Charmaine has been a lawyer for more than 20 years. She graduated with a Master of Laws from the University of Western Australia in 2014; and worked as a barrister specialising in personal injuries, probate, and deceased estates at John Toohey Chambers in Perth for many years.

Prior to her appointment as Chief Assessor Criminal Injuries Compensation in February 2019, she was employed at the regulator of the workers’ compensation and injury management scheme in Western Australia, WorkCover WA. Her career in the legal profession has lent itself to a strong sense of social justice and an interest in work involving vulnerable people in the context of personal injuries and deceased estates.

Charmaine and her colleague Assessor Renêa Bayly (see below) will introduce the audience to the Office of Criminal Compensation and how the process might work for survivors.

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Renêa is an Assessor of Criminal Injuries Compensation appointed in April 2019. Her background is as a solicitor in personal injuries, having worked in the area since 2001.

Prior to joining the office of Criminal Injuries Compensation, she was head of the Sexual Abuse team at a leading law firm in Perth that focuses exclusively on personal injury law.

Renêa and Chief Assessor Charmaine Holyoak-Roberts (see above) will introduce the audience to the Criminal Injuries Compensation process and all it entails.

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knowmore is a free and independent legal service, with offices across Australia. They utilise a trauma-informed, culturally safe, person-centred approach in the delivery of our services, via a multidisciplinary model.

The knowmore service was established by the Australian Government in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Childhood Sexual Abuse, to provide advice to survivors of child sexual abuse about justice and redress. The knowmore team also helps survivors to apply to the National Redress Scheme and Criminal Injuries Compensation  or refer them to a panel of reputable law firms for advice on other options and avenues for compensation.

knowmore stands out with their multidisciplinary approach, including the services of a lawyer, a counsellor/social worker, an Aboriginal Engagement Adviser, and Financial Counsellor.

The service will be introduced by Richa Malaviya and Amanda Whelan (see introductions below).

Geoff was admitted to legal practise in 1981 and has spent all of his professional life representing the interests of parties in litigation arising from personal injury - initially plaintiffs, but for most of that time, defendants.

For the first 35 years, his involvement was as solicitor, primarily on instructions from insurers.

In 2016, he joined the independent bar and since then has operated solely as a barrister. In that role, since 2018, he has been involved in the conduct of claims by survivors of complex trauma.

Geoff, together with David Bayly (see introduction below) will introduce attendees to the inner workings of the Civil Court process; and Geoff will focus more specifically on the defendant's perspective.

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Regrettably, personal circumstances required Tim to withdraw from presenting at the symposium.

[Tim's litigation background is predominantly in the area of of civil litigation with a focus on on personal injuries compensation.

He has expertise acting in medical negligence claims, workplace, motor vehicle and catastrophic injury cases and in employment & industrial relations matters. He specialises in representing victims of asbestos disease and also represents survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.

From 2016 to 2018, Tim was the Federal Member for Perth.]

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A number of survivors have bravely agreed to talk about their lived experiences with complex trauma, and the ways in which they have navigated the legal process.

As a survivor, they each bring a unique perspective. Their varied experiences will give anyone supporting a survivor through a legal process some insight into what helped and what hindered.

Ms Kati Kraszlan was appointed the Western Australian Commissioner for Victims of Crime in August 2020.

Kati has spent many years in the Department of Justice, where she was part of the design and implementation of both the Drug Court and the Joondalup Family Violence Court, as well as developing the international award-winning West Kimberley Regional Prison.

While Acting Commissioner from 2017, Kati helped facilitate the State’s new family violence laws, delivered the National Redress Scheme in WA for victims of institutional child sexual abuse, helped develop a fund for the funerals of homicide victims, and the introduction of the State’s landmark ‘revenge porn’ laws.

Kati's passion is to help victims of crime navigate the complexity of the criminal justice system.

She will be speaking about police reporting and other aspects of the criminal justice response at the symposium.

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Michael has more than 40 years of experience in human services delivery. He is a highly experienced Accredited Mental Health Social Worker (AMHSW) and has worked across diverse settings and roles in both the non-profit and for-profit sectors.

In his current role as Coordinator of the Redress Coordination Unit in the Office of the Commissioner for Victims of Crime, he manages the WA Government's relationship with the National Redress Scheme for Survivors of Institutional Sexual Abuse (NRS). He acts as principal mediator for ‘Direct Personal Responses’ (ie apologies) to survivors from the institutions in which they were abused. He also coordinates the provision of Counselling and Psychological Care (CPC) to survivors, as provided through awards from the NRS.

Michael has previously provided trauma-informed counselling, advocacy, and practical assistance to adult victims of child sexual abuse involved in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse at knowmore Legal Service and Relationships Australia (WA).  Subsequent to the Royal Commission, he was Client Services Manager of the Perth office of knowmore legal service.

Michael also has experience in providing preparation and court support to child and adult victims of crime as a Victim Support and Child Witness Worker for the WA Department of Justice.

Michael will draw from both the literature and his personal observations to share how survivors tend to present during legal proceedings, with special reference to the role of memory and recall.

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Judge Linda Black was appointed as a Judge of the District Court of Western Australia from 1 August 2022.

She was a State Prosecutor at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for almost a decade before returning to private practice specialising in criminal, disciplinary, regulatory and human rights law.

She worked as a lawyer for more than two decades with most of that time in the criminal courts defending and prosecuting some of WA's highest profile and complex matters. She was one of the State's leading barristers and a specialist jury trial advocate.

Linda is a keen musician, an animal welfare advocate, and a mother.

She will explain to the audience how the criminal process works; the benefits and disadvantages of this approach to justice; offer pointers on dealing with subpoenas, being an expert witness, and writing court reports; and more.

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Richa is the Managing Lawyer in knowmore's multi-disciplinary team in Perth. She competed a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Laws and Master of Human Rights Law and Social Policy; and was  Vice President of Amnesty International in Western Australia. Richa consulted at Aboriginal Family Legal Services as well as at Djinda Service, a Women's Legal Service in WA.

Richa and her colleague Amanda Whelan (see below) will introduce the audience to survivors' options for justice and redress in Western Australia, and discuss knowmore Legal Services' might be able to assist in this process.

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Amanda was born and raised in Kalgoorlie, WA and spent the first ten years of her working life in the Goldfields-Esperance region.  She is a social worker with more than 25 years’ experience working with vulnerable communities affected by trauma, both in Western Australia and Queensland.

As Director of Client Services, Amanda helps lead knowmore’s national service delivery work with a focus on multidisciplinary, trauma-informed practice and workplace wellbeing strategies; and ensuring that clients get the high-quality services they are promised.

In 2019, Amanda authored the Shelter from the Perfect Storm Wellbeing and Resilience toolkit for the CLC sector on behalf of knowmore.  Since that time, Amanda has led the development and delivery of a suite of training in the ‘Shelter’ series; as well as trauma-informed practice training for the legal sector.

Amanda has presented at a number of conferences and delivered Master classes on trauma-informed practice and worker wellbeing to the legal services sector across Australia.

This time round, she will be presenting with her colleague, Richa Malaviya (see above), to introduce the audience to survivors' options for justice and redress in Western Australia.

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In George's former role as Registrar of the District Court in Western Australia, he was responsible for a range of administrative and clerical court matters, including:

• Arranging listings and court sittings, including circuit sittings
• Maintaining court records, arraigning accused, empanelling juries, administering oaths, managing exhibits, and filing and lodging legal forms
• Liaising with the judiciary, legal profession, litigants, witnesses and other court users to ensure efficient court hearings
• Legal and research services
• Helping members of the public with queries

Up until his recent retirement, George had been involved in dispute resolution for more than 30 years; and he brings significant knowledge about the legal process for survivors of historical abuse.

George will add his considerable experience to our Think Tank conversation on Saturday afternoon, when we will brain storm how to address retraumatisation.

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Kirsty comes to the complex-trauma space through lived experience, which has been the driving force for many years of powerful advocacy and political activism in support of survivors. In 2017/18, Kirsty staged a parliamentary sit-in, leading to important law reform for survivors of childhood sexual abuse. This law reform directly led to an abrupt change in career direction for Kirsty, who is now the Co-ordinator for a team of Abuse Law specialists at a leading WA personal injury law firm.  Awarded for “always sticking up for the little guy” and for her strong community engagement through her work, Kirsty has twice shared a podium with Erin Brockovich and has delivered speeches several times at TEDx events.

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Dr Burton is a clinician and mental-health advocate, focused on raising awareness in the areas of neurodivergence, complex trauma related disorders, and student wellbeing.

As a psychotherapist, she specialises in the assessment and therapeutic support of gifted and creative children, adolescents and adults. She additionally advises schools in relation to the psychosocial well-being of gifted students. Her doctoral research examined giftedness in relation to trauma theory, addiction and self-destructive behaviour. She is a published academic; an international and guest speaker; and is regularly asked to provide media commentary in relation to mental health and neurodivergence.

Kate is a passionate advocate for raising awareness in relation to the necessity of a trauma-informed approach across all sectors. She will be introducing the audience to dissociative phenomena, and offer practical strategies for helping to manage this during high-stress experiences.

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Mal is a director and principal of Neometric, an incorporated legal practice that partners with organisations to strengthen internal and external alignment to their purpose.

Mal was a commercial litigator in a global firm for over two decades, and brings deep experience of the civil justice frameworks and the barriers that they present. As part of his former firm’s pro bono practice, he has represented highly marginalised individuals in their battles with the State, and the many frustrations that involve.

 Mal is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors; a Fellow and Board Member of Leadership WA, and the Chair of the Board of Riverview Church.

Mal will facilitate the Think Tank conversation on "How can we address retraumatisation?" on Saturday afternoon.

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Sonia is a South-African trained clinical psychologist in full-time private practice, where she works primarily with adult clients with a lived experience of complex trauma. The majority of her clients have multi-faceted presentations with multiple physical and complex psychiatric diagnoses. Sonia is passionate about better service delivery in WA for survivors, and started the Perth Complex Trauma Mental Health Professionals Network (MHPN) in 2014 to expand service providers’ awareness of and clinical expertise in the specific treatment implications of working with complex trauma. From this initiative, she and two colleagues subsequently registered Complex Trauma WA Inc. (COTWA), a health-promotions charity, in late 2018. She has been volunteering her time on the Executive committee ever since, facilitating the presentation of high-quality local professional-development opportunities; as well as the development of a world-first trauma-informed spatial directory of independently assessed, local clinicians who meet internationally recognised standards of trauma-specific treatments.

Sonia will be interviewing and facilitating a safe conversation with a group of survivors who have volunteered to share their lived experience of the legal process with the audience.

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David has practised in all aspects of personal injury litigation throughout his legal career.

David has extensive experience in advising in relation to litigation involving catastrophic claims. He  has advocated for the rights of victims of historical and institutional sexual abuse; lobbied government to remove the limit periods applicable to those clients; and consulted with the current Attorney General in regards to the legislative amendments.

David has lectured at the University of Paderborn in Germany; and is a regular lecturer for the Royal Australian Colleges of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Psychiatrists and Occupational Physicians. David also lectures at the Post Graduate School of Psychiatry at Graylands Psychiatric Hospital.

He has agreed to co-present with Geoff Bourhill (see introduction above) on the workings of the Civil Court process, with special consideration to the perspective of the plaintiff/claimant.

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