Janja Bojanic is a psychologist and Allied Health Manager. Janja has had extensive experience working with diverse populations across her career, including working directly with the ADF and supporting rehabilitation and transition services for currently serving members, as well as extensive experience working with the military and first responder population in a clinical setting. Since 2018 she has participated and lead the trauma program developments for occupational injury at SJOG Richmond, working alongside Professor Zachary Steel in the development and enhanced models of care in treatment pathways for various complex clinical presentations.

R. Nicholas Carleton is a Professor of Clinical Psychology. He focuses on the mental health of first responders and other public safety personnel. He has published 260+ peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, completed 500+ national and international conference presentations, and been awarded $72M+ in competitive funding. He has received several prestigious recognitions, including induction to the Royal Society of Canada’s College and as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He is principal investigator for the RCMP Longitudinal PTSD Study (www.rcmpstudy.ca) and for other public safety personnel (www.saskptsistudy.ca), and co-investigator for a National Internet Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Program (www.PSPSNET.ca).

Josh Darby is a Senior Firefighter and Project Lead of the Whanaungatanga Programme. With over 20 years of frontline experience, he brings a unique blend of operational, research, and lived experience to his presentations. A peer supporter and health researcher, Josh received the 2017 Firefighters Scholarship for his research examining suicide and psychological injury in Fire and Emergency. In 2021, he secured Movember funding to develop and evaluate a mental ill-health and suicide prevention programme. His work on this programme earned him the Mental Health Champion of the Year award at the New Zealand Health and Safety Awards.

Tara is a qualitative researcher, keynote speaker, and internationally published author with nearly two decades of experience as an operational firefighter. She was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal for her doctoral research on the impact of suicide on firefighters and is deeply passionate about transforming mental health approaches within the emergency services sector. Tara specializes in embedding the voice of lived experience into translational research to tackle the complex challenges of mental health, trauma, and suicide prevention. Her unique perspective as a frontline firefighter, who has journeyed through her own experiences of trauma, combined with a diverse academic and professional background, fuels her advocacy for meaningful change in the emergency services. Recognized with multiple awards for her contributions, Tara focuses on collaborative solutions that drive impactful change at individual, organizational, and community levels. As conference chair, she brings warmth, authenticity, and a strong commitment to fostering a supportive and inclusive environment for all attendees.

Jesse Winter is an active emergency services chaplain with Fire Rescue Victoria and a provisional psychologist. As a recipient of the Emergency Services Foundation scholarship, he has researched the intersection of chaplaincy and psychology in supporting moral injury recovery within emergency services. His registration as a provisional psychologist and postgraduate qualifications in theology and psychology enable him to explore the psychological, spiritual, social, and moral dimensions of moral injury, providing a solid foundation for his research on interventions for emergency service personnel. Jesse integrates multidisciplinary approaches to understanding and mitigating moral injury.