and agency. Within Unify Family Reunification Services, Sam has overseen the implementation and embedding of a unique and successful model of therapeutic practice, based on the work of Dr Jackie Amos (Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist). The Unify model is based around social casework with a strong relational focus, whereby workers also offer a range of trauma responsive therapies that can be delivered flexibly, in the home and within an established trusting relationship.

Vannessa is a registered psychologist with 12+ years of experience working with adolescents and their families in roles across government and non-government sectors.

Vannessa is trained in several evidence-based models including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Multisystemic Therapy and Solution Focused Therapy. She draws on these and her sector experience to develop and implement practice frameworks and support organisational change.

Vannessa is a highly skilled coach and trainer with a wealth of experience developing and implementing coaching models to support individual and group learning and development and practice growth.

Michele is a registered Clinical Neuropsychologist with over 10 years of experience working with children, young people, and their families in the public health sector. Her practice design work has focused on partnering with organisations to develop and implement evidence-informed practice frameworks, including overarching practice frameworks.

Michele is skilled in knowledge translation, workforce development, coaching, and research. She is passionate about utilising her dual roles as researcher and practitioner to support professionals and organisations to translate evidence into practice to achieve stronger outcomes for children and families.

Catherine Baulch has almost 20 years’ experience as a practitioner in health, mental health and legal settings and nearly as long in child and family policy and programs.

Catherine graduated from the University of Queensland with a Social Work degree and has a Masters qualification in Human Services Management from Queensland University of Technology. Catherine has a passion for prevention and early intervention and since the release of the Carmody Report in 2013 following a Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Child Protection, has been instrumental in stewarding Queensland’s secondary family support programs to prevent children from escalating into the statutory child protection system.

Catherine has recently transitioned the Intensive Family Support program, an annual investment of $60 million, to outcomes focused performance reporting which is changing the way providers are delivering and reflecting on performance.

Dr Deirdre Thompson is Bravehearts’ Director of Therapeutic and Support Services (since 2014). Deirdre holds a Bachelor of Psychology (Hons) and a Doctorate of Clinical Psychology, with over 30 years of experience both in the UK and Australia in both Forensic and Community Settings. Deirdre currently provides oversight to all Bravehearts client services, including Counselling, Turning corners, Redress Support Services, and our National Information and Support Service. Deirdre was instrumental in developing and implementing the Bravehearts Turning Corners Program, a program aimed at providing early intervention and response to young people engaging in or at risk of engaging in harmful sexual behaviors. She is a member of the National Clinical Reference Group for Children Exhibiting Harmful Sexual Behaviours, which was established as part of the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021 – 2030.

Her role will include lending a voice to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families while helping them navigate complex systems that impact them to achieve positive outcomes in the community.

Prior to her role on the Our Booris, Our Way committees, Ms Causon was on the Board of Carers ACT and served on the ACT Expert panel on Disability. She was awarded the Public Service Medal for her work with Indigenous communities in 2010.

“As a proud Wiradjuri woman, I am looking forward to bringing my personal experience and professional experience as Chair of the Our Booris, Our Way Steering Committee and Implementation Oversight Committee to the Advocate role.”

Jodie Griffiths-Cook is the ACT Public Advocate and Children and Young People Commissioner. Part of her job is talking with children and young people about the things that are important to them as well as getting other people to listen to and understand what children and young people say about important issues, especially when they are making decisions that impact children and young people. Jodie uses what she hears to let government, service providers, parents/carers and other people in the community know what they can do differently to better support children and young people in the ACT. With over 25 years experience in human services, Jodie is committed to doing everything she can to promote a child-safe, child-friendly Canberra

In her role, Jodie is responsible for upholding children’s rights, including by engaging with children and young people to find out what is important to them and what they think about important societal issues. Jodie uses what she hears from children and young people to let government, service providers, parents/carers and other community members know what they can do differently to better support children and young people in the ACT, especially when they make decisions that impact children and young people. With over 25 years’ experience in human services, Jodie is committed to doing everything she can to promote a child-safe, child-friendly Canberra.

Jacqueline McGowan-Jones began her appointment as Commissioner for Children and Young People in January 2022.

Jacqueline is passionate about the future for our children and young people and believes the role of Commissioner brings high expectations from our young people so they have a strong voice to advocate their views across government.

She has a long history working in education, child protection and Indigenous affairs. Jacqueline was most recently the CEO of Thirrili, an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation delivering critical support and services to families following a loss to suicide or other fatal traumatic incident.

Jacqueline’s experience includes senior executive roles across the public (Commonwealth, Victorian and Western Australian), private and NGO sectors. She has strong connections throughout Western Australia and has worked in the Departments of Education, Aboriginal Affairs, Premier and Cabinet and Child Protection & Family Support.

Her involvement across these portfolios, and in roles in Disability and Indigenous Law & Justice in the Commonwealth, has given her the opportunity to work with children, young people, families and communities across Western Australia and understand the challenges they face.

She has lived in Geraldton, Broome and Perth and has developed very strong relationships across the community, and the non-government and government sectors.

While in the role of Executive Director, Office of Aboriginal Education, Jacqueline led the development and implementation of the Aboriginal Cultural Safety Framework for Culturally Responsive Schools. She has previously contributed to the Office of the Commissioner for Children and Young People through membership of the Youth Justice Reference Group.

Jacqueline is committed to strengthening the systems that improve the opportunities available to all children and young people. Her experience and heritage (cultural connections to Arrente and Warumungu country in the Northern Territory) has given her a strong focus on the interests and needs of Aboriginal children and young people, as well those from vulnerable and disadvantaged backgrounds.

She believes that all young people have a right to be heard and she strives to bring a new level of understanding and engagement to issues impacting our children and young people.

Andrew McCausland is the Senior Manager of Berry Street Victoria Western Region Education, Early Intervention and Homelessness programs, which includes the Navigator disengaged student case management program.

He originally trained as a secondary school teacher, and has 20 years’ experience developing and delivering education programs and therapeutic services for vulnerable children and their families.

He delivers trauma informed training and presentations to Foster Carers, Family Service practitioners and teachers.

Joanne Alford has worked in education for almost 30 years. She has a vast amount of experience in a variety of different educational settings such as a remote Aboriginal community, a high performing international school (Malaysia) as well as teaching across independent, catholic and government sectors.

Joanne was the Principal at Berry Street School for 3 years and is currently the Principal of Centralian Senior College in Alice Springs. The college is the only senior government school in Alice Springs and has a ratio of 53% Aboriginal students. She has experience in developing and implementing wellbeing curriculum in schools using evidenced based approaches such as positive education, trauma informed and relationship-based teaching and learning. Her leadership is focused on integrating healing centered education as a way of supporting the school community holistically so that the community can thrive. She has a Masters in Positive Psychology which informs her work in teaching the skills of wellbeing.”