Carmel O’Brien OAM – Director and Company Secretary
Carmel O’Brien is a counselling psychologist whose special interest is the recovery of women and children from family violence. She has worked in child protection and women’s correctional services, in relationship and general counselling services, in the community sector and in private practice.
Carmel was Director of Clinical Services for a large community agency for fourteen years, managing counselling and recovery programs, and developing a suite of services for women and children who have experienced abuse. Her first book “Blame Changer: Understanding Domestic Violence” was released in October 2016. Carmel also has particular experience in upskilling therapists to assist survivors, developing mentoring programs for survivor recovery and in program development that incorporates learnings from lived experience.
Carmel is the recipient of a Menzies Award and the Australian Psychological Society (APS) Elaine Dignan Award for her contribution to women through her profession and is also a Fellow of both the Australian Psychological Society and the Cairnmillar Institute. In January 2017, Carmel was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her contribution to mental health and social welfare organisations.
