Meet our
Practitioners
Every person in our team brings something no qualitifaction alone can provide - lived experience. Our practitioners are not just professionally trained; they have walked the path they now guide along, transforming their own reovery into a powerful foundation for healing and leadership.
Who We Are
Our Practitioners
Emma
Lived Experience Expert Practitioner · Complex Trauma & Recovery Coach
Annette
SURVIVR · Peer Mentor
Ciannon
Lived Experience Expert Practitioner · Complex Trauma & Recovery Coach
About
Emma
Founder of SURVIVR · Lived Experience Practitioner · Trauma Recovery & Resilience Specialist
“Trauma may shape the beginning of a story — but it does not have to define the ending.”
Emma is the founder of SURVIVR, an organisation built on the belief that lived experience can be transformed into powerful leadership, healing, and systemic change. Through her work, Emma supports individuals, organisations, and communities to move beyond survival and into strength, purpose, and resilience.
Emma specialises in providing psycho-informed lived experience therapy and mentorship for complex trauma, supporting individuals to navigate the impacts of adversity and rebuild lives grounded in confidence, clarity, and personal power. Her work focuses on helping people not only overcome trauma but transform it into resilience, empowering individuals to reclaim their identity, voice, and future.
Drawing from both lived experience and years of practical work in trauma recovery, Emma has developed a number of transformative programs that form the foundation of SURVIVR’s work.
These include initiatives such as the LIONS Program for Empowering Women, SURVIVR Mastery, and The Climb — programs designed to guide individuals through personal growth, recovery, and leadership development. Each program reflects Emma’s commitment to helping people move from victimhood into survivorship and from survivorship into strength.
Beyond individual support, Emma is also recognised for her work in organisational training and development, delivering mentorship, leadership programs, and trauma-informed training that helps organisations move from average performance to exceptional outcomes. Her work focuses on building resilient leaders, strengthening teams, and equipping organisations with the skills to respond effectively to trauma, crisis, and human complexity.
At the heart of Emma’s work is a belief that every person holds the capacity for extraordinary transformation when given the right support, insight, and opportunity.
Through SURVIVR, Emma continues to build programs, communities, and training that empower people to step beyond the limitations of their past and create lives defined not by trauma — but by strength, leadership, and possibility.
Areas of Focus
• Complex trauma recovery
• Turning trauma into resilience and personal power
• Lived experience mentorship
• Women’s empowerment and leadership
• Trauma-informed organisational training
• Leadership and performance development
• Survivor empowerment programs
Programs & Initiatives
• Empowering Women Program
• SURVIVR Mastery Program
• Personal Growth Program
• Trauma-informed leadership and mentorship programs
• Organisational development and training
. Career and life coaching
. Accredited clinical psychosocial therapeutic therapist
Approach
Emma’s work is grounded in:
• Lived experience leadership
• Trauma-informed practice
• Empowerment and resilience building
• Transformational mentorship
• Personal and organisational growth
About
Annette
SURVIVR · Peer Mentor
“Sometimes the most powerful support comes from someone who truly understands the path you’re walking.”
Annette is a SURVIVR and peer mentor whose journey through significant trauma has shaped her deep commitment to supporting others who are navigating their own healing.
Throughout her life, Annette has faced and overcome extraordinary challenges including addiction, childhood sexual abuse and neglect, and complex mental health experiences including bipolar disorder, Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), depression, suicidality, and severe anxiety. These experiences have given Annette a profound understanding of the realities many survivors face — and the courage it takes to keep moving forward.
After working alongside Emma and the SURVIVR community, Annette transformed her lived experience into a source of connection and support for others. Today, she works as a peer mentor within the SURVIVR Peer Connect Network, offering a safe, compassionate space for people to simply talk, be heard, and feel understood.
Annette meets people exactly where they are in their journey. Her approach is not about fixing or judging — it is about walking alongside others in moments that can feel overwhelming, confusing, or isolating. Through genuine connection, she helps people make sense of their emotional experiences, normalise trauma responses, and find grounding in the present moment.
The SURVIVR Peer Connect Network provides a place where survivors can connect with others who understand. Within this community, Annette offers presence, empathy, and lived insight to those seeking connection, meaning, and mutual support.
Annette does not discriminate or hold judgement. She understands that healing is not linear and that every survivor’s journey is unique.
Her role is to be a steady presence between professional supports — someone who will listen, sit with you in difficult moments, and remind you that you are not alone.
Through her work with SURVIVR, Annette walks beside others as they move from victimhood toward survivorship, strength, and hope.
Areas of Support
• Peer mentoring and survivor connection
• Trauma-informed emotional support
• Lived experience guidance
• Navigating difficult emotions and trauma responses
• Connection through the SURVIVR Peer Connect Network
Our Approach
SURVIVR practitioners are guided by core principles that shape every interaction:
• Trauma-informed support
• Lived experience expertise
• Compassion and non-judgement
• Person-centred recovery
• Empowerment and resilience building
Our work is built on the understanding that healing happens through connection, understanding, and safe support.
About
Annette
SURVIVR · Peer Mentor
“Sometimes the most powerful support comes from someone who truly understands the path you’re walking.”
Annette is a SURVIVR and peer mentor whose journey through significant trauma has shaped her deep commitment to supporting others who are navigating their own healing.
Throughout her life, Annette has faced and overcome extraordinary challenges including addiction, childhood sexual abuse and neglect, and complex mental health experiences including bipolar disorder, Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), depression, suicidality, and severe anxiety. These experiences have given Annette a profound understanding of the realities many survivors face — and the courage it takes to keep moving forward.
After working alongside Emma and the SURVIVR community, Annette transformed her lived experience into a source of connection and support for others. Today, she works as a peer mentor within the SURVIVR Peer Connect Network, offering a safe, compassionate space for people to simply talk, be heard, and feel understood.
Annette meets people exactly where they are in their journey. Her approach is not about fixing or judging — it is about walking alongside others in moments that can feel overwhelming, confusing, or isolating. Through genuine connection, she helps people make sense of their emotional experiences, normalise trauma responses, and find grounding in the present moment.
The SURVIVR Peer Connect Network provides a place where survivors can connect with others who understand. Within this community, Annette offers presence, empathy, and lived insight to those seeking connection, meaning, and mutual support.
Annette does not discriminate or hold judgement. She understands that healing is not linear and that every survivor’s journey is unique.
Her role is to be a steady presence between professional supports — someone who will listen, sit with you in difficult moments, and remind you that you are not alone.
Through her work with SURVIVR, Annette walks beside others as they move from victimhood toward survivorship, strength, and hope.
Areas of Support
• Peer mentoring and survivor connection
• Trauma-informed emotional support
• Lived experience guidance
• Navigating difficult emotions and trauma responses
• Connection through the SURVIVR Peer Connect Network
Our Approach
SURVIVR practitioners are guided by core principles that shape every interaction:
• Trauma-informed support
• Lived experience expertise
• Compassion and non-judgement
• Person-centred recovery
• Empowerment and resilience building
Our work is built on the understanding that healing happens through connection, understanding, and safe support.
About
Ciannon
Lived Experience Expert Practitioner · Complex Trauma & Recovery Coach
“Survivorship is not just about making it through — it’s about building a life beyond what once felt possible.”
Ciannon’s work is grounded in deep lived experience and a profound understanding of complex trauma. Having navigated significant adversity from childhood through adulthood, she brings authenticity, compassion, and practical insight to the people she supports.
Her approach centres on creating safe spaces where individuals can explore their experiences without judgement while building the strength and confidence to move forward. Ciannon specialises in supporting people navigating layered and compounding trauma, where childhood experiences intersect with adult challenges.
Through her work, she demonstrates that healing is not about perfection — it is about persistence, courage, and rediscovering possibility.
Areas of Focus
• Complex trauma recovery
• Domestic and family violence recovery
• Navigating systems after trauma
• Rebuilding self-trust and identity
• Trauma-informed coaching
About
Teresa
Lived Experience Practitioner · Psychosocial Support Specialist
“Healing begins when people feel genuinely seen, heard, and understood.”
With more than 20 years of experience providing psychosocial and lived experience support, Teresa has dedicated her life to walking alongside people facing some of life’s most complex mental health and trauma challenges.
Her areas of expertise include forensic mental health, Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), crisis intervention, Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), veterans’ mental health, acute and chronic anxiety and depression, and trauma recovery.
Teresa brings an extraordinary level of empathy and resilience to her work. Living with multiple physical and psychological barriers herself, she understands deeply what it means to navigate life’s obstacles while continuing to strive for growth, connection, and wellbeing.
Her passion for supporting others is unmistakable. Teresa consistently goes the extra mile to ensure the people she supports feel understood, strengthened, and more hopeful than when they first connected with her.
Her work reflects a belief that recovery is not about removing every challenge — it is about helping people rediscover their strength and capacity to move forward.
Areas of Focus
• Forensic mental health
• Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
• Crisis intervention
• Complex PTSD
• Veterans’ mental health
• Anxiety and depression support
• Trauma recovery and resilience
Are you a lived experience Practitioner?
Survivr National is building a community of practitioners who lead from the inside out. If you're ready to turn your story into a professional strength, we'd love to connect.
Please fill out the form and send us details, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.