PACFA’s Board of Directors currently consists of 11 people, all of whom are longstanding PACFA members and abide by the Institute of Community Directors (ICDA) Code of Ethics and the PACFA Board Terms of Reference. Board members are elected for a period of two years, with their election confirmed at PACFA’s Annual General Meeting (AGM).
PACFA’s current Board members, beginning with the President and continuing in alphabetical order, are as follows:
President - Nigel Polak
Vice President - Doug Aberle
College of Counselling Convenor - Maree Armansin
College of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Practices Co-Convenor - Professor Judy Atkinson
Research Committee Chair - Dr Cathy Bettman
Professional Standards Committee Chair - Dr Pamela Brear
Treasurer - Francis Kim
College of Psychotherapy Convenor - Ernst Meyer
Ethics Committee Chair - Helen Phelan
College of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Practices Co-Convenor - Bianca Stawiarski
Immediate Past President - Dr Di Stow
President Nigel Polak 
Nigel is an existential therapist in private practice, supervisor, and academic teacher at the Australian College of Applied Professions. Nigel has served for many years with the PACFA Victorian Branch, the College of Counselling Leadership Group, as PACFA Secretary, and as Convenor for PACFA’s "Safety in Therapy" Conference Committee in 2022, before being elected as PACFA's President in 2022.
As founding Secretary of the Victorian Association for Restorative Justice and other diverse volunteer organisations, he brings more than 25 years of experience leading volunteer organisations.
With qualifications in law, business, and conflict resolution, as well as prior careers as a Solicitor, Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner and Restorative Justice Conference Convenor, Nigel also brings knowledge of law, corporate governance, and diverse industry experience to his role on the PACFA Board.
Email: [email protected]
Vice President and Ethics Committee Chair Doug Aberle
Doug has been practicing as a Gestalt therapist for more than 35 years and is a graduate and faculty member of Gestalt Associates Training Los Angeles (GATLA). Doug has a private practice in Gestalt Therapy in Perth along with a Business Consulting and Coaching Practice which also draws on his Gestalt training. Doug supervises Gestalt therapists in Perth and runs Gestalt Therapy training workshops locally and internationally. As part of his role on the faculty of GATLA, Doug delivers a theory track on using Gestalt in organisations as well as providing clinical group training and individual live supervision of trainees from around the world. Doug is passionate about Gestalt Therapy, its profound respect for the client and its emphasis on the innate power of awareness and contact. He has a particular interest in seeing the long-term, experiential nature of the psychotherapeutic apprenticeship recognised in the qualification frameworks of PACFA.
Counselling Representative Maree Armansin
Maree Armansin has worked in the counselling profession for 35 years and has provided counselling in private practice, education and organisational development, services to a wide range of clients. Her career began as a teacher, then youth worker, private practitioner, organisational development consultant and professional development specialist in Queensland Government. She trained at Wellington Teachers College (Dip Teaching) QUT (Grad Dip. Counselling, B.Ed., Master of Social Science (Counselling), and at UNE (Master of Education). She is a clinical member of PACFA, Convenor of PACFA Queensland Branch and past President of Queensland Counsellors Association. She is a registered Family Constellations Master practitioner, MBTI practitioner and uses tools and models from theory to offer clients practical, down to earth, professional guidance that assists them to achieve high level potentiality and significant change in their lives. She is a supportive colleague who brings challenge and practical solution-focused approaches to organisations and individuals.
Email: [email protected]
CATSIHP Co-Convenor Professor Judy Atkinson
Prof. Atkinson is the author of ‘Trauma Trails – Recreating Songlines: The transgenerational effects of trauma in Indigenous Australia’, which provides context to the life stories of people who have been moved from their country in a process that has created trauma trails, and the changes that can occur in the lives of people as they make connection with each other and share their stories of healing. Her academic contributions to the understanding of trauma related issues stemming from the violence of colonisation and the healing/recovery of Indigenous peoples from such trauma has won her the Carrick Neville Bonner Award in 2006 for her curriculum development and innovative teaching practice. In 2011 she was awarded the Fritz Redlick Memorial Award for Human Rights and Mental Health from the Harvard University program for refugee trauma. Prof. Atkinson is Patron of the We Al-li Trust, and continues to work across Australia and in Papua New Guinea on community-based violence-trauma specific recovery programs. She worked with the University of Wollongong in the development of specialized postgraduate programs such as the Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Trauma Care and Recovery Practice designed specifically to build an Indigenous trauma skilled workforce. On 1 August Prof. Atkinson chaired a Masterclass Talking Circle on ‘First Nations Ways of Healing Trauma and the Connections with Neuroscience’ with leading First Nations practitioners and researchers from around the globe at the International Childhood Trauma Conference in Melbourne.
Email: [email protected]
Research Committee Chair Dr Cathy Bettman
Associate Professor Cathy Bettman is currently Deputy Dean of Counselling and Psychotherapy at The Cairnmillar Institute. She has lectured and practised counselling in diverse contexts for over 20 years. She supervises students, interns and practitioners in clinical and research settings. For her PhD, Cathy conducted a qualitative research study in the area of domestic violence. Her thesis was entitled: Patriarchy: The Predominant Discourse and Font of Domestic Violence. This study resulted in her achieving a reputation as a feminist researcher although she prefers her philosophical stance to be understood as more inclusive. Having been trained in humanistic and systemic frameworks, she embraces social constructivist, constructionist and dialogical paradigms. Her qualifications also include: MSc (Psychotherapy), Master of Couple and Family Therapy, Master of Counselling, Post Graduate Diploma in Conflict Resolution and BA.
Email: [email protected]
Professional Standards Committee Chair Dr Pamela Brear
Dr Pamela Brear is a senior practitioner with an established private practice and extensive experience in providing counselling to clients and clinical supervision to those who work in people-focused professions. For several years Dr Brear lectured in the Masters Counselling program of the University of South Australia both in Adelaide and in Singapore. Building on her specialised interest in clinical supervision she launched Supervision Alliance developing an Advanced Certificate training in the Art and Science of Supervision, and facilitates a Community of Practice with her fellow Supervisors in South Australia. Dr Brear has had a long association with PACFA having served in numerous roles over 17 years on the Executive Committee of the Counselling Association of South Australia prior to its transitioning into PACFA.
Email: [email protected]
Treasurer Francis Kim is a Registered Clinical Counsellor, accredited supervisor, and educator. Francis was the Deputy Convenor and Convenor of PACFA NSW Branch Leadership Group since 2016. Prior to the full merger with PACFA Francis served as the treasurer and a member of the Ethics Committee in CAPA NSW.
Francis has attained a Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy from ACAP, a Graduate Diploma in Psychology from University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) from Macquarie University. Currently, Francis runs a busy private practice at Strathfield and Campsie NSW, works with NDIS, SIRA and with a number of EAP providers. Francis has been an educator in counselling and psychotherapy courses in a number of institutions including the Australian College of Applied Professions (ACAP).
Francis is passionate to see qualified counsellors and psychotherapists recognised in Australia at all levels of government, industry and in the hearts and minds of Australians. He considers his role as the treasurer and a member of PACFA Board as a great opportunity to serve the PACFA community, and to improve the mental health and wellbeing of clients throughout Australia.
Psychotherapy Representative Ernst Meyer
Ernst is originally from Bavaria in the south of Germany, and migrated to Australia in 1995. As a contemporary somatic psychotherapist in private practice he works with adults, couples and teen
age children. Ernst joined the leadership group of PACFA’s Somatic Psychotherapy modality in 2017, and have been an educator in somatic psychotherapy since 2021.
Ernst believes that psychotherapy is a valid and powerful clinical alternative to psychology and psychiatry, and that when practiced as a non-medical talk therapy it differs significantly from medical and natural-scientific approaches to mental health. As the Convenor of the College of Psychotherapy, Ernst aims to strengthen psychotherapy’s standing both within PACFA as well as in the wider community.
Email: [email protected]
Ethics Committee Chair - Helen Phelan
Helen has had over 30 years of experience in organisational development in many contexts where her work included policy, training, group leadership, project planning and equity matters.
Helen has applied this work to social justice and human rights issues, especially exploring and responding to systemic discrimination. This was the main aspect of her work in the Equal Opportunity Commission and in WA Police for many years in Perth. She holds a Masters in Human Rights. Helen is a qualified Sociometrist (a speciality of Psychodrama working with mapping and enhancing the connections between people in relationships, groups and organisations). She is a member of the Australia Aotearoa New Zealand Psychodrama Association, a Member Association of PACFA, and was AANZPA Delegate to PACFA for eight years. She currently supervises therapists and psychodramatists and has her own practice mainly focusing on professional Supervision.
Email: [email protected]
CATSIHP Co-Convenor Bianca Stawiarski
Bianca Stawiarski is a strong Badimaya (Badimia) and Ukrainian woman, committed to driving community change through decolonising the mental health and wellbeing space on a global scale. Combining western clinical qualifications and Indigenous healing practices, Bianca empowers a diversity of women worldwide, to embrace healing on their own terms, outside of four walls. Her certified Indigenous social enterprise, Warida
Wholistic Wellness, takes its vision from Warida (wedge-tailed eagle in Badimaya / Badimia), delivering quality training in wellbeing, healing and systems change.
Bianca is a Lead Facilitator, SA Manager and Sovereign Business with Indigenous healing organisation We-Al-Li. She is a PACFA Mental Health Practitioner whose qualifications include a Masters in Counselling, Diploma of Life Coaching, Post grad. Diploma of Counselling, Certificate in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, and Bachelor of Aboriginal studies. Bianca is a best-selling international co-author on a range of business and therapeutic topics. Bianca is honoured to live on Kaurna Country and treasures time reconnecting to Badimaya (Badimia) Country with her family. As part of her life's work, Bianca is exploring Ngardi Guwanda (deep listening), Indigenous Healing and lived experiences of plural communities. Bianca hopes these explorations can continue to create awareness, instigate change, and provide a platform for some of our world's most disadvantaged and vulnerable people to have their voices heard.
Email: [email protected]
Immediate Past President Dr Di Stow, B.A., Dip.Ed., MA Ed., MA Couns., PhD
Di (BA, Dip. Ed., MA Ed, MA Couns, PhD) has served PACFA since 2005 in various roles - within her Tasmanian Branch, on the PACFA Ethics Committee, Convenor of the PACFA 2012 Conference Committee and Chair of the Restructure Working Party. She was delighted to serve on PACFA's Board, including as President, for 12 years, until 2022. Di is passionate about what PACFA stands for and the great good the counselling and psychotherapy profession does for the mental health and wellbeing of the nation. Di is a PACFA clinical member, supervisor, and mental health practitioner. She works in a thriving private practice in Hobart — Di Stow Counsellor: Dr Di. Her specialist area is grief and loss; her thesis bears witness to her heart for this work. Di is a volunteer counsellor for SIDS and KIDS, and Cancer Council. Di has also had a successful career working for many years in government, in education, and justice, teaching (primary and senior secondary), curriculum development, training standards, human resources managing performance, grievances, and change. She also worked as an elected union representative and Vice President of the Australian Education Union. Di is a member of Rotary and a Paul Harris Fellow.
Chief Executive Officer Johanna de Wever
Johanna (BA, Grad. Dip (Communications) has worked in advocacy, media and communications for health and welfare organisations for nearly 20 years. Most recently, as General Manager, Advocacy and Leadership, at the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia, she has led advocacy around medicine shortages and opioid harm resulting in legislative and policy change.
At the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists she successfully advocated for greater awareness of the life expectancy of people with serious mental illness, leading to physical health and mortality being included as priority areas in the Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan. These projects demonstrate her outstanding advocacy skills and passion for mental health and high-quality healthcare. Johanna has also worked in not-for-profits and publishing companies in communications roles organising publicity for the likes of Edward de Bono, Geoffrey Robertson QC, Nawal El Saadawi, Doris Kartinyeri and Botswana’s first female High Court Judge Unity Dow.