Meet the ChildSafe Team

ChildSafe Australia Team

Pranothi Nelson

Product Manager

Pranothi has worked for over 15 years in Education, Not for Profit, Manufacturing, Logistics and Supply Chain sectors, in the Human Resources and Training and Development function. Her previous experience in Human Resources  as well as various sectors such as has helped her to understand people, processes, and priorities. In her role as Product Manager, Pranothi helps solving business and customer problems and creating products and create solutions that are viable, timely and add value to the product. She is passionate about keeping children safe and loves to spend her time reading, volunteering and learning new technologies.

Mal MacDowall

General Manager, Relationships & Growth

Mal brings over 25 years of experience in business leadership, relationship management and delivering practical solutions to organisational challenges. His professional background, combined with extensive grassroots involvement in community and volunteer organisations, provides a strong understanding of the challenges involved in creating safer environments for children and young people.

As General Manager, Relationships & Growth at ChildSafe Australia, Mal builds strategic partnerships and helps organisations strengthen their safeguarding capability. His work spans local government, education, faith-based organisations, sport and recreation, health, disability and community services, supporting organisations at different stages of their child safety journey.

Mal plays a key role in developing ChildSafe’s training outlines, consulting and safeguarding solutions, helping organisations translate complex regulatory requirements into practical, achievable actions. He works with executive leaders, governance teams and operational staff to identify priorities, address risks and develop tailored approaches that reflect each organisation’s culture and operating environment.

Passionate about bridging the gap between compliance and everyday practice, Mal believes effective safeguarding requires more than policies and procedures. He is committed to building trusted relationships, strengthening organisational capability and empowering people at every level to embed child safety into their leadership, culture and daily operations.

Joel McCoy

General Manager, Services and Delivery

Joel brings extensive experience in leadership, organisational development and child safety, with a strong focus on helping organisations build cultures where children and young people are safe, valued and protected.
As General Manager of Services and Delivery at ChildSafe Australia, Joel oversees the national delivery of child safety training, auditing and consulting services. His work involves supporting organisations across a diverse range of sectors to strengthen their child safe practices, identify and address risks, and translate legislative requirements and Child Safe Standards into meaningful, practical action.
With a background spanning more than 20 years in leadership and working with young people, Joel combines strategic insight with a practical understanding of the challenges organisations face in embedding child safety into everyday operations.
He is passionate about moving organisations beyond simply meeting compliance requirements towards developing strong leadership, effective systems and cultures of accountability that place the safety and wellbeing of children at the centre of their work.

Madeline Hole

Business Coordinator

Madeline has worked within the disability sector for around 7 years, providing support to families and individuals through her Rostering & Administration skills. She has worked alongside children with disabilities in a variety of contexts, such as holiday programs, after-school programs, camps and children’s ministries.
Madeline has a desire to see children and vulnerable individuals protected and supported. One of the many ways she hopes to do this is through equipping organisations with the tools and knowledge to keep our children safe

Kathryn Christodoulou

Consultant / Trainer

Kathryn specialises in developing and implementing Child Safety policies, procedures and training across a wide range of organisations. Kathryn is also experienced in processes for complaints handling, incident response, reportable conduct and misconduct investigations, compliance, recruitment and screening. Kathryn has a wealth of experience in the implementation of Child Safe Standards in organisations that operate nationally to comply across all jurisdictions. 

Organisations she has worked with to deliver on their Child Safety objectives include CFA Victoria, Belgravia Leisure, Elevate Education, Melaleuca Australia, The Embrace Collective, Kids Under Cover and the NSW Inspector General of Custodial Services. Kathryn is also part of The NSW Guardian Children’s Resources Working Group and Community of Practice for faith-based organisations and was involved in gathering materials and writing submissions for the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse and Annual Reporting to the National Office of Child Safety. 

Linda White

Consultant / Trainer

Linda is a seasoned trainer, counsellor, and consultant with 25 years of experience. She uses a strengths-based approach, creating tools and assessments for individuals and teams, especially in workplaces and education.

Her background includes executive leadership, management, and social work, focusing on people, culture, wellness, mental health, personal change, and organizational strategy. Linda has worked in various sectors, including non-profits, government, education, and corporate, as a practitioner, leader, trainer, and consultant. She is a respected speaker and workshop facilitator.

Linda specializes in mental health, change management, communications, culture, HR, wellness, trauma, working with vulnerable people, and adventure-based therapies. She is warm, engaging, and adaptable, committed to lifelong learning and a growth mindset.

Yvette Wright

Consultant / Trainer

Yvette Wright is an experienced child safeguarding consultant, trainer and educator with over a decade of experience supporting child-focused organisations to strengthen their safeguarding practices and build safer environments for children and young people. Holding a Master of Education Studies and a Bachelor of Business from the University of Queensland, Yvette specialises in child safety systems reviews, policy development, risk assessment and organisational safeguarding. She brings a practical, evidence-informed approach to identifying gaps, strengthening policies and procedures, and supporting organisations to meet legislative requirements and embed a positive child safe culture.

As an engaging and knowledgeable trainer and facilitator, Yvette works collaboratively with leadership teams, staff and volunteers to build their confidence and capability in child safeguarding. Her interactive, scenario-based training encourages meaningful discussion, practical problem-solving and the application of child safe principles in everyday practice. Known for her supportive and approachable style, Yvette helps organisations translate complex safeguarding requirements into clear, achievable actions that strengthen accountability, improve organisational systems and create safer environments for children and young people.

Jeanie Dean

Consultant / Trainer

Jeanie is a qualified safeguarding specialist and expert witness with over 15 years of experience in child protection, safeguarding, institutional risk management, and workplace safety, both in Australia and internationally. Jeanie is also a specialist investigator and interviewer and holds postgraduate qualifications in Developmental Trauma Theory.

Jeanie’s mission is to protect vulnerable people, including children and young people, and enhance the understanding of the legal, ethical and moral obligations we all share in creating safe spaces for all people, especially children and young people. Jeanie has applied her expertise and credentials in developmental trauma, criminology, and governance risk and compliance to support clients, provide expert opinion and act as an advisor to boards and executives in specialist areas such as Safeguarding Risk and Compliance.

Ann Morison

Trainer

Ann Morison brings her 30 years’ experience as a Trainer to Child Safe Australia. She has delivered all the Child Safe Australia programs in her 2-years with the organisation so far. Her training sessions are successful due to her ability to be engaging and interactive as well as making it relevant and applicable to the audience. Ultimately her most valuable contribution towards child safe training is because she is a victim survivor of child sexual abuse, experiencing all types of abuse. Her passion is to see zero tolerance of child abuse and is pouring that into helping all organizations do whatever they can to prevent it.

Anna Ellis

Consultant / Trainer / Auditor

Anna possesses over two decades of extensive teaching and training expertise in the UK and Australia, predominantly within the not-for-profit sector for the past 15years. Her leadership roles include managing a training organisation across four campuses, focusing on students from disabled and disadvantaged backgrounds.
Anna has successfully overseen a trauma-informed education school unit tailored for at-risk youth, aimed at reengagement into education.
Anna is passionate about educating individuals on child safety to mitigate potential harm in the future.

Jeff Mason

Lead Auditor

Audits are overseen and/or carried out by Jeff Mason. Jeff has studied research into safety management to identify best practices and legislative requirements in every state of Australia.

Jeff has applied his skills and experience to develop an effective audit process that is enabling organisations already strongly committed to child safety and care to improve further.

Members of the ChildSafe audit team are trained by Jeff Mason.

Jeff served as Chair of the ChildSafe Board for eight years and was employed by Scripture Union as Safety Management Officer. His previous 33 years were spent in education including 10 years as Principal of Narrabundah College and leadership roles in the Accrediting Agency and Assessment and Reporting. Jeff rose to the position of Director of School Programs before moving to Scripture Union. As Director of School Programs, he represented the ACT on four of COAGS national education policy groups.

Ruth Pinkerton

Auditor & Consultant

Ruth’s broad-ranging educational and professional background allows her to understand how organisations work and how they work with children and young people.

Ruth has been a teacher, worked with children in higher-risk outdoor education settings, and coached children and adults in a variety of sports. For twelve years she was CEO of a state-wide not-for-profit organisation that focused on work with children and families. During this time, she worked hard to continuously improve the safety and care of children and young people for whom the organisation had a duty of care.

Company Director: Amity CMR