Chair: Dr Ellie Freedman

Dr Ellie Freedman is the medical director of Northern Sydney Sexual Assault Service (NSSAS) and the medical forensic staff specialist at the NSW Education Centre against Violence (ECAV). She has a clinical background working in women’s health and sexual health services for over 20 years.

Ellie has extensive clinical experience in the VAN (violence abuse and neglect) sector in NSW, working with adult and adolescent survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. She works in a state-wide role providing training, workforce and clinical advice to VAN clinical services, and has published several peer reviewed articles on primary care management of sexual assault and domestic violence.

Ellie’s work in the VAN sector focusses on bringing the patient voice to health systems and services. She is currently engaged in the development of a new NSW Health domestic and family violence crisis response service model, which aims to provide integrated counselling, medical and forensic crisis services accessible to victim-survivors of domestic and family violence wherever they access the NSW Health system. The project is focused on partnering with victim-survivors and ensuring a holistic approach to meeting health, safety and justice needs, and will include updated counselling, medical and forensic clinical guidance for NSW Health staff.

Board member: Nikita Knapp

Nikita Knapp is a Child Protection Case Worker in a Family Support Service. Nikita graduated from The University of Sydney in 2018 with a Bachelor of Social Work and Arts majoring in Gender Studies.

Nikita is passionate about working against gender inequalities and empowering women and children to re-establish safety and security after experiencing violence.

Board member: Dr Neeraja Sanmuhanathan

Dr Neeraja Sanmuhanathan is a Senior Sexual Assault Counsellor at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital providing trauma and violence informed counselling support to those impacted by sexual violence. In this role, she also provides specialist support to University of Sydney students as part of the Safer Communities project in partnership with NSW Health. Neeraja completed her PhD thesis at the University of Sydney exploring Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and intergenerational trauma. She is also a sessional lecturer within the Master of Counselling program at the University of Notre Dame.

Neeraja is passionate about human rights including the right to live free from violence. Neeraja has advocated for better understanding of the complexities surrounding sexual assault disclosures including authoring an article on The Conversation which was republished on ABC (https://theconversation.com/im-a-sexual-assault-counsellor-heres-why-its-so-hard-for-survivors-to-come-forward-and-what-happens-when-they-do-156038). She is currently collaborating on a research project between Sydney Local Health District and UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion exploring barriers to disclosures.

In her previous role, Neeraja worked at STARTTS (NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors) providing psychological support to asylum seekers. This role allowed her to better understand the intersection of gender inequality, structural inequality, and migration in women’s experiences of violence. Identifying as an Australian Tamil, Neeraja believes there is a need to create culturally safe and community centred projects to address gender based violence in our communities.

Board member: Charity Danquah

Charity Danquah is senior project officer at the NSW Department of Communities and Justice. Charity has worked in diverse roles providing advisory, training and policy analysis in the areas of domestic and family violence, sexual assault, and sexual misconduct. Charity has worked in caseworker roles supporting immigrant and refugee women experiencing domestic and family violence.

Charity also has extensive experience within the trade union movement organising and advocating on behalf of a variety of workers in the private and public sectors.

Charity has an Arts/Science degree from UNSW.

Board member: Natasha de Silva

Natasha de Silva has an international and national profile as a human rights and gender equality expert, working with governments and organisations in the region to build knowledge and technical capacity. Currently the Principal of Intersection, a consultancy specialising in the rights of women at work, Natasha brings to this a holistic and intersectional understanding of disability rights, age discrimination and racial equality.

Natasha has 20 years of experience as a senior leader in the government sector and prior to establishing Intersection, led significant national policy reforms, such as Respect@Work, as Senior Executive at the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Natasha is a Justice of the Peace in NSW and has degrees in Arts and Commerce in International Development and Economics and a Master of Global Law from the University of Sydney.

Board member: Carol Gutierrez

Carol Gutierrez is a registered Psychologist, living and working on Gundungurra country. Carol has 20 years experience working in the trauma space in government & non-government roles such as child protection caseworker, placement & carer assessor, therapeutic group facilitator, training facilitator & consultant. Carol also worked at Full Stop Foundation (previously known as RDVSA) from 2011-2017 in various roles, starting as a telephone & online counsellor and completing her time there as the Training Manager, where she was developing & delivering programs, & presenting at conferences around Australia on behalf of the organisation.

Carol currently works in private practice in Bowral NSW, offering a tailored service to groups & individuals which guides people through their concerns using a trauma specialist and evidence-based approach.

Carol is passionate about advocating for people impacted by trauma, as well as educating & supporting professionals who work in the trauma field. Carol brings a lens from a regional perspective & hopes to increase specialist support & services to areas outside of the major cities.

Board member: Fay Calderone

Fay has paved a path as a lawyer passionate about wellbeing and inclusion drawing on over 20 years of experience. She is passionate about workplace culture, wellness and inclusion and assists employers to navigate the minefield that is employment law and to find sensible and commercial solutions to employment issues they are grappling with in their workplaces.

Fay presents at conferences, publishes articles and provides media commentary with a progressive approach to workplace issues including the encouraging employers to move “beyond compliance” to the creation of healthy, inclusive, respectful and flexible workplaces.

As Chair of Hall & Wilcox Diversity & Inclusion Council Fay advocates for the evolution to agile workplaces as the new “normal” to remove the structural barriers to pay equity and the progression of women in the law. As a mentor to young lawyers and emerging leaders, Fay is relentless in her pursuit to send the elevator back down and believes it is incumbent on leaders to champion the change necessary for the next generation to thrive.

Fay is a member of Chief Executive Women and was named emerging leader of the year at the 2014 Women’s Agenda leadership awards and highly commended in the NSW Women Lawyers Achievement Awards as Lawyer of the Year in 2019. She is recognised for Labour & Employment Law – Sydney in The Best Lawyers and Doyle’s Guide and as a 5-star Employment Lawyer by HR Director Australia and as Elite Women by Australasian Lawyer. In 2021 Fay was named Wellness Advocate of the Year (2021) in the Lawyers Weekly Partner of the Year Awards and Employment Partner of the Year in the 2022 Awards.