Our Team

Chief Executive Officer with over 20 years experience in ABA therapy delivery and therapist team management/development.

Pam arrived in Australia in 1997 to deliver ABA programs to families in Victoria who had no other access to ABA. She has also delivered ABA therapy and supervision for over 30 families in Queensland as well as training therapists through supervisory levels.

Clinical Director.

Emma has over 25 years experience working with children with ASD, ABA therapy delivery and therapist team management/development.

Emma has been with Learning for Life for the past 13 years and Clinical Director since 2012.

Emma is passionate about building the skills of those around her. This includes our L4Life students and families and our staff members.

Emma was a finalist in the 2014 Victorian Disability Sector Awards for Excellence in Improving Learning and Development Outcomes.

General Manager – Operations.

Victoria is an experienced banking and legal professional having formerly held roles with ANZ Institutional Bank and Allens Arthur Robinson (now Allens Linklaters). Victoria is a former board member of Learning for Life and a current board member and Treasurer for Regional Arts Victoria. In addition to her finance, risk and legal skills, Victoria brings experience and knowledge from her active involvement in the early education sector, including through her role as President of a community kindergarten.

Clinical Consultant.

Emma has been working in the ABA field since 2013, but has been working in disability since 2008. Since joining the Learning for Life team she has completed her Masters in Primary Teaching with a focus on Inclusive Education. She is particularly passionate working with families and education settings, as they provide ongoing support for their children/students. In and out of these roles, she runs workshops in therapist training, school integration, social skills, and managing challenging behaviours.

Emma was part of the final panel session at the ABA Today 2021 conference, discussing “Providing the best supports for all to rid education of systemic barriers”.

Head of Allied Health.

Sarah is an Educational and Development Psychologist and Specialist Behaviou Support Practitioner with extensive clinical and research experience in the area of ABA. Sarah has worked with Learning for Life for over 10 years, providing behavioural consulting for children families and educators throughout the Melbourne school system and into rural Victoria.  She is also responsible for coordinating L4Life’s research program in addition to running L4Life’s Psychological Assessment Testing program and Inclusion Works Program.

Sarah has a specific interest in working with clients who primary difficulty is behaviours of concern and motivated by seeing the progress clients can make with appropriate supports.

“I really enjoy working at L4Life because we go out of our way to individualise our supports to each individual child and their family circumstances. We don’t expect the child and family to conform to the way that we do therapy, instead we work out how we can apply the behavioural principals to maximise the chance that the particular child can engage and succeed in their everyday environments.” 

Sarah frequently presents at conferences on Autism and ABA-related clinical and research topics.

In October 2019, Sarah presented at the Applied Behavioural Analysis International Convention in Stockholm.

Sarah featured in a podcast episode by Therapy Team Talk – she chatted with Amanda Abel all about her role as a psychologist and working at Learning for Life (June 2021).

Psychologist, Clinical Consultant and Specialist Behaviour Support Practitioner.

Perri is one of our Psychologists at Learning for Life. She has a wide range of experience working with clients in clinical and educational settings. She strives to foster a positive therapeutic relationship and a safe space for her clients. Perri works collaboratively with families, educators, and other allied health professionals.

Services that Perri provides include school behavioural consulting services, conducting a range of assessments, counselling services, and working with educators to create an inclusive school environment.

Psychologist and Clinical Consultant.

Sarah has worked with Learning for Life for over 10 years with widespread experience working with children on the Autism spectrum and their families across a number of environments, including their homes, kindergartens and schools.

Sara also provides behavioural consultation for educators within the school system, including running workshops and professional development programs. She frequently runs workshops in therapist training, school integration and social skill development.

Psychologist, Clinical Consultant and Specialist Behaviour Support Practitioner.

Sam has worked with many children with ASD in their homes, kindergartens and schools since starting with Learning for Life in 2011. She frequently provides behavioural consulting for families and educators in schools, conducts a range of assessments and provides regular training for L4Life staff.

Read Sam’s articles:

• Anxiety Strategies For Kids With ASD.
• Strategies for Managing Mealtimes for Kids with ASD

Sam runs the Secret Agent Society (SAS) social skills program. She also provides regular training for L4Life staff.

Speech-Language Pathologist and Clinical Consultant.

Nilushi provides assessments and intervention within the speech and language domains. She also provides ABA program supervision in early intervention as well as school behavioural support.

Nilushi has been working with Learning for Life and in the ABA field since 2013. Since beginning with L4Life, she developed an interest in the different areas of communication including speech development as well as the use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) methods. She is particularly passionate about collaborating with families, teachers and other professionals in order to use a holistic approach when supporting her clients.

Nilushi provides assessments and intervention for speech, language and multimodal communication within her role as a Speech-Language Pathologist. She consults with the multidisciplinary team to support communication of all forms. Nilushi runs workshops and training seminars on ABA theory, Verbal Imitation and being an integration aide.

Nilushi is highly driven by the progression of her clients and strives to use an individualised approach. She is passionate about helping her clients find their means of expressing themselves.

Read what Nilushi said about becoming an ABA therapist.

Read Nilushi’s article: Imitation & Autism: The Importance of Imitation Skills in the Process of Learning.

Clinical Consultant and Specialist Behaviour Support Practitioner

Since joining the Learning for Life team in 2007, Claire has gained extensive experience working with children with ASD, as well as supporting and training their therapists, families and educators.  Claire’s practice focuses predominantly on early intensive behavioural intervention and the School Behavioural Support Program. She is particularly passionate about developing effective therapist training practices utilizing the principles of ABA and the use of technology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.

Claire presented at the 2021 ABA Today conference on the topic ‘Choosing the Best School’. She shares a summary of her presentation in an informative article for parents and guardians.

Clinical Consultant and Specialist Behaviour Support Practitioner

Elisha joined the Learning for Life team in 2010 and has experience working with children and families in the home, community and educational settings. She coordinates the L4Life Certification Program for staff and regularly conducts ABA theory seminars and practical training for therapists and families.

Elisha also provides school behavioural consultation, working alongside educators to provide proactive supports and learning strategies for students.

Elisha is passionate about collaborating with families, teachers and other allied health professionals, to ensure every child has an individualised program and supports that will help them to develop lifelong skills, as well as nourish the skills that the child already has.

Read Elisha’s articles:

• Skills For Socialisation
• Why Transitions Can Be Difficult For Kids On The Spectrum

Early Childhood Clinical Consultant.

Tiff is a clinical supervisor who has extensive experience in working with children and families across their homes, kinders and schools. Tiff has worked at Learning for Life since 2014 and is passionate about inclusion across all environments. She works predominantly with families accessing EIBI and SBSP services, and also provides training to kinder and school staff in task analysis and behaviour strategies. Tiff also facilitates the SAS social skills program, aiming to build confidence, friendships and further develop social skills for all group members.

Early Childhood Clinical Consultant.

Jodi has been working at Learning for Life since 2011 and has widespread experience working with children with ASD in various locations including homes, kindergartens and schools.  Jodi is passionate about working with children and families to help find their full potential and what works for them.

“I love how every day and experience is different. Seeing a child achieve something they haven’t done before is so rewarding” 

Outside of L4Life Jodi is a member of the technical committee for Gymnastics with over 20 years gymnastics coaching experience.

Read Jodi’s article: Tips for Preparing Kids with ASD for Starting School.

Early Childhood Clinical Consultant.

Erin has been working at Learning for Life since 2015 and has extensive experience working with children with ASD in their homes, at kinder and during their transition to school. Erin works with families accessing EIBI services, L4Life’s Inclusion Works programs and conducts ABA theory seminars and practical training for therapy assistants.

“It is the small yet significant day to day achievements of the children we work with, and witnessing their growth long term, that brings me joy and fuels my passion for this work”

Erin has particular interest in the development of verbal and non-verbal communication skills. Additionally, she is passionate about promoting inclusion and fostering positive and effective transitions for clients into kinder and school environments.

Early Childhood Clinical Consultant

Josephine commenced work at Learning for Life in 2018, having worked in special development schools previously.  She is a specialist in Early Intensive Behavour Support.

In her Early Childhood Clinical Consultant role, she oversees clients programming, develops behavioural support plans and consults and provides support to parents and educators.

As a clinical intern, Josephine is a mentor to some of the L4Life therapists.

“I love being able to see the young children I work with grow and develop their language, communication, play, interests and independence; as well as transitioning into other learning environments, generalising their skills to the natural world and forming friendships with other peers.”

Josephine’s plan for the future are to become a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA) and continue to develop her skills and knowledge in the field of ABA.

Co-Supervisor

Cassie works with neurodivergent and autistic children in thier homes, at kinder and during their transition to school whil also working with our clinical consultants to oversee client programs, develop support plans and help train therapy assistants.

She is working towards becoming a L4Life Clinical Consultant after completing a Masters in Educational and Developmental Psychology.

“I love working with kids and always have – being able to do that in a space where I can help them grow and overcome barriers and challenges makes me so happy.”

Co-Supervisor

Alana commenced with L4Life in 2020 as a Therapy Assistant working alongside clinical staff to support our clients.  In her role as Co-Supervisor she oversees client programs, develops behaviour support plans and trains therapy assistants.

“L4Life is such a supportive environment in all aspects – supporting our learniers, our families and our community, including staff. I feel valued and feel like what I do makes a difference to people’s lives,’ says Alana.

Alana is working towards becoming a Clinical Consultant and continuing her work with L4Life in the years to come.

“I love to see not only the difference we make in our learners’ and families’ lives, but also the joy we bring. We celebrate the small and the big wins while creating such cheerful moments and positive connections with our learners.”

Psychologist and Clinical Consultant

Hannah works across our Early Intensive Behavioural Intervention programs, School Aged Consultancy, Inclusion Works and Research and Assessments.

Commencing in 2016, Hannah’s highlight during her time here is working with students during transition into school and seeing the students re-engage in education after periods of withdrawl or school refusal.

“I hope to create positive change in the communities we work with to support a more inclusive approach to neurodivergent people.”

Practice Manager.

Celeste joined Learning for Life in 2017 after having worked in the customer service and hotel industries for ten years prior. In addition to her Practice Management role, Celeste is the L4Life Child Safety Officer and Occupational Health and Safety Officer. In addition to a love of travel, Celeste is a huge foodie and can be found at brunch most Sunday mornings.

Office and Finance Administrator

Meagan loves numbers and finding solutions, which makes her a perfect Office and Finance Administrator. Meagan manages the L4Life finances and is the first point of contact for all incoming calls and enquiries.

She joined L4Life in 2022 after 15 years as the Assistant Accountant at Swinburne University Bookshop. Prior to this Meagan worked primarily in Finance & Operations, Point of Sales and Inventory control supports to retail stores.

“I love working for a not-for-profit and making a difference to lives of young people.”

Krishani looks after the administration of L4Life’s Allied Health services’ clients, supporting clinical consultants in our speech pathology, assessments, school age consultancy and Department of Education services.

Krishani also works with our research team

“I get a real satisfaction of seeing a happy client.  I aim to maintain a healthy relationship with all our clients, which helps them reach out to me easily.”

Fleur has over 25 year’s experience working in marketing, communications and fundraising across the education, small business and disability sectors. During her time working in disability services Fleur has managed fundraising events, volunteer recruitment programs and has developed and implemented a school leaver employment program for young adults with disability.