Our Team

Executive Director

BA(Pol&Soc), SpecCertCrim, PGCert(Vict), Accredited Mediator NMAS, MAICD, AMICDA

Stephanie McShane’s specialist interest is in Criminology and Victimology as a graduate of the University of Melbourne. Her expertise is in creatively applying this knowledge in developing a person-centred, trauma-informed and wellbeing approach to creating support service agencies for victims and survivors of abuse. 

Stephanie has a varied background working for state government in leadership roles in justice and community safety and being an Executive Officer in the working group that developed Pathways Victoria.

Stephanie has led Carelink, the largest organisation in Australia, providing care coordination and other wellbeing supports to victim-survivors of Catholic institutional abuse since 2015. Providing a personalised, collaborative, holistic and transparent support model has been her commitment since commencing this position. Since then, she has transformed how the organisation engages and supports its clients with a proactive, individualised and coordinated system of care promoting recovery. She successfully introduced a comprehensive trauma-informed framework in 2016, embedding positive practice and a wellbeing model, including adjunctive services to Carelink.

​

Stephanie is a Board Director of a public health service and hospital, and a Member of a Commonwealth Government Board. She is a member of safeguarding groups across Australia.

Response and Resolution Director

BA, LLB (Hons), GDLP

Stephanie Thirlwall graduated from Deakin University with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Bachelor of Arts. She has a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from the College of Law. She is an Australian lawyer admitted to practise with the Supreme Court of Victoria. She has also completed the Specialist Vulnerable Witness Forensic Interview course with the Centre for Investigative Interviewing, at Griffith University. 

Prior to her appointment as Response and Resolution Director, Stephanie worked in a variety of practice areas including a Community Legal Centre, Victoria Legal Aid and private practice, both in metropolitan and regional settings. She has extensive experience working with, and advocating for, individuals affected by interpersonal violence and abuse. Stephanie utilises a trauma-informed approach to provide a holistic and therapeutic support service. Stephanie is committed to creating an individualised, safe and supportive environment to assist victim-survivors in their recovery journey. 

Stephanie’s passion to assist and advocate for vulnerable members of the community has led her to volunteer her time at various organisations such as St Vincent de Paul, Disaster Legal Help and the Eastern Community Legal Centre. In addition to her role at Pathways, Stephanie also works at Victoria Legal Aid providing free legal advice and representation to the local community in a variety of practice areas.

Acting Response and Resolution Director

BA(Psych), BEd (Counselling), Dip Management, Cert IV Govt Investigations

With five years of university study in psychology and over 30 years’ experience in a range of child protection, refugee, human rights, practice quality and compliance, and executive leadership roles across both government and community services sectors, David is passionate about the provision of trauma-informed, person-centred services that assist victim-survivors in their journey of healing and justice.

As a qualified investigator and a consultant with extensive experience in conducting reportable conduct, abuse and neglect, and workplace investigations, case and practice reviews and root cause analyses, David has established investigation teams, managed investigators, and supervised and directly conducted over 200 investigations. With a particular interest in the principles of procedural fairness and natural justice, a significant focus of David’s work has been to ensure that investigation practice aligns with organisational values, and that organisations maximise the learnings from investigations, to improve the safety and quality of their services.

David is passionate about creating safe environments within which victim-survivors can begin to tell their stories, be heard and have their abuse and trauma acknowledged and redressed.

Complex Care Coordinator

Prior to commencing in the Complex Care Coordinator role, Bronwyn worked in the legal sector for seventeen years, both in private practice and within government organisations.  Bronwyn spent the previous ten years working in legal administration and case management at Victoria Legal Aid and due to her dedication to client service and advocating for access to justice, she was promoted to a Project Officer role with the Gippsland Legal Assistance Forum. 

Bronwyn has extensive experience working with vulnerable clients and supporting victim-survivors of abuse and violence. She is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Social Work to formally acknowledge the experience she has obtained over the previous ten years.

Bronwyn is passionate about advocating for victim-survivors to feel supported and safe in their recovery journey.