Anne Hollonds

National Children's Commissioner

Anne Hollonds is Australia’s National Children’s Commissioner. Formerly Director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies, for 23 years Anne was Chief Executive of government and non-government organisations focussed on research, policy and practice in child and family wellbeing. As a psychologist Anne has worked extensively in frontline practice, including child protection, domestic and family violence, mental health, child and family counselling, parenting education, family law counselling, and community development. Anne currently contributes to several expert advisory groups, including the Family Law Council, Australian Child Maltreatment Study, NSW Domestic and Family Violence and Sexual Assault Council, National Plan Advisory Group (NPAG), and Australian National Child Health and Development Atlas Oversight Group.

Abi Cooper

Lived Experience Coordinator - QLD

Abi is a youth mental health advocate passionate about amplifying the voices of young people. At 22 years of age, Abi has worked with a number of organisations including Orygen, Consumers Health Forum, Wellways and the QLD Mental Health Commission, and has been recognised for her work as the 2022 recipient of the Jude Bugeja Peer Experience Award. Abi uses her own story of mental ill-health to reduce stigma and promote awareness, speaking in schools and at events. Her lived experience as a young person provides her with unique expertise in order to advocate for young people and advise on organisational policy and procedures.

Professor Susan Danby

Centre Director, Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child

Professor Susan Danby is recognised internationally as one of Australia’s leading experts in young children’s engagement with digital technologies, social interaction, and childhood studies. As Director of the Australian Research Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, Susan leads a collective of national and international researchers and partners across government, industry and the community to further the Centre’s vision – young children are healthy, connected and educated in a rapidly changing digital age. Susan has an Honorary Doctorate (Uppsala University, Sweden) and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Social Sciences in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the fields of early childhood and digital technologies.

Nicole Milburn

BSc, Grad Dip (couns) Psych, DPsych, GAICD.

Nicole is a clinical psychologist and infant mental health specialist. She has worked in public and private settings for more nearly 25 years and is currently in full time private practice, providing therapeutic services to infants, children, families and individual adults. She is the current Chair of the Boards of the Australian Association for Infant Mental health and the Tweddle Foundation. Nicole specialises in relationship assessments that assist authorities to make decisions about the best interest of infants, children and young people and is very committed to representing the voice of the infant.

Louise Grant

Youth Inclusion and Empowerment Specialist

Louise is a youth participation expert, with a focus on trauma-informed youth engagement. She has facilitated and set up frameworks for various youth advisory committees, including the Victorian Government’s Youth Congress, and recently created a range of resources and training to guide more inclusive practices for adults seeking young people’s perspectives.

Louise holds degrees in Social Work and Psychology, and a Masters in International Development. She brings a rounded perspective, having worked across a range of sectors, from client-facing roles in the community, to policy development in government.

Joe Ball

CEO of Switchboard

Joe Ball is a longstanding LGBTIQA+ advocate and CEO of Switchboard Victoria. Joe believes in grass roots solutions to systemic issues and draws upon LGBTIQA+ history and the work of LGBTIQA+ activists who have paved the way to guide his work. In 2020 Joe was honoured as an Award recipient in the 50 Outstanding LGBTI+ Leaders in Australia. Joe proudly identifies as a transgender man and uses the pronouns he/him. Joe works and lives on the lands of the Kulin Nation in Narrm (Melbourne, Victoria).

Dr Karen Hart

Operations Director of Clinical Transformation at Orygen

Dr Karen Hart is a qualified social worker, researcher, and senior executive leader of operations and service delivery, who has spent almost 30 years, engaging and working with children, young people and their families, within government and non-government settings. Her extensive experience in child protection, youth crime prevention, education, mental health, research, and social purpose real estate, has provided her with insights and knowledge on the most effective engagement and intervention strategies to improve the lives of children and young people. Karen is a strong advocate for the safety, education, health and justice needs of children and young people and that continues in her current work, where she is instrumental in transforming mental health services for young people in Victoria. 

Michelle Rogers

Ngunya Jarjum Aboriginal Child and Family Service

Wiradjuri woman, visiting in Bundjalung Country. Strong practitioner background in social service sector including housing and child protection, focussed on family led decision making and dignity through choice, I challenge self-determination and empowerment concepts in the face of systemic oppression.

Over 27 years working with vulnerable communities and lived experience to compliment my employment, I host experience on issues associated with Aboriginal equity and suppression. National and State presenter on First Nations child and family models of communal care.

Focussed on earlier and targeted intervention, family preservation services – We know to be the path toward empowerment for our Aboriginal communities.

Associate Professor Aliza Werner-Seidler PhD

Scientia Associate Professor & Clinical Psychologist, Black Dog Institute, UNSW Sydney

Dr Aliza Werner-Seidler is Head of Population Mental Health at the Black Dog Institute, UNSW Sydney, and currently holds an Emerging Leader NHMRC Fellowship to investigate the prevention of adolescent mental illness.

Aliza is passionate about researching ways to improve the prevention and treatment of common mental illnesses in young people. Her research interests including investigating the use of technology to increase access and reach to evidence-based interventions, working in partnership with schools to deliver effective preventive programs, and investigating the role of poor sleep as a risk factor for mental illness. She is currently leading the Future Proofing Study which investigates the mental health of teenagers from across 145 Australian schools.

Dr Lyn O’Grady

Community Psychologist and Conference Chair

Lyn is a Community Psychologist with a particular interest in the mental health of children, young people and families. She has previously worked with parents in the community sector, as a school psychologist and as a manager of the KidsMatter Project for the Australian Psychological Society. She currently works in private practice with children, young people and families and is a registered supervisor of psychology interns. Lyn is also interested in suicidology and regularly conducts workshops and training in this area for mental health professionals. She is also the author of a book for parents of teenagers who are suicidal.

Ms Nicola Palfrey

National Clinical Manager, Headspace Schools

Nicola is a Clinical Psychologist and researcher who has worked extensively with children, adolescents and adults who have experienced adversity and trauma. She is Director of ACATLGN at the ANU, and is responsible for developing and delivering resources, training and interventions based on the latest evidence base to support individuals and families affected by adversity and trauma. Nicola is also the ANU Project Lead for Emerging Minds: The National Workforce Centre for Child Mental Health, an initiative to support workforces identify, assess and support children under 12 years who are at risk of experiencing mental illness.

Mr Brad Morgan

Director, National Workforce Centre for Child Mental Health, Emerging Minds

Brad Morgan is the Director of Emerging Minds, the not-for-profit organisation dedicated to advancing the mental health and emotional wellbeing of Australian infants, children, adolescents and their families. Brad is responsible for leading systems change and building the knowledge, skills and capacity of Australia's health and social service workforce to create better mental health outcomes.

Brad’s background is in occupational therapy, public health, child development and mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention.

Brad is regularly interviewed by the media on mental health topics including child mental health, childhood trauma, parent and family mental health and government mental health-related announcements.

Dr Michelle Tye

Senior Research Fellow, Black Dog Institute

Dr Michelle Tye is a Senior Research Fellow at the Black Dog Institute, University of New South Wales. Since joining the Black Dog Institute in 2015, she has led a number of research projects in the field of suicide prevention focused on developing and testing novel interventions for communities and young people specifically. Her work which aims to ensure that effective interventions are delivered in the right settings, at scale, to reach those in need to prevent suicide crises. She has 16 years research experience, having completed her PhD in Public Health from the University of New South Wales in 2015, and working as a senior research office for the 10 years prior to that in the National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre. She has been the recipient of a number of prestigious awards for early career excellence, including a NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (2018 – 2021), NSW Tall Poppy award in 2018, and the Paul Bourke Award in 2020.

Dr Michelle Kehoe

Post-doctoral Researcher Michelle Kehoe is an Evaluation and Research Development Officer at headspace and the Child and Youth Mental Health Service in South-East Melbourne. She has worked in research for over 10 years primarily developing and conducting research projects on mental health programs for both adults and young people. She has a keen interest in evidence-based interventions which improve outcomes, the involvement of lived-experience in design and development of mental health programs for young people and recovery-oriented practices.

Ms Katherine Ellis

CEO, Youth Affairs Council Victoria

Katherine is CEO of Youth Affairs Council Victoria (YACVic), the peak body and leading advocate for young people and the youth sector in Victoria. One of YACVic’s key policy areas is mental health, with work such as inclusion of youth perspectives in the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, and convening a Youth Mental Health Community of Practice in partnership with Orygen.
Katherine’s previous roles include Director of Youth Affairs at the Commonwealth of Nations, working on youth policy and programs across 53 countries; and CEO of youth development organisation the Reach Foundation. Earlier, she spent over a decade in the private sector, working both in Australia and internationally in a variety of analysis, strategy and corporate social responsibility roles.
Katherine believes that it is vitally important to recognise young people as experts in their own lives, and make sure their unique needs and perspectives are at the heart of the policies, decisions and programs that affect them.

Katherine holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, a Master in e-Business, a Bachelor of Commerce, and a Diploma of Youth Work.

Dr Alix Woolard

Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Child Mental Health, Telethon Kids Institute

Dr Alix Woolard is a research fellow in Child Mental Health within the Youth Mental Health team at the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth, Australia. Alix’s current research is looking at childhood trauma and the ways we can identify, target, intervene and improve the lives of children and young people who have experienced trauma. She is currently working on psychosocial interventions to improve the resilience and recovery of children who experience child maltreatment or medical trauma. Previously, Alix has worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Institute focussing on neurodevelopmental research across the lifespan. Alix’s research background is in parent-child interactions, social development, early signs of autism and neurodevelopmental disabilities, and most recently, childhood trauma.

Jack Smith

Youth Mayor, City of Greater Bendigo Youth Council

Jack is a 21-year-old man living in regional Victoria. Jack comes from a consumer background and uses this experience to advocate for accessible mental health services to young people in regional and rural areas. Jack is a firm believer that young people need to be part of the process of determining what effective service delivery and governance looks like, because of this belief Jack is a member of the Orygen Youth Advisory Council, is a Headspace Mildura Youth Ambassador and in 2021 served as the Youth Mayor of the City of Greater Bendigo.

Courtney Kovac

Program Content Coordinator, Batyr

Courtney is the Program Development and Adaptation Lead at preventative mental health organisation, batyr. At batyr, Courtney develops peer-to-peer mental health programs for school and university students that focus on lived experience storytelling and stigma reduction. Courtney is passionate about creating spaces for young people to feel heard and wants to contribute to a stigma free world. Courtney graduated with a Psychology degree in 2016 and has been working with batyr ever since.

Taylor Johnstone

Director, Youth Live4Life

Taylor Johnstone is a young person and qualified Osteopath who is passionate about mental health education. He has a lived experience with anxiety and depression as well as suicidal thoughts and ideation.

Now, Taylor is looking at utilising this experience to enact change to educate and prevent other young people from suffering with unaddressed mental ill health. The values of Youth Live4Life resonate with Taylor as he believes if he, and those around him, had access to mental health education he may have had an easier time recognising and managing his mental health issues as a teenager.

Judy Kynaston

Early Childhood Australia

Judy Kynaston is the General Manager of Be You for Early Childhood Australia. Be You is a mental health initiative for early learning services and schools that empowers educators to increase knowledge to respond to children and families experiencing vulnerabilities related to mental health and wellbeing. Judy’s extensive work experience includes leadership roles in a variety of early learning settings and community organisations, as well as delivery of training to the early childhood sector. Her experience also extends to advocacy and policy aimed at improving the lives and wellbeing of young children.

Ian James

Principal Aboriginal Mental Health Advisor Office of the Chief Psychiatrist, SA Health

A proud descendent of the First Peoples of the River Murray and Mallee Region and Southern Arrernte of Central Australia. Ian works towards improving mental health care outcomes for First Nations people and he believes that it’s about upskilling our own and educating others that will achieve better more culturally safe mental health care. Ian is currently working on developing the Aboriginal Mental Health and Wellbeing Centre - A coordinated approach to Aboriginal mental health care in South Australia.

Brian Moore PhD

Lecturer, Educational Psychology, UNESCO ICM Special Advisory Group, Charles Sturt University

Dr Brian Moore is a lecturer and researcher at Charles Sturt University. With a professional background as a registered psychologist and educator, Dr Moore has significant experience working with children, adolescents, and their families. He is committed to promoting youth mental health as an important outcome in its own right and due to the impact mental health has on related factors including educational achievement. Dr Moore has varied research interests and has published on topics including bullying, inclusive education, martial arts, mental health, and resilience. He is a co-chair of Wellbeing and Mental Health Research Australia, an executive committee member of the School Counsellor and Psychology Association NSW, and a Special Advisory Group member of UNESCO’s International Centre of Martial Arts for Youth Development and Engagement.