Corinne is employed as the Safe Church Program Office, a part-time role which is 2 days per week. Her responsibilities are to provide and develop resources to support churches with safeguarding children, develop and review training for those within the Safe Church Training Agreement (SCTA), update the national Safe Church workshop calendar and network and support those in professional standards roles within their denomination.
Corinne says “I applied for the Safe Church Program Officer with NCCA as I saw it to be a proactive and beneficial role for Churches at a national level. The Ecumenical aspect to the job was one of the main attractions for me.”
She is an accredited Social Worker with the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), having reached accreditation status due to her commitment to professional development and her contribution to research for the Duty of Care for children in faith based contexts. Corinne worked as a parish based youth minister for ten years at her local Catholic Church, which is where her passion started for young people and their wellbeing. “I have what I call ‘on the ground’ experience in responding to young people who have been torn apart because of the many challenges they face; self-harm, suicide ideation, abuse, self-esteem/self-worth issues etc. and this has equipped me in more ways than I realised for this role within NCCA”. On the days when Corinne is not at NCCA she is a Crisis Counsellor/Case Worker for a welfare organisation.
Corinne is a Catholic, and also belongs to a Catholic Charismatic Community ‘Disciples of Jesus Covenant Community’. She says “For as long as I can remember my heart has always been beating for Christian Unity – and since starting at the NCCA this heart beat is much stronger. I hold my faith as the beacon to what guides my work.”
The priorities Corinne sees in her role are to give support, guidance and education on how to protect young people and how churches can be safe, informed and equipped.
Outside work Corinne loves Football!! “I am a massive Sharkies fan (and this is our year), but nothing fills my joy tank than simply spending quality time with family and friends over a nice cuppa and yummy food”.
Corinne is inspired by Frederic Ozanam, who at 20 years old saw the desperate needs of the poor in his local area and gathered his friends together to see how they can practically support people, and within 20 years his original vision turned into the most famous welfare organisation that we know today as the St. Vincent de Paul Society. She says she is often astonished at how much influence a young person with a passion (like Frederic) has had on the world.
