Meet the Disaster Recovery Mentors

Dr Kate Brady has had a distinguished career in disaster recovery operations, programming and research. Kate is the Senior Research Fellow for the UNSW HowWeSurvive initiative, is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne and is the Technical Adviser to Australian Red Cross Emergency Services, where she established and led the disaster recovery program for 12 years.

Most of Kate’s work focuses on what people find helpful and unhelpful after disasters. Throughout her career, Kate has had significant influence on State and National emergency management policy and has an international profile in collective trauma, resilience and in disaster recovery programming and policy. Kate is a co-author on the Australian Disaster Recovery Framework, the Australian Community Recovery Handbook and was an advisor in the development of the National Disaster Mental Health Framework. In 2021, she became the host for ABC’s podcast ‘After the Disaster’.

Melinda brings a diverse background in humanitarian and emergency settings, with experience spanning local and state government, the private sector, and volunteer work with Red Cross. Her journey began on Christmas Island, where she taught at the district high school and engaged with young asylum seekers through both mainstream and tailored education programs. She also taught English to male asylum seekers at the local detention centre – experiences that sparked a deeper commitment to supporting displaced communities.

This led to 4.5 years working as a technical specialist in offshore detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru, where Melinda played key leadership roles. She served as Education Team Leader and Welfare Project Coordinator on Manus, and as Youth Program Coordinator during the child and youth crisis on Nauru, helping to shape education, welfare, and child protection programs in highly complex environments.

Returning to Australia in early 2019, Melinda pursued a Master of Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Development to complement her field experience and deepen her understanding of the sector. She continued her hands-on work with displaced communities through volunteer work with Red Cross and in community recovery, volunteering during the 2019 Nymboida bushfires and later serving as a Community Recovery Officer for council in the Orara Valley and Corindi communities through bushfire and flood.

In 2022, in her role with state government, Melinda deployed to the Northern Rivers, collaborating closely with communities, NGOs, councils, and state agencies on relief and recovery efforts. Her community-focused approach was recognised when Byron Shire Council won the 2023 NSW Local Government Community Partnerships Award for the Mullumbimby Recovery Centre and in being invited to host the AIDR Possibility Lab. Since 2023, Melinda continues to work closely with community and recovery partners in supporting disaster affected people.

Melinda is deeply committed to working alongside communities, government, and non-government partners to shape meaningful recovery initiatives. She’s passionate about building capacity, sharing best practices, and learning from others. Having previously participated in the Disaster Recovery Mentors program as a mentee, Melinda is excited to return as a mentor, ready to share her knowledge and experience with others in the sector.

Glenda Carter, like many other people, wears several hats. Firstly, a wife, then mother to three children and a grandmother to eight wonderful children. She has lived in NSW, QLD and SA and finally settled in rural NSW.

Glenda has a passion working with children as she lost a son to suicide and strongly believes in the need to teach children skills to help them cope with life challenges.

Over the years, Glenda’s family has run several businesses from Manufacturing, Hotelier, Transport and Restaurant owner and now she works for a non-profit organisation and loves her job every day helping people with an array of challenges.

For many years now Glenda has worked alongside our primary producers dealing with the ongoing issues surrounding drought, floods, and bushfires. This has seen her spend many hours over a cup of tea just listening to their stories.

After the 2019–20 fires, Glenda packed the work car and spent several weeks travelling around the Riverina and Snowy Mountain areas helping people rebuild their lives by listening and providing information about support services.

Other trips have seen Glenda work in flood-affected areas where she has visited the Hawkesbury region several times over the last few years and most recently working closer to home in the Riverina floods.

Anne is a strengths-based, solutions-focused practitioner who is passionate about supporting workers, organisations, and communities to build positive connections and collaborate in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from the impacts of disasters. She is deeply committed to processes that place community at the centre of decisions and actions that influence their lives and create meaningful change. Her experiences have strengthened her belief that safety, inclusion, and resilience are built for the community by the community.

With more than 10 years of experience, Anne has had the privilege of leading several recognised disaster recovery and resilience programs, including:

• The Step-by-Step Disaster Recovery Support Service (active 2013 and 2019–20)
• The Walk with Disaster Resilience E Learning Program
• The Resilient Villages Community Capacity Building Project

Anne has provided clinical supervision, mentoring, and training to outstanding front line disaster recovery leaders and teams across NSW and interstate. She has also presented at major national and state conferences, including the Australia and New Zealand Emergency Management Conference and the Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience Conference.

She approaches disaster recovery and resilience through a holistic, community development lens, drawing on contemporary research and evidence demonstrating the importance of meaningful engagement with community assets and strengths across the PPRR cycle. Anne is a strong advocate for ensuring communities are active partners in emergency management planning and decision making processes.

Having personally navigated the complexities and challenges of the emergency management ecosystem, Anne understands how overwhelming the disaster recovery journey can be. She believes that having an experienced, empathetic, and compassionate companion can make a significant difference. She is always ready – and happy – to walk alongside others on that journey.

Mark Darby was born in Gundagai and grew up in rural and regional Australia. His professional background is primarily in education working for community, not-for-profit organisations and government at all levels. Mark’s original studies were in Parks and Recreation Management in California, near Paradise. He has taught at the University of Technology Sydney and also worked in international development through South and Central America and the South Pacific.

Mark and his wife lived through the Canberra 2003 bushfires and returned to live in Tathra six months before the 2018 fire. Mark was CEO of a not-for-profit organisation in Canberra, based in an office block in the middle of suburbia. The fire burned up to the back streets and singed the casuarinas and gums overhanging the office. It motivated him to scan 60 years of history and store the organisation’s records offsite.

Following the Tathra fire, Mark became a member of the Community Reference Group Executive. With the Chamber of Commerce, Council and Tourism network he developed a project funded by the NSW Office of Emergency Management that supported the recovery and future preparedness of business, with a specific focus on tourism. It followed the recovery experience of 21 businesses over 18 months, along with the community.

Mark’s town doubles or triples in size during the peak tourist season. This is also usually the peak bushfire season. How do you prepare for that? How do you evacuate your customers?

Originally from Germany, Sabrina Davis moved to South Australia in 2009 following a one-year hiatus around the country exploring the land and working on cattle and sheep farms. Sabrina and her husband own and farm a sheep property on the remote western end of Kangaroo Island with their two young children. In the summer of 2019–20, Sabrina’s community and her own property were severely devastated by the Black Summer fires, where two people died, over 80 homes were destroyed and thousands of farm and native animals were lost. After temporarily relocating to a new community, Sabrina became a citizen leader by organising community BBQs, and mental health conversations, creating a bushfire recovery documentary film and becoming the spokesperson for the local farm firefighters, all while rebuilding her farm and house.

Sabrina is an experienced interviewer and social researcher with the ability to capture and present change stories with an impact and successfully run fundraising campaigns and learning networks. She is the founder of the Humans of Kangaroo Island project and an award-winning copywriter and proofreader with a Bachelor in Public Relations, Marketing and Communication. Over the last three years, Sabrina has been recognised as a national leader in community disaster resilience, regularly re-connecting disaster-affected communities with a focus on mental health.

Sabrina has co-designed DisasterWISE, a Communities Learning Network, to help connect communities to learn from one another through the power of story and create positive change in community-led disaster recovery. In her Comms and Media role for the network, Sabrina connects with people from all around the world who want to better prepare their communities for disaster or share their knowledge from recovering from one. Sabrina is a mentor in the National Drought Mentoring Program within the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation and enjoys reading, cooking and beach walks. Her family loves travelling and having adventures around their farm and on the island.

Jessica Davison grew up in the Adelaide Hills. Her mother tells a story of when she was 6 months old, their house in the hillside was threatened by a forest fire. She bundled her up and raced to take shelter in the neighbour’s house. Over the next few hours, her father and neighbours fought hard to bring the fire under control and save their houses. The house again came under attack in the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983, it was one of three houses to survive the Summit Road fire in the Adelaide Hills.

Jessica’s professional background is in strategic land use planning, and urban and environmental water management, working for all levels of governments in Victoria, Queensland and the UK. Jessica’s original studies were in geomorphology and rural-social geography.

In the early 1990s, Jessica moved to Victoria and over time like so many others in Australia has directly experienced cyclones, floods, heatwaves, bushfires, earthquakes and tornadoes.

In 2010, an interest in the outdoors and the ability to work remotely led to a move for Jessica and her partner from the city to a rural property in North East Victoria. Jessica joined the CFA in 2016 and became a volunteer firefighter with the Swanpool Rural Fire Brigade. She is currently the brigade’s Community Safety Officer and representative to Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria.

In March 2020, Jessica joined Australian Red Cross as a Recovery Officer to support communities impacted by the Australian Black Summer Bushfires in North East Victoria. After extensive disaster recovery training provided by Red Cross, Jessica:

• undertook Community Needs Assessments
• provided Psychological First Aid (PFA)
• brought in clinical support when required and advocated for support services for the community
• delivered community strengthening training and activities
• ran training courses across Victoria for federal, state and local government officers and NGOs in PFA, Community Recovery, Communicating in Recovery, and Supporting the Supporters
• represented Red Cross on regional government recovery bodies and in the media.

Jessica became the Victorian State Lead for Recovery and Resilience in early 2022 and managed recovery teams in North East Victoria and in East Gippsland to deliver more than 100 community recovery and strengthening activities to hundreds of participants in rural and regional communities.

In 2022 Jessica was awarded an Australian Red Cross Meritorious Service Medal for her work in disaster recovery North East Victoria following the 2019–20 bushfires. Jessica remains an Australian Red Cross member and continues her work in disaster recovery with Red Cross as an Emergency Services volunteer. She also represents Red Cross on local municipal emergency management planning committees.

Jessica is now a principal with and jointly runs Training X, a consultancy that works across Victoria to help communities to be better prepared for and recover from disasters.

When Community Development was added to Vicki’s portfolio with Blue Mountains Council, this also included Community Disaster Recovery. Hitting the ground running with the 2019–20 summer bushfires, Vicki led the Council response to Community Recovery. This included establishing a community Health & Wellbeing Sub-committee to determine community needs and recovery. Vicki coordinated the Council’s Bushfire Recovery Plan, reported to Council, reported to State and Federal Government, applied for Grants and liaised with community social services throughout the Recovery period.

With an ongoing and ever-increasing interest in Disaster Recovery, Vicki is now involved with the Australian Library & Information Association Blue Shield Australia partnership and has recently joined the Red Cross Disaster Recovery Mentor Network.

Jo Graham was born in Wollongong, before moving to Newcastle then Sydney. She is now married (to Noel) with two children – Georgia 26 and Sam 17 & two Labradors – Coco and Marlo. Jo was a teacher then principal for 39 years in high and low % multicultural schools. Jo loves what she does, her school, kids, staff, parents and community and loves people and would like to think she is making a difference.

Jo is also the Sydney Area rep for the NSW Primary Principal Aboriginal Education Reference group.

After the Kurnell tornado, Jo organised a staff and families ‘meet’ as soon as they were allowed as staff were distressed by not being able to see their students and families or offer help. Jo was part of the 13-month Recovery program in Kurnell and was part of the Kurnell Wellbeing Working Group, where she met once a month working with the Red Cross recovery team and local social and emergency services, providing advice and support, developing relationships and connections with key services. Jo also coordinated student, parent and staff support sessions with School Chaplain, School Counsellors, Storm Birds, and liaised with CBC and other local businesses, churches, charities who wanted to donate goods to residents and families.

As many of the families had missed out on Christmas, Jo assisted in the coordination of a Christmas in July event, and to celebrate their strength and resilience, assisted in the coordination of the One Year Anniversary event, with a variety of interactive and wellbeing workshops with community and emergency services at school.

Jo is empathetic and compassionate, and a good listener with a sense of humour. She may not have all the answers, but she is happy to ask questions and seek advice to help solve any problems, issues or concerns ... or point in the right direction.

Over the past 30 years, Tracey has been a Salvation Army Emergency Service volunteer where she has been involved in a variety of emergency events including the Glenbrook Train disaster, the Sydney hailstorm in 1999, as well as attending many fire events and evacuation centres.

During the 2013 Bushfires, over 200 homes were lost in Tracey’s hometown of Winmalee. Tracey subsequently took on the role of Recovery Team Leader, NSW Bushfires for The Salvation Army where for over 3 years she supported 996 households across NSW impacted by the bushfires. Throughout this time Tracey was also involved in the Blue Mountains Wellbeing Recovery Subcommittee, and the Resilience and Preparedness Group.

Tracey has also completed a virtual international placement with United Way of Hyderabad developing a playbook for 200 primary and high schools; and a plan for Telangana State teachers on India’s New Education policy. The playbook focused on post disaster psycho-social recovery; service delivery during lockdowns with no power or internet; and keeping girls in school.

In the 2019–20 Black Summer bushfires, Tracey worked in response and recovery for The Salvation Army.

Prior to the first COVID lockdown, Tracey began working in the Hawkesbury as a Person-Centered Emergency Preparedness (P-CEP) facilitator for people with disability or chronic health conditions. After the 2021 Hawkesbury Floods, Tracey took up a Recovery Support Worker role with Peppercorn Recovery Support Services.

Since February 2022, Tracey has been employed as a Community Development Worker at Hawkesbury City Council working with rural, remote and isolated communities impacted by the 2019–20 fires and/or numerous floods.

Malcolm is a teacher and principal who retired in 2008 after 34 years’ service working in Victorian government secondary schools. He farms 600 acres north of Melbourne raising beef cattle and producing fodder for horses.

Malcolm and partner Diana lost their home and farm infrastructure in the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfire in Strathewen. Malcolm was elected chair of the Strathewen Community Renewal Association which developed a democratic, community-led approach to recovery.

Malcolm is also involved in other broad based community initiatives as chair of a community company which operates five Bendigo Bank Community Bank Branches and as a director of Bushfire Resilience Incorporated which conducts free webinars and maintains a website of bushfire preparedness resources. Since 2020 Malcolm has worked as a mentor with the Sarsfield Community Association following their Black Summer disaster.

Malcolm brings to his mentoring role an understanding of bureaucracy and varied experience with managing complex organisations, building a respectful culture, creating sound governance, effective communications and community engagement. His experience with personal loss and community grief are a constant reminder that listening, sharing and collaborating are the foundations of a healthy recovery.

Carol brings a combination of lived experience, community leadership and professional disaster recovery practice to her role as a Disaster Recovery Mentor. A long-term resident of Mallacoota, Carol lived through the devastating 2019–20 Black Summer bushfires and became deeply involved in her community’s recovery, serving as Chair of the Mallacoota and District Recovery Association (MADRA).

Through MADRA, Carol helped lead a strong, community-driven approach to recovery, advocating for local priorities and working alongside community members, government, agencies and recovery organisations. She has since worked professionally in disaster recovery with Australian Red Cross and The Gippsland Community Foundation, supporting disaster-affected communities and contributing to recovery practice at both regional and national levels.

Carol is particularly passionate about helping communities recognise and build on their own strengths, find their collective voice and take an active role in shaping their recovery.

Carol’s experience is all about what community-led recovery actually looks like in practice – not just as a principle, but a journey.

Manya was born in India and grew up in boarding schools across the north of the country, where she developed resilience and independence from an early age. Her family has lived through the repercussions of terrorism and natural disasters, including floods and earthquakes. These experiences shaped her deep understanding of how crises affect people and communities.

Having navigated difficult times herself, Manya moved to Australia in 2024 with a clear sense of purpose: to support others through their own challenging experiences. She holds a Master of Counselling and currently works in suicide prevention and with children with special needs, with a growing focus on trauma and crisis intervention.

Her firsthand experience of the 2014 Kashmir floods taught her that nothing is permanent and that, with the right support, people can find their way through even the hardest times. Manya brings a rare combination of professional training and deeply personal lived experience to her work. She operates from a person-centred approach and believes that genuine empowerment comes from being heard, supported, and motivated to take the next step forward.

Scott Lamshed is a dedicated community leader with deep experience in disaster recovery, community development, and grassroots innovation.

A founding co-designer with the DisasterWISE Communities Network and volunteer with Bushfire Resilience Incorporated, Scott draws on both lived experience and practical know-how to support recovery and resilience.

Based in the Lockyer Valley, Queensland, he has played key roles in community recovery following the 2019–20 Black Summer bushfires in East Gippsland in the eastern region of Victoria, through the Sarsfield Community Association.

His background spans the electrical industry, Information Technology, and local organising, with a passion for empowering communities to lead their own recovery journeys. Scott has also volunteered with Lions Clubs, initiated a local makerspace, and served on industry and local governance committees. He brings a practical, grounded, and innovative perspective to mentoring, helping others navigate recovery with clarity, confidence, and community connection.

Anne has 25 years’ experience in community and economic development through her roles in local and state Government, emergency management and adult education. Anne worked on behalf of Murrindindi Shire Council to coordinate recovery efforts for the Kinglake Ranges following the 2009 Victorian Bushfires and has also worked with disaster-impacted communities in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and New Zealand. Anne’s extensive experience includes facilitation of state-wide consultation sessions with staff and stakeholders for the development of the Victorian Department of Land, Water and Planning Customer Charter, and design and delivery of a national tour of masterclasses on disaster recovery for the International Association for Public Participation Australasia (IAP2).

In 2018, Anne was lead writer on the development of Handbook 12 – Communities Responding to Disasters (Planning for Spontaneous Volunteers) and a review of Handbook 2 – Community Recovery for the Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience. Anne specialises in working with large and small groups on strategic planning, policy development, disaster recovery and managing outrage. She holds a masters’ degree in Social Science and has authored published papers on drought policy, communicating in emergencies, and the role of community leadership in disaster recovery. Anne has designed and delivered professional development training for recovery practitioners in all Australian jurisdictions and in New Zealand, and was a Core Values Awards judge for IAP2 in 2017 and 2019.

Daniel has worked for the Blue Mountains City Council (BMCC) for approximately 20 years and has dealt with a number of natural disasters and extreme weather events from a planning and operational perspective during that period. These events include fires, windstorms, landslides and snow.

Daniel’s current role with BMCC is as the Manager Recreation, Aquatics and Cemetery Services. This current role and previous roles have seen Daniel engage with a wide range of stakeholders.

Daniel was also the Bushfire Recovery Manager for the Blue Mountains City Council following the October 2013 fires where approximately 200 homes were destroyed. The role included developing a Recovery Action Plan in consultation with a range of stakeholders (both government and NGOs) and setting up a Local Community Reference Group and Local Community Recovery Steering Group.

In addition, the role provided oversight for the following groups:

• Social/Wellbeing Working Group
• Rebuild Working Group
• Economic Working Group
• Environment Working Group

The role also played a part in a debrief process for BMCC where they celebrated their successes and identified areas for improvement. This led to the creation of a Preparedness Toolkit for the organisation.

More recently Daniel worked closely with another Disaster Recovery Mentor and BMCC manager Vicki Edmunds during the Megalong Valley landslip disaster where the community was cut off as their only road into and out of the valley was destroyed in a landslide.

Kris has been the Manager at Mountains Community Resource Network (MCRN) since March 2012. MCRN is the peak body for the Community sector in the Blue Mountains. In this role, Kris convenes and supports a range of cross-sectoral interagencies and networks. MCRN advocates strongly for the critical need for community voices, and for the central role of locally-based community sector organisations & groups, in recovery.

Kris’s previous experiences include management of national not for profit peaks in Canberra for 10 years (including CEO, Horticulture Australia Council; CEO, Deafness Forum of Australia; Assistant Director, TAFE Directors Australia; Museums Australia). Prior to that, she ran her own consultancy firm (1990–2002); commonwealth public sector (in vocational education & training 1982–1990); secondary teaching for 8 years, and also volunteering roles (counsellor, professional supervision, management committee) with local community sector organisation (Parent Support Service) for 14 years.

Following the 2013 Blue Mountains bushfires, Kris Chaired the Wellbeing (Psychosocial) Recovery sub-committee, and again after the 2019–20 Black Summer fires – followed by floods and COVID.

Since 2013 Kris has also convened the Resilience & Preparedness (R&P) Group – now merged with Wellbeing to form the Recovery, Resilience & Preparedness (RR&P) Group. She is also a permanent Observer (representing the community sector) on the Blue Mountains Local Emergency Management Committee.

Kris’s formal qualifications include: BA; Dip. Ed.; Dip. Psychology (Counselling).

Danielle O’Hara is an experienced and passionate community engagement practitioner with complementary facilitation, collaborative practice, strategic planning and program design, research, monitoring and evaluation expertise. She has worked extensively with local and state government and the not-for-profit sector.

Danielle has a Bachelor of Arts (Politics and International Relations), Master of Education (Social Ecology) and a Graduate Certificate, Conflict Management & Resolution. She is also currently completing a PhD in conflict in disaster recovery collaborations.

Danielle has over 10 years’ experience in disaster recovery, including:

• Coordinating the Australian Red Cross Blue Mountains Recovery Program, utilising a community led approach to support recovering communities.
• Supporting Red Cross state teams across Australia to deliver disaster recovery programs through coordination, planning, training, monitoring and evaluation and implementation advice.
• Designing a national climate change adaptation program aimed at addressing the psychosocial impacts of drought, and building resilience to future events.
• Designing and delivering disaster recovery training, resources and programs.
• Undertaking research related to her PhD, including topics such as interagency collaboration in disaster recovery, community led recovery, recovery and social change and managing conflict in disaster recovery.
• Working as a Regional Recovery Coordinator, Department of Premier & Cabinet, Tasmania.
• In addition to her work, Danielle applies equal enthusiasm to travelling, rock climbing, riding bikes, kayaking, reading, gardening and spending time with good people (including her partner and ridiculous Boxer X Pixie).

Danielle currently lives in sunny Hobart, Tasmania.

Steve has over 30 years’ experience in emergency management. Firstly, as a volunteer in Country Fire Authority (CFA) and Victoria State Emergency Service, then as a community bushfire safety facilitator, an emergency management coordinator with local government, and an emergency management consultant undertaking projects for local, state and federal levels of government. Now retired, Steve is committed to supporting other disaster affected communities, their leaders, and supporting organisations.

In 2009, Steve’s community of Strathewen and his own property were devastated by the Black Saturday bushfires where 27 people died in Strathewen and 80 out of 100 homes were destroyed. Steve was one of the community leaders who established the Strathewen Community Renewal Association and has served on many local and district committees, including being a founding member of Strathewen Landcare Group (1992) and has been President for over 16 years.

Steve has initiated, led and facilitated the development of concepts and application of community-based emergency management, working closely with communities of Gembrook, Macclesfield, Kalorama and Monbulk to explore and develop their own emergency management arrangements. He also led the development of a community centred approach to bushfire fuel management for the protection of townships, working with community members, DELWP, Parks Victoria, local government and CFA. This process has been applied to a number of towns in the Yarra Valley and in Mallacoota.

Steve is a founding member of Disaster Recovery Mentors and is a Steering Committee member.

His mentoring experiences include:

• Adelaide Hills, 2015: lived experience advice to fire affected community.
• Tathra, 2018: lived experience advice to community, local Council staff and local fire brigade.
• Mallacoota, 2020: facilitated the development of a community recovery association following the 2019–20 bushfires.
• Lake Conjola, 2025: supporting local council with development of a community bushfire memorial.
• Ingham, 2026: supporting community support agencies to debrief staff following 2025 major floods.
• Harcourt, 2026: facilitating the development of a community recovery association.
• Highlands, 2026: facilitating transition from a community relief Hub to a community recovery committee.

Erin is an experienced disaster recovery and resilience practitioner with a background in public health, international development and community-led recovery. She has managed nationwide disaster recovery programs across Australia, supporting communities to navigate life after disasters, build resilience and strengthen local capability.

Through her work with Australian Red Cross, Erin has led recovery and resilience programs across metropolitan, regional and remote communities, working alongside First Nations organisations, community leaders, service providers and all levels of government. She brings a strong focus on strengths-based, culturally responsive and locally led approaches that recognise local context, relationships, self-determination and the importance of local knowledge.

Erin works across all aspects of the program management cycle and is particularly interested in leadership for wellbeing, continuous improvement and collaborative action. She is passionate about supporting people and organisations to build confidence, capability and meaningful connections, while keeping community priorities at the centre of disaster recovery. Her approach is grounded in practical experience, curiosity and a belief in learning from one another.

Linda Snell is a dedicated professional with extensive experience in disaster recovery and community development. She has played crucial roles in supporting communities following significant emergencies, including the Hazelwood Mine Fire 2014, Yinnar South Bushfire March 2019, and most recently the June 2021 catastrophic storm through Yarra Ranges. Linda’s personal experiences during the Mallacoota and Yinnar South bushfires really drove her passion to dedicate her time to working with communities in times of crisis. It feels like disaster follows Linda at times, but she is grateful for the opportunities to be able to help.

Linda’s blend of personal insight, professional acumen, and leadership skills equips her to effectively navigate the complex challenges that arise during emergency disaster recovery and in building community resilience. Her strengths include relationship and partnership development, innovative approaches to community centred recovery, project management, facilitation and systems development.

Currently Linda is enjoying a well-earned break after working in the local government sector for 11 years whilst continuing her volunteer role as an Australian Red Cross Disaster Recovery Mentor.

Sarah U’Brien grew up on a beef farm in Dungog, a small rural farming community in Hunter Valley, NSW. She returned home to Dungog 10 years ago with her young family where she manages the Neighbourhood Centre for her region providing Child and Family support services, Youth services, Centrelink Agency and poverty relief programs.

Previously Sarah has worked in rural and regional communities across NSW developing support and engagement activities and mechanisms for isolated and disadvantaged communities.

Sarah has two young daughters, 11 and 13, and their hobbies and interest keep her pretty busy! Mum’s taxi, P&C, soccer club and dance recitals fill Sarah’s hours outside of work.

Sarah is passionate about community-led principles in disaster resilience and works to embed disaster resilience into the everyday operations of her neighbourhood centre and the networks within her community.

In 2015 Sarah’s region was hit by an East Coast Low which resulted in a swift water flooding event through the town. Sarah became the spontaneous leader of the community relief and recovery efforts, including case management, communications, donation coordination, housing assistance, spontaneous volunteer coordination, disaster appeal fund management, coordination of temporary Disaster Relief Hub. Sarah then managed an 18-month government and philanthropic funded recovery program: Project Bounce Forward: involving recovery focused case management and community renewal activities and programs as well as community disaster preparedness program.

Sarah has also worked with her local council to develop a subcommittee as part of the Local Emergency Management Committee that has a focus on resilience and whose membership is made of local services representatives such as preschools, aged care services and community services.

Sarah enjoys reading, horse riding and jogging. Her family love camping, hiking, and spending time at the beach.

Deb is a skilled counsellor and child therapist with a strong background in grief, loss and trauma. She holds a degree in Social Science and has built a wealth of experience working across both government and non-government roles for over 15 years, primarily in Queensland’s child protection sector. Since the 2011 Brisbane floods Deb has actively engaged in disaster recovery supporting affected communities throughout regional Queensland, Brisbane and northern NSW. Additionally, she is a qualified Justice of the Peace (JP) and mediator.

Now based in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Deb has personally experienced several severe weather events, including floods, cyclones, and coastal storm surges. The most significant events in the region have been the 2013, 2017, and 2022 floods, along with Cyclone Alfred, all of which have repeatedly isolated communities and inundated properties including her own home.

Deb understands the critical need for both practical and emotional support in times of crisis. Her work is focused on fostering resilience, working in collaboration with emergency response teams, and ensuring short, medium and long-term compassionate support following disasters. Among her many contributions to the community, Deb has:

• Structured and coordinated the local community association
• Facilitated public sessions on disaster preparedness and recovery
• Maintained regular contact with vulnerable residents to monitor their wellbeing
• Contributed to the formation of Kids Helpline, volunteered with Lifeline Australia, ASIST and Suicide bereavement teams
• Assisted in establishing community resilience and action teams
• Liaised with other disaster-affected Northern River communities for information and resource sharing post recovery
• Written and submitted grant and funding applications
• Supported individuals navigating insurance, legal, or financial claims
• Partnered with local SES and Red Cross initiatives to strengthen community resilience

Deb is dedicated to supporting community-driven recovery efforts and using her extensive experience to normalise the recovery process for those affected by disaster.