Voices of change: Meet our VSAC members

Annie

Annie (she/her) is a young person and survivor of childhood abuse and family violence. She joined VSAC to give a voice to the children and young people who are affected by family violence.

Annie aspires to use what she has experienced in a positive way; to help educate others on the complex nature and severity of family violence, and to improve the systems and legislation in Victoria.

Annie strives to work for young victim survivors and to advocate for improved training of family violence professionals so they can better support young people.

She wants to elevate the voices of young victim survivors and has experience working with young people in many settings. She has worked as a music teacher, is completing placement in a high school wellbeing centre, and has spent many years in the scouting movement. She is currently studying Community Services with the goal of establishing a career in the family violence sector to further advocate for and work with victim survivors.

Dawn

Dawn (she/her) is a parent and grandparent. She enjoys walking in nature, craft, reading widely and spending time with her cat. She believes in being honest and genuine and tries to always listen with openness to the views of others.

Dawn has a background in education and recently completed a Diploma of Community Service. She has a love of learning new things and sharing that knowledge with others.

Dawn has lived experience of family violence in one form or another, for most of her life resulting in a mental health disability. She has presented information sessions outlining both positive and negative experiences as a National Disability Insurance Scheme participant to National Disability Insurance Agency staff in person and in online forums.

Dawn has particular interests in the difficulties facing older people and those with mental health diagnoses when they try to leave unhealthy relationships. She would like to be involved in discussions around coercive control legislation.

Most of all, Dawn wants to turn her experiences into something positive that means others do not have to endure what she has.

Emily

Emily (they/them) is an award-winning mental health advocate, software engineer, and creative designer. They currently hold roles as a Board Director, consultant, project manager, facilitator, and ambassador.

Emily is informed by their intersectional lived and living experiences. This includes mental ill-health, disability, LGBTQIA+, multiculturalism, neurodivergence, homelessness, family violence, and more.

Emily is currently the Lived Experience Lead with the Royal Children’s Hospital, Metaverse Project Manager with Meta, Board Director with Scope Australia and Midsumma, and a Consultant with UNICEF, Headspace, Beyond Blue, and more. Emily also has founded initiatives to address system gaps, including Multicultural Minds, a multicultural mental health awareness platform.

For their work, Emily was recently awarded 25 Under 25 and 30 Under 30 Awards, Mental Health Advocate of the Year, Youth of the Year, the Disability Leadership Award, Innovation in Protecting Children Award, Children and Youth Empowerment Award, and inducted in the inaugural cohort of the Multicultural Honour Roll.

Helen

Helen (she/her) wishes to make a difference to the world and to give the next generation the power of respect everyone deserves by changing the collective perspectives of society, particularly towards older people. She believes in earlier interventions in family violence, rather than after the fact. She believes in Australia-wide safety on power of attorney and financial matters.

Helen is an older woman who has raised four children and has worked most of her adult life as a nurse and midwife, both in and out of the defence force. She was married for nearly 20 years to another defence force member and moved around a lot due, partly to defence force postings. She has been a single mother since her divorce.

Helen has been involved in include National Ageing Research Institute Ltd, Eastern Community Legal Centre (ECLC), The 4Cs charity and has worked with Scouts for over 30 years. She was also involved with the Monash University and Shored Projects, Architecture and Landscape joint project to create ‘A Design Guide for Older Women’s Housing’. She has been involved with addressing elder abuse through the ECLC’s Elder Abuse Response Services (ELSA) and Rights of Seniors in the East (ROSE) programs.

Helen believes that unless we have walked in another person’s shoes, we cannot fully understand their journey.

Lyanne

Lyanne (she/her) has a history that is complex, convoluted, and common across many women with experiences of the criminal justice system.

Her interest in the parentification of eldest daughters in migrant and refugee families and the burden of forced self-sacrifice stems from her own experience.

Lyanne is intrigued by the analysis of human behaviour, as she believes understanding the psychology behind family violence is integral to maintaining sustainable outcomes.

With fire in her eyes and a love for humanity, Lyanne passionately advocates for systemic reform. She aims for multi-sectoral collaboration and reform while highlighting the impacts of intersectionality.

Although Lyanne does advocate across the sectors of mental health, alcohol and other drugs, justice, Corrections, and family violence; there’s a long way to go and she’s just getting started.

Zaiba

Zaiba (she/her) joined VSAC in 2023 to bring the voices of women from culturally and linguistically diverse communities to the council. This involves acknowledging that intersectionality plays a significant role in shaping the experiences and challenges faced by individuals within multicultural communities. As a proud member of VSAC, she is driven to create a safer and more supportive world for individuals who have experienced trauma. Through her own lived experience, she wants to spread awareness about the dangers and consequences of coercive control, which can last a lifetime and lead to intergenerational trauma.

Coming from a medical background, Zaiba believes that the severity of coercive control, such as emotional and psychological abuse, have the same effects on the brain as physical abuse, and that many people are not aware of this link. With a strong commitment to empowerment, healing, and positive change, Zaiba is dedicated to leading with empathy, sensitivity and understanding, and mirroring her work to the wise words of Maya Angelou, who once said “my mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”