About

I’m a youth work practitioner, educator and emerging researcher with a strong passion in strengthening youth work practice and the systems that support it.

Over the past 18 years, I’ve worked across youth services, program development, leadership and education. These experiences have shaped my understanding of the complexities of youth work, the importance of meaningful relationships, and the challenges practitioners and organisations face when trying to translate research and policy into effective practice, as well as the difficulty of real practitioner experience be reflected in policy and picked up by researchers to provide sound evidence based practice.

My work is driven by my belief that supporting young people well requires more than individual commitment. It requires whole of community practice and investment, intentional and insightful practice, strong relationships, reflective practitioners and systems that genuinely respond to young people’s needs, experiences and voices.

Through my work in education, practice development and research, I’m interested in building connections between the people doing the work, the knowledge that informs it, and the policies and systems that shape it. I value approaches that are reflective of experience, informed by evidence and responsive to the realities of practice.

I’m also interested in creating opportunities for reflection, learning and meaningful change — helping practitioners and organisations move beyond what they do to consider why they do it, how it could be strengthened, and what needs to change around them.

Ultimately, my aim is to contribute to youth work in a way that elevates the field, that so young people get access to practitioners and organisations that are functionally connected, cohesive, response, intentional and flexible, and reflective of current best practice.

So, what does this look like in practice?

Strengthening youth work requires us to look closely at how we work, what informs our decisions, whose voices shape our responses, and whether the systems around us enable practitioners to do their best work.

This starts with deep listening (Think = Daddiri, Ting, Talking Circles)

Listening to practitioners about the realities of their work. Listening to organisations about the challenges they are navigating. Listening to young people and taking seriously their experiences, perspectives and ideas. And listening with a willingness to question what we think we know, recognise where things are not working, and consider what might be done differently.

There is no single solution that fits every context.

My role is to help make those connections — between experience and evidence, understanding and action, and the aspirations we hold for young people and the practices and systems that shape their lives.