Workshops/ Biographies |
Presenters |
| Bringing Fun Home; Working with Families where there is Mental Illness; Opt-In | [ Erica Thompson ] |
| Erica Thompson is a child welfare and disability consultant. She is the manager of Attachment Resources, and the permanent care parent of a child with special needs. Erica was formerly the coordinator of Specialist Family Services with the Mental Illness Fellowship of Victoria (Barwon) | |
| Great Expectations | [ Ian Seal ] |
| Ian Seal has extensive experience in the delivery of professional development to teachers. Ian has previously worked as a secondary school teacher, has consulted with schools on whole-school change and wellbeing issues, and lectures at Melbourne, Deakin and RMIT universities on adolescent health. Ian has been a foster parent for over 10 years and was Vice President of the Foster Care Association of Victoria for the period 2005 - 2006. | |
| Sexuality & Identity | [ George Habib ] |
| George Habib is a senior clinical practitioner with Berry Street Victoria's Take Two program and also works in private practice as a child & adolescent psychotherapist. | |
| Mirror Families | [ Claire Brunner ] |
| Claire Brunner is a committee member of Changemakers Australia. Her passion is creating sustainable change. She has been a carer (foster, kith and kinship) for 8 years. She is involved in six informal Mirror Families with children ranging from 3 to 23 years of age. Claire is currently working with a number of organisations and government departments interested in taking up the Mirror Families concept. | |
| Bringing Fun Home; Working with Families where there is Mental Illness; Mirror Families | [ Cas O'Neill ] |
| Cas O'Neill is a special needs adoptive parent, support foster carer, and has been involved in a Mirror Family for the past 13 years. Cas is Secretary of the Post Placement Support Service in Victoria. She has a PhD in Social Work, is a Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne, and works on consumer-oriented research projects in the areas of child welfare and health. | |
| Learning Difficulties | [ Eddy Kier ] |
| Eddy Kier is an audiologist, and presents on the implications of hearing difficulties in children in out of home care | |
| Learning Difficulties | [ Janine Farrelly ] |
| Janine Farrelly is an educational psychologist with experince working with children in out of home care | |
| Learning Difficulties | [ Dr Geoff Sampson ] |
| Geoff Sampson is an optometry and vision scientist. | |
| Waiting for Placement | [ Ms Janet Elefsiniotis ] |
| Janet Elefsiniotis presents sensitively and authoritatively about alternatives to adoption. She provides a useful introduction to foster care and permanent care. | |
| Waiting for Placement | [ Ms Karen Szydlik ] |
| Karen is an adoptive parent and foster carer with a background in early childhood development. She speaks openly about the experience of waiting and suggests useful, practical ways to deal with this period. | |
| Waiting for Placement | [ Dr Peter Cook ] |
| Peter Cook is a clinical psychologist and adoptive parent who presents on the psychological impact of waiting. | |
