Champion for Children’s Rights. Researcher. Leader.

Mary Jo Mc Veigh is a strong and charismatic female leader and a successful business woman. She combines ethics and innovative practices to guide her organisational decision making.

 

Mary Jo Mc Veigh O.A.M; City of Canada Bay Council Citizen of the Year 2020, Australian Social Worker of the Year 2019.

 

Being the CEO and Founder of one of Sydney's leading trauma centres and grassroots charity; both which support vulnerable children, young people and their families through trauma- specific counselling and human rights practices, Mary Jo is acknowledged in the field as an expert in child protection, trauma therapy and leadership coaching.

 

As a trauma therapist and an accredited mental health social worker with over 30 years of experience, Mary Jo's depth of knowledge, innovative business practices and personable presentation style is sought after for her to speak at conferences and training days both nationally and internationally. Her expertise has been sought on advisory panels such as the NSW Domestic Violence reforms and the Royal Commission into institutional abuse. She continues to present at national and international conferences, giving further voice to children, adults and families who have been impacted by the oppression of abuse and trauma.

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Mary Jo’s curiosity for knowledge has led her down the path of exploring and studying comprehensive bodies of literature, creatively utilising it within her therapeutic and leadership practice and more recently for undertaking a research PhD in Social Work at Sydney University. Her PhD is focusing on children’s rights and participatory values, whereby she seeks to raise critical consciousness of the potentiality to replicate inequalities and social injustices for children and young people. Whilst the importance of children’s human rights has been acknowledged on larger socio-political and systemic scales, Mary Jo’s research has highlighted that within the context of every day social work and therapeutic practice, children’s rights often remain invisible. This has inspired Mary Jo with the vision and determination to champion a children’s rights agenda across these sectors.

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Mary Jo is available to present key note speeches at conferences, symposiums and workshops. With her she brings a wealth of knowledge, a passion for advocacy and that gorgeous Belfast accent.

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