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

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

DIRECTOR

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.

DIRECTOR

As Director of Social Media Ready AM2PmMI specialise in helping brands tap into the power of social media to improve their brand and marketing position.

I achieve results for my clients through four key areas:

• Strategy and planning

• Content and Implementation

• Monitoring / Responding / Ongoing support

• Education and training

My professional credentials and experience incorporate deep expertise across business strategy, social media marketing and communications, customer engagement, state government responsibilities and processes, community development, event management and amplification, teaching and training, community sport leadership and complex stakeholder management.

 In addition to my corporate roles, I have participated in and lead numerous management committees in education and community sport in a volunteer capacity.

 My communication style is best described as mature and agile, which in turn has allowed me to be very effective at engaging with a wide variety of internal and external stakeholder groups, including state and local government, sponsors, volunteers as well as collaborating with community sporting associations and leagues across Victoria.

DIRECTOR

Joplin has dedicated her career as a solicitor to championing the safety of women and children. As a vocal and dynamic advocate for domestic violence awareness.

In 2016, Joplin was selected as one of only ten Westpac Social Change Research Fellowships to advance her efforts in domestic violence redress. Joplin studied the effective approaches in rehabilitation for domestic violence perpetrators in the United States and how best to apply them in Australia through the Criminal Law and Family Law justice system. She has authored a paper on the Evaluation of Perpetrator programs nationally and internationally.

As a member of the Family Law, Care & Protection Panel and Independent Children’s Lawyer panel with the Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales, Australia. Joplin is driven by my resolve to give a strong voice to those who are not being heard.

Joplin’s commitment to law was recognised by the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours list, in which she received a Medal of the Order of Australia for her ‘Service to the Law’.