Board

Emeritus Professor Ian Webster AO (Chair) – Physician and Emeritus Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine of the University of New South Wales and Patron of the Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia. He has held senior appointments in the Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales and had appointments at Monash, Sheffield and Sydney Universities. He was Chair of the Australian Suicide Prevention Advisory Council from 1998 to 2015 and is Chair of the Advisory Committee of the Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity, University of New South Wales, and immediate past President of the Governing Council of the Ted Noffs Foundation.

Alan Staines OAM OF (Envoy) (National Secretary) – The Founder and Director of Hope for Life, the Salvation Army’s Suicide Prevention Bereavement Support Services from 2006 up to June 2013. He was a driving force behind the establishment of the Salvation Army’s suicide bereavement services. Alan continues to serve as a Board Member of The Salvation Army’s Hope for Life national programs. For over 30 years Alan has played a pivotal role in the recognition and development of Postvention Services in Australia. Alan was responsible for convening the Inaugural Australian Postvention Conference in 2007 and subsequent Australian Postvention Conferences in 2009 and 2012 for the bereaved by suicide.

Joshua Fathers (Treasurer) – a Certified Practicing Accountant, Joshua has held senior financial positions in both the commercial and not-for-profit sectors. In the past, he worked for The George Institute for Global Health, an organisation carrying out public health research, and informing policy across the world. He currently works for Hammondcare, a large not-for-profit provider of health and aged care services, and is studying towards a Masters of Not-for-profit and Social enterprise management with the University of Technology, Sydney.

Professor Diego de Leo – Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention at Griffith University, Brisbane, which was designated as the National Centre of Excellence in Suicide Prevention in November 2008. At Griffith he also directs the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention, and the Life Promotion Clinic, a research facility that represents the only outpatient service in Australia dealing exclusively with suicidal clients. Since 2001, he is the director of the Master Courses in Suicidology.

Estelle Dragun – Mother of Charmaine Dragun who tragically took her life in November 2007. Estelle is a member of the Australian Ministerial Council for Suicide Prevention in Western Australia and has spent a great deal of time trying to bring about awareness and understanding of suicide, talking to schools and other community bodies. Since her daughters passing she has been committed to stamping out the stigma associated with mental illness and making all people realise that mental health and wellbeing is just as important as physical health and wellbeing.

Cindy Mills – Lost her 17-year-old daughter Victoria to suicide in 2006. Completely unexpected, Victoria’s death sparked a torrent of questions, sending Cindy on a landslide of guilt, self-blame, anger, confusion and profound grief that made her also feel vulnerable to suicide. Soon after the tragedy she received intensive counselling and participated in a suicide support group run by Dr Diana Sands and the Salvation Army, which she attributes to her strong recovery. Since that time, she has worked with the Salvation Army to promote their suicide related services, in particular bereavement services. Cindy is a founding member of Wings of Hope, a harm prevention charity established in 2007 that provides education, resources and support events for people bereaved by suicide.

Jill Chapman – Jill Chapman lost her 16 year-old son Michael, to Suicide in 2001. Over the ensuing years she has supported many families who have suffered a similar loss. In 2008 Jill established MOSH (Minimization Of Suicide Harm) a service that primarily offers a drop in centre Adelaide.

Diana Sands – Diana Sands, PhD, is Director of the Centre for Intense Grief, Sydney, and has for more than two decades worked as an educator, researcher, and clinician. Diana has provided counselling following sudden, violent and traumatic death, and in particular individual, couple and family counselling and group programs, for those who have lost a loved one through suicide. International leaders in the field of loss, grief and bereavement have commented that Diana has functioned as a clarion voice in Australia, calling for attention for the need for services, education and increased awareness of the problematic and stigmatized form of bereavement following suicide. Her counselling and group programs draw on a range of theoretical perspectives including narrative and family systems theory and incorporate expressive artwork. Diana has presented seminars and workshops in Australia and Internationally drawing on her clinical experience, research and contemporary meaning based “Walking in the Shoes Model of Suicide Bereavement”. She is the recipient of a Vice Chancellor Post Graduate Research Grant and Australian Government Research Scholarship. Diana is involved in various community projects that increase understanding about loss and grief and is the Honorary Advisor to the Wings of Hope Charity for those bereaved by suicide. Diana is an invited guest and candidate member of the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement and has served on the NSW Executive Committee, National Association Loss and Grief, and as the NSW Representative for Suicide Prevention Australia. She has published a number of peer reviewed academic articles and book chapters and is the author of a book and DVD resource, “Red Chocolate Elephants: For Children Bereaved by Suicide”

Caroline Atkinson – Dr Caroline Atkinson previously lived in Papua New Guinea, undertaking community development work with a focus on trauma, violence, loss and grief. After receiving her Bachelor of Social Work at the University of South Australia, she completed a placement in India, researching the specific issues and needs of adolescent girls and lead a team at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre in Katherine, NT. Following this, she commenced her PhD focusing on Aboriginal culture and formed the Caroline Atkinson Consultancy Services – a service that specialises in trauma specific research and curriculum development. Furthermore Caroline has also worked a Senior Lecturer at Gnibi College of Indigenous Australian Peoples, focusing on curriculum development or trauma informed and trauma specific units. She is currently the CEO of an Indigenous Organisation called We Al-li, which provides trauma integrated healing and trauma specific programs throughout Australia and the Asia Pacific.

Ivan Benko – Ivan specialises in solutions architecture tailored to bespoke systems, tech strategy and innovation, business problems analysis and resolution, building of multi-skilled professional teams across a variety of industries and digital transformation and project delivery with a focus on cloud implementations.

Carol Zhou-Zheng – Carol has been working at Postvention Australia and within the postvention sector since 2014. She graduated from a combined Bachelor of Engineering (Biomedical) / Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Sydney in 2017. She is also serving on the Postvention Australia National Reference Group as Secretary.