CHAIRPERSON

Nancy Bassett is a passionate advocate for social justice. Experienced and skilled in Nonprofit Organisations, governance, stakeholder management, business development and project management for the past 30 years. Skilled in Public Speaking, Policy Development, Event Management and Volunteer Management in the Nonprofit sector.

Professional, strong entrepreneurship and tireless in her efforts to give children a voice going through the Family Court as a result of family violence, separation or divorce. Nancy is an Elder of Ngaruahine, South Taranaki, New Zealand and is currently researching “Exploring Parallel Culture Based Restorative Programs in Preventing Family Violence in Aboriginal and Maori Families and Communities”.

DIRECTOR

Darren Mort has been a Barrister in Family Law for nearly 30 years. He is the Chairman of Patterson’s Barrister List. Prior to being admitted to the Bar he was a County Court Judge’s Associate to Judge Hassett. During that time he also performed research work with other County Court Judges for the Sentencing Manual. Darren practices in the areas of Family Law and DeFacto Property Law. He is an accredited Arbitrator on the List of Arbitrators kept by the Australian Institute of Family Law Arbitrators and Mediators.

Darren was a Steering Committee Member on the Family Violence Taskforce headed by Chief Magistrate, Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. Darren is a current Committee Member of the AFCC (Australian Chapter). He is a Student Mentor for Melbourne University’s Law School, The University of Melbourne.

Darren is also a professional actor and producer who has appeared in many stage, film and television productions. He is the Executive Producer of 3 Big Men Productions. Recently, his film ‘Degree of Separation’ on family violence, opened the Beverly Hills Film Festival and won best short film in Canada in 2016.

DIRECTOR

Anne Schuster has a life long passion supporting the most marginalised in our communities. A strong advocate and conviction for social service in particular, helping people who continue to be living on the ‘fringe’ and stigmatised from today’s society.

Anne is a Registered Nurse graduating with a Bachelor of Education in Midwifery majoring in Health Promotion. She has worked at both St Vincent’s Hospital and the Royal Women’s Hospital, Victoria. Anne commenced working with Bolton Clarke in 1988, formerly known as the Royal District Nursing Service, specialising in aged-care. She has extensive experience and expertise as a health professional at Community Health Centres and educational institutions, in particular, secondary schools. Anne is currently working with patients who have HIV/AIDS.

DIRECTOR

Janine Mahoney is a thought leader with an unquestionable commitment to human rights and social justice. Having held governance and leadership roles in the government, corporate and community sectors, she has over three decades of experience in the design and delivery of innovative solutions. With a focus on inclusion, safety and wellbeing, Janine is committed to strengthening people’s connection to family, community and culture.

After many years managing family violence services, Janine founded and was CEO of the Safe Futures Foundation. The service has grown to become one of Victoria’s largest and most innovative family violence services. She also served for six years as the Board Chair of Domestic Violence Victoria.

Janine provided oversight of an international research project in Timor Leste that investigated the community perceptions of violence. She was also selected as the Australian Family Violence Rotary Exchange representative to work with Police, District Attorneys and family violence services in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Janine has presented at the United Nations, national and international conferences and was an expert witness at the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence. She was announced as an Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence in 2018 and was also a finalist in the 2015 Telstra Businesswomen’s Awards and 2016 Telstra Business Awards.

Janine is currently the CEO of Difference by Design, a consulting firm specialising in organisational resilience and brokering innovative partnerships.

DIRECTOR

Stella has a PhD in Educational and Developmental Psychology and holds a tenured position as Senior Lecturer at Monash University in the School of Educational Psychology and Counselling. She is an Endorsed Educational & Developmental Psychologist and has a private practice in Armadale, Victoria. Before starting her career as an academic at Monash, Stella was employed by the Department of Education (DET) Victoria for 20 plus years, as a classroom teacher, a School Leader in Student Wellbeing Programs and a school counsellor /psychologist in multiple regions in the south central western and northern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria.

Her research interests lie in leading interdisciplinary projects aimed at answering complex questions related to generating new knowledge and understanding of the developmental needs of young people exposed to childhood adversity. This includes childhood trauma, parent and family mental illness; high conflict family dynamics and social disadvantage related to financial hardship and living in marginalized communities.

Specifically, her research focuses on developing evidence-based interventions to help support vulnerable children, parents and families. Since 2015, she has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles in international journals and has presented in over 8 international conferences across Europe and the US.

Since 2017, Stella has been an active member and the Steering Committee Chair of an international research group, namely the Prato International Research Collaborative for Change in Parent & Child Mental Illness. In 2020, Stella was invited to join the editorial board of the British Journal of Guidance & Counselling and has reviewed numerous research articles and book chapters.

Stella’s memberships and affiliations include:
Australian Institute of Company Directors;
The Association of Family & Conciliation Courts; Pacifica Congress;
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) (Registration number: PSY0001684004);
Australian Psychological Society & College of Educational & Developmental Psychologists; International Affiliate Member of the American Psychological Association (APA).

Awards:
2021 Recipient of Dean's Early Career Researcher award for Research Excellence
2020 Recipient of the Dean’s award for Innovation Learning and Teaching
2017 Recipient of the Mollie Holman Doctoral award

Charmaine is the Mental Health Training Director of The Luminate Team, who are a team of experts that work across the mental health and human thriving disciplines to connect the dots for clients. They tailor experiences that help people build strength and capability to understand and manage past trauma and transition to wellness, build courage and confidence to luminate their best selves, and enhance motivation and acceleration towards personal and professional goals.

Charmaine also works at Peninsula Health as a Family Carer Peer Consultant and works closely with both clinical and allied health workers and other peer work staff to share her experience and expertise to provide support for carers of loved ones struggling with mental illness. Charmaine has both academic and lived experienced in Mental Health, which is the driver of most of her work. Caring and supporting a loved one through serious mental illness and recovery and has taught her that there is always hope. Mental illness is not something that people develop in isolation as it does not only impact the person it affects. Charmaine is also a support worker for a Mental Health and Disability Services Centre and provides community support for clients with a range of illnesses, including PTSD, Depression, Intellectual Disabilities, Psychosis, Bipolar and schizophrenia.

Charmaine’s educational qualifications include a Bachelor of Economics Degree and a Diploma of Financial Planning. She was a Certified Financial Planner and completed the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Strategic Leadership Program and completed the graduate certificate in Executive Leadership at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management. She holds a Masters of Neurolinguistic Programming, has a Diploma of Counselling and is a Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Instructor. 7

Charmaine also worked part-time as a Non-Executive Director of Leadership Matters, a boutique leadership development and coaching company. Her primary focus in this role is to enhance the strategic direction and corporate governance of the company. Charmaine has been a board member on an industry round table in Financial Planning. She also directly supported a Vietnamese orphanage through business profits and participates with local community groups during her spare time. She was a member of The Financial Planning Association, Women in Finance, the Bayside Business Network and was a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Charmaine currently volunteers as a Mentor with the Whitelion Association which assists underprivileged children and has been involved with various Rotary organisations. Her dynamic energy, strong intellect and highly regarded integrity make her an excellent role model and team member for To Be Loved.