Dr Mary Jo McVeigh OAM

Dr. Mary Jo McVeigh is the founder and CEO of Cara Consultancy. She is a proud Belfast Irish woman, a radical social worker and activist, a dedicated family member, and a friend. She is acknowledged as a committed supporter of young citizens who have endured violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect and experienced the human rights violations inherent in these forms of violence. Since 1983, she has been a professional advocate for younger citizens and their families through her rights-informed interventions. For her work, she was a finalist in the NSW Woman of the Year and Citizen of the Year awards in 2019, the Allied Health Social Worker of the Year award in 2019, awarded the Order of Australia medal in 2020, and the Australian Social Worker of the Year award in 2022.  After a lifetime of practice, she turned her gaze to academia and earned her Ph.D. in 2024, but her enduring love is still being with people who have survived violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect, and supporting workers who do the direct work.