Positive Pathways for Indigenous At-Risk Youth

Dr Jocelyn Jones is a Nyoongar woman with Wadjuk, Ballardong and Palyku connections to the land in Western Australia. She is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Drug Research Institute (NDRI) at Curtin, where her research focuses on Aboriginal health and social wellbeing, informed by her work with Aboriginal prisoners and juvenile justice. She currently leads NDRI’s Needs of Aboriginal Australians program.

Jocelyn has a PhD in the area of juvenile justice and has extensive experience working in Aboriginal health and justice.

Professor Cheryl Kickett-Tucker AM is a respected Wadjuk Traditional Owner of Noongar Boodja with ties to Ballardong and Yued peoples. She is a social scientist, community development practitioner, children’s fiction author and youth basketball coach.

Cheryl has worked with Australian Aboriginal people all her life, in the fields of education, sport and health. In 2019 she was honoured with Australian of the Year, Western Australian Local Hero Award for her work with Aboriginal and vulnerable children. In 2020 she was awarded the Queen’s Birthday Honours as a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to tertiary education and the Aboriginal community.

Professor Stuart Kinner is a Professor of Health Equity at Curtin, where his research focuses on the health and wellbeing of marginalised and justice-involved people.

He is Chair of Australia’s National Youth Justice Health Advisory Group and the WHO’s Health in Prisons Programme Technical Expert Group. Stuart also serves on the Steering Committee for the Worldwide Prison Health Research and Engagement Network.

Associate Professor Hannah McGlade is from the Kurin Minang Noongar people. Hannah was admitted to the Supreme Court in 1996 and her career has focused on justice for Aboriginal people, race discrimination law and practice, Aboriginal women and children, family violence and sexual assault.

Hannah is an Associate Professor at Curtin Law School and an Advisor to the Noongar Council for Family Safety and Wellbeing. Her book Our Greatest Challenge, Aboriginal Children and Human Rights received the Stanner award for Aboriginal research excellence.

Hannah was appointed the Senior Indigenous Fellow of the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner in 2016 and is a member of the UN’s Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues.

Dr Stephen Monterosso is a senior lecturer and Business Law discipline lead in the Curtin Law School. His research interests include criminal law and criminology and juvenile justice, human rights and school violence.

He is currently an investigator in a $1.5m research project that aims to develop evidence-based early intervention strategies and pathways to build resilience and prevent at-risk youth from being enmeshed with the criminal justice system. Stephen’s PhD investigated The Use of a Rights-Based Approach to Address Juvenile Violence in Australian Schools.

Dr Raewyn Mutch is an Indigenous woman of New Zealand’s Ngāi Tahu/Kāi Tahu tribe. Raewyn holds qualifications in General Paediatrics, Child and Community Paediatrics and Respiratory Paediatrics. She is a specialist paediatric consultant at Perth Children’s Hospital, an adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at Curtin, Clinical Associate Professor at The University of Western Australia and an associate researcher at Telethon Kids Institute.

Raewyn’s body of research – which includes refugee health, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and juvenile justice – has informed state, national and international best practice and policy for health and justice. Her clinical leadership includes education, capacity-building, research-translation and advocacy for improving paediatric health and juvenile justice, services and policy.

Dr Robyn Williams is a Noongar woman and a Senior Research Fellow at Curtin. Robyn has a diverse background spanning more than 20 years in Aboriginal affairs, including the Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCO) sector, government and academia. She is internationally trained in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and has delivered FASD training for the past eight years.

In 2018, Robyn completed her PhD on FASD, engaging with 180 people in Noongar country. Her research was awarded a Chancellor’s Commendation was excellence and key findings have informed health, child protection, justice and education settings.

She co-authored the book Decolonising Justice for Aboriginal Youth with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (2021) and remains committed to Aboriginal-led approaches in our community.