Royal Melbourne Hospital Consumer Advisory Committee Member 

My professional background is diverse, commencing as a schoolteacher and then for many years as an actor in London.

For the last 23years I have worked in the hospitality Industry in my own recruitment company

 For the last 15 years I have been involved in the arts, specifically in the Melbourne Cabaret scene, having created and ran for many years Capers Cabaret that provided a venue for the development of emerging performers and established artists.

In Sept 2005 I was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and in December  of that year I had a bone marrow transplant.

 I spent much of 2006 as an inpatient at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. It was during this time I was introduced to Music Therapy. This was my introduction to the value and importance of Arts in Health.

 During my stay in hospital and with the encouragement and support of music therapy I wrote a cabaret show (‘Invincible Until Proven Guilty”) about my journey which I produced and performed in 2007. This would not have happened if the music therapy program did not exist.

 I have been a member of the Royal Melbourne Hospital Consumer Advisory Committee since 2010 actively involved in a number of focus groups concentrating on Patient and Family Centered Care.

 I am currently a member of Strategic Planning Group for the new Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre