Our Team

Tanem is an employment lawyer with over 10 years of experience advising businesses in various sectors and assisting them to navigate complexities within their workforce. She is renowned for her global focus and international practice and after almost a decade in private practice, is currently leading the employment team at a fast-growing tech company. 

Before her private practice career, Tanem worked for the NSW Crown Solicitor where she advised NSW Government departments and agencies in relation to child protection law issues. Since then, she has worked with a number of not-for-profit organisations on a pro bono basis to continue her passion to do work that strengthens the community. 

A passion project for Tanem is to bring family and domestic violence into the frame as a business issue with a particular view to implementing measures of support in a workplace context for victims. 

Karen is a recently retired business woman who had a Gemmological practice in Sydney CBD for 40 years. 

In conjunction with this she has sat on several Government and NGO Boards, been a business mentor with the Dept. of State and Regional Development, received the Pommery Award for Business Excellence and been both the Lane Cove Business Woman of the Year and the NSW Adult Volunteer of the year. 

For the past 20 years Karen has been involved with victims and survivors of child sexual assault and worked as a volunteer through several agencies where one-on-one support and assistance is required. 

Karen has been on the SAMSN Board since its inception in 2012 and was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours for significant service to social welfare initiatives, and to the jewellery industry. 

Jed is a public policy professional. He has been engaged in large scale strategy development for the NSW Government, including on digital transformation and innovation. 

Prior to working in Government, Jed was instrumental in major Commonwealth anti-discrimination law reform and was a Project Director for the Australian Human Rights Centre at UNSW, Sydney. He previously served in several advisory roles in New Zealand, for both the Human Rights Commission and Office of the Children’s Commissioner and was a co-opted member of the New Zealand Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor’s Taskforce on improving the transition from childhood to adulthood, which culminated in the report Improving the transition: reducing social and psychological morbidity during adolescence. 

He serves on several Boards and advisory roles in relation to social impact. 

Gail is a registered Psychologist with over 30 years of experience working at the Family Court, Relationships Australia, Domestic Violence Crisis Service, ACT Women’s Health Service and the Australian National University. 

During this time, she has worked with many men and women who have suffered trauma as a result of interpersonal violence including childhood sexual abuse. She has also over the years, provided both clinical supervision and training in trauma related work. 

Having worked extensively offering support and change opportunities to men struggling with the use of violence in their most important relationships, she has a particular interest in services for men, which she sees as often too scarce. 

Gail is a long-time member of the Australian Psychological Society. 

Lindsay was a participant in the first eight-week group that SAMSN ran in the Newcastle in 2014. Since that time Lindsay has been a regular at SAMSN’s monthly meetings and has co-edited our e-newsletter for eight-week group alumni. Lindsay has also been involved in SAMSN publicity efforts and attended Supporters Workshops and SAMSN presentations for health professionals. 

Lindsay while now a retired person, has a background in Education holding executive positions within schools in the NSW Department of Education. 

Lindsay has a keen interest in developing opportunities for SAMSN to reach out to men across the nation spreading the message of hope and recovery. 

Professor Patrick O’ Leary is the Director of the Violence Research Prevention Program at Griffith University’s Criminology Institute. He has extensive experience in various executive roles in universities and the community sector. 

Professor O’ Leary is an internationally recognised researcher, with significant expertise in domestic violence/gender-based violence and child protection. Prior to entering academic work Professor O’ Leary worked as a social worker in sexual assault, counselling, and domestic violence services. For over twenty years he has conducted research on the effects of child sexual abuse on men. 

Professor O’ Leary has published extensively in high quality journals, and his work has influenced international domestic violence and child protection policy and practice. He has worked extensively in social development contexts in many countries. Professor O’ Leary was an Expert Academic Advisor to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and a Senior Research Fellow with UNICEF’s Office for Research. Since 2013 Professor O’ Leary has worked with SAMSN in an advisory capacity. 

Dr Gary Foster is a social worker, who from 2018 to 2023 was the Practice Manager for the Queensland Government National Redress Scheme Direct Personal Response and Counselling and Psychological Care programs. He was previously a Police Officer in the Metropolitan Police, London, where he co-coordinated a Domestic Violence unit; and investigated and prosecuted sexual assault. Gary’s PhD examines governmental responses to male on male rape. 

Gary was the founder/manager of the Queensland Living Well service providing counselling and group support to men who have been subjected to childhood sexual abuse or adult sexual assault, as well as to partners, families, and communities between from 2007-2018. He has presented at national and international conferences and workshops on improving therapeutic and service responses in working with men. Gary appeared as an expert witness at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. He is interested in developing responses to enhance the wellbeing of people who have experienced trauma and abuse.