Mercy Community Services Get Cuddle Cases for Christmas Period

Kerri Chard is a leading authority in Child Protection with a background in psychology and over two decades of professional experience in the Non-Government and Government Sectors. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience in working with families impacted by intergenerational trauma, abuse and neglect. Kerri has spent significant time working in the court system with these families and has also run a regional intake service to determine intervention responses to children to meet their safety needs. She has developed award winning interventions within the Education sector, and spent time assisting schools to better understand complex developmental trauma and support children in the education system as well as bringing trauma informed curriculums into the classroom.

Kerri is Queensland’s leading Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI®) practitioner, having studied directly with Dr David Cross and the Karen Purvis Institute of Child Development team. Kerri trains residential care workers, foster and kinship support staff and also works directly with foster and kinship carers as well as biological parents using TBRI®. Kerri has spent time working in the USA with leaders and innovators helping children heal from their trauma. She is well known for her passionate yet pragmatic approach to the complex issue of Child Protection.

She is highly regarded as someone who can think differently and translate psychological theory into practical interventions that transform lives. Kerri is also a foster carer who successfully uses TBRI with children in the care system in her own home – and also on her own 3 sons (and husband!)

Maddie has a dynamic background, bringing extensive experience in Project and Office Management as well as having credentials in Social and Human Services from the University of the Sunshine Coast. Maddie’s speciality lies with relationship management where she seeks to build positive connections and work collaboratively with all stakeholders to achieve best outcomes for clients.

Maddie has a passion for improving opportunities for children living in care. Capitalising on her prior experience as a youth worker, Maddie understands the need to provide children with opportunities in education to build confidence and self- esteem to help break the cycle and give children a chance at a brighter future.

Greg is an Australian Education Consultant with over 40 years of teaching experience. He has worked with hundreds of schools and thousands of teachers and even more students in a variety of roles from year 2 teacher, deputy principal, curriculum consultant, system representative on the curriculum council. Greg has presented extensively at schools and conferences on a range of education related topics including behaviour management, boys in education, autism and school, beginning teaching, anxiety and student voice. Greg’s work in underpinned by a depth of knowledge and clarity of communication that empowers students, schools and carers alike. He helps tutors unlock the potential of their students by giving the tutors the opportunity to meet the most brilliant ideas that inspire, engross and empower the students. Greg is a trusted trainer and consultant to Little Stars Kids.

Katie is the program administrator for Little Stars Kids. Katie has extensive experience spanning over 20 years in an executive assistant role in the high pressure world of financial mergers and acquisitions. Katie brings a wealth of administrative and organisational experience to the role and provides invaluable support to the Little Stars Kids team and the families and stakeholders that we support.

Lisa is the CEO and Founder of Little Stars Kids. Lisa is a qualified lawyer and practised as a lawyer in private practise for over 20 years. Lisa also holds a double major in psychology and has completed a significant amount of training and assisted in developing training on the impact of trauma on the developing brain. Lisa has a particular interest in the rights of the child in the legal justice system and has been involved in advocating for the rights of the child in a litigation role and a non -adversarial role for many years.

Lisa is particular passionate about improving the outcomes of children who are living in out of home care in Queensland and developed the first day camp program for children who have experienced trauma in Queensland.

Lisa was a finalist in the Queensland Community Foundation Emerging Philanthropists Category in 2019 for her work with children who have experienced abuse and neglect. She has worked in the area of advocating for the rights of children in care since 2012 in various ways including acting on behalf of a child living in care in court proceedings and developing social and educational programs to support children living in care.

Randall is a Director at BDO Australia, an international accountancy firm, and has extensive experience in retail, particularly in the automotive sector but also more broadly with experience in food and beverage retail. His employment with a multi franchise dealership and a national automotive retail chain, as well as 15 years in chartered accounting, provides an excellent platform for specialist professional services. He is able to understand and support his clients with their operational and statutory requirements.

Randall is committed to making a difference in the lives of children living in care through the work of the Little Stars Kids and our Little Stars Kids Camps which provide so much Fun and laughter.

Kerrie has a background in marketing and communications and runs Pollen Communications.

Kerrie combines her bright and creative personality with her formal qualifications in integrated marketing communications producing results with an innovative edge. With more than 15 years’ experience across public relations, events and marketing, Kerrie has built a solid yet diverse clientele across the property, construction, retail, mining, tourism, health and fitness, not-for-profit and luxury product sectors.

A passionate and experienced communicator with a love for writing, Kerrie is passionate about using her skills to assist Little Stars Kids to build its presence to enable it to continue to support children in foster care.

Tristan is the Dealer Principal and Chief Operating Officer of the Keema Automotive Group in Queensland which operates over 5 sites across Brisbane and employs around 250 staff.

Tristan has an accounting background and was previously the Chief Financial Officer of the Keema Automotive Group.

Tristan has significant experience in financial matters and developing the strategic direction of the Keema Group.

Tristan is committed to making a difference in the lives of children living in care through the work of the Keema Childrens’ Foundation. He has been a Pyjama Angel with the Pyjama Foundation for several years, working with children in care to increase literacy and numeracy.

Megan has been an educator in the field of early childhood education for over 26 years. She is currently a teacher at Lady Gowrie Love Street Community Kindergarten. In 2014, the Queensland University of Technology acknowledged her for excellence in Mentoring Early Childhood Pre-service Teachers.

As teacher-researcher, Megan takes on an active role in researching relationships, friendships and the role of the teacher in the early learning environment. She has presented at the Lady Gowrie Conference, speaker at Gowrie Symposium, and was a key note speaker for the Jean Ferguson Memorial Lecture at Queensland University of Technology.

Megan has a particular interest in the role of trauma in the developing brain and early attachment. Megan also takes an active role in the Camp program and has been involved with the camp program as volunteer camp leader since 2016.

Katie Taylor and her husband have been fostering children for over ten years. In that time they have fostered respite, emergency and long term children. Katie has a passion for caring for kids with special needs and currently has 10 full time children in her care and one part time ranging from 7-16 years of age.

Katie has been involved with Little Stars Kids since it’s inception and is passionate about our programs and the huge impact that both the camp and cuddle cases program have on children living in foster care in Queensland. Katie also volunteers with Queensland Foster and Kinship Care as a delegate and in this role successfully supports and assists other carers to navigate what can be a very challenging system.

Katie brings a wealth of knowledge regarding the needs of foster carers and the needs of children living in foster care to our Board.

Mercy Community Services Get Cuddle Cases for Christmas Period

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