The Board of Directors

Eleanore is an experienced lawyer and Churchill Fellow whose career has focussed on empowering, supporting and protecting the rights of people with cognitive and psychosocial disability. She worked at Victoria Legal Aid for 15 years, predominantly in the Mental Health & Disability Law team, and is currently the principal solicitor at the Office of the Public Advocate. She regularly engages in innovative, rights-based strategic advocacy, law reform and education projects, presents at local and international conferences and has also published some work. Eleanore values lived experience and enjoys working alongside self-advocates.

Eleanore loves playing and singing with her delightful toddler and is looking forward to introducing her to camping.

Eleanore has lived experience of receiving news of a congenital anomaly during pregnancy, which has motivated her enthusiasm for Through the Unexpected’s mission.

With over 25 years dedicated to providing administrative, executive, and board support, primarily within the not-for-profit sector, Susannah is deeply committed to fostering integrity, innovation, openness, and emotional intelligence in both professional and personal realms. As a perpetual learner, she thrives on embracing opportunities for continuous growth and self-improvement.

Her expertise spans a wide spectrum of administrative functions, and more recently, an expanded focus encompassing crucial domains such as regulatory and standards compliance, corporate social responsibility, and effective company secretarial work.

Susannah has lived experience of journeying through the unexpected following a prenatal diagnosis and is now close to being an empty nester, with three of her four children having flown the coop, leaving her home with one very hungry teenage son, an affectionate golden retriever and a bossy ginger tabby cat.

Pieta (she/her) is a Lecturer with James Cook University, managing research based subjects in the Master of Nursing course and is also a Credentialed Mental Health Nurse. Overly enthusiastic about patient experience and person-centred care within our fast-paced systems and society, Pieta has a particular research interest in the psychosocial aspects of prenatal diagnosis. She has postgraduate qualifications in mental health nursing, diagnostic genomics and higher education innovative teaching and learning. Pieta worked in varied clinical mental health nursing positions before her transition to academia.

Currently on the home stretch of her PhD research into the maternal lived experience of receiving a prenatal diagnosis of agenesis of the corpus callosum, Pieta also engages in other research related to the experiences of parents, their psychosocial outcomes and the workforces that supports parents through the unexpected.

Pieta has been involved in the start-up of a national grassroots charity and held various positions within committees and not for profit organisations, including a current position within the Perinatal Society of Australian and New Zealand Perinatal Ethics SIG.

Dr Imogen Thomson is a medical doctor with a clinical interest in women’s health, as well as public health and health policy alongside medicine. Her training has taken her across regional NSW, to Orange, Dubbo, and Newcastle, but she is currently based in Sydney. Imogen previously completed a term in Obstetrics & Gynaecology at Oxford University Medical School.

Alongside her clinical training, Imogen has been heavily involved in health systems work through undertaking research in public health, working at the World Health Organization’s Department of Health Systems and Innovation, and working as a Business Analyst in McKinsey & Company’s health and public sector practices.

Andrea Dickson is the owner of Matrescence Australia, a Full Spectrum Doula and Placenta Encapsulation Service, providing emotional, physical and practical support to women and birthing people no matter the outcome of their pregnancy.

Andrea trained with the Australian Doula College (ADC) and has slowly been adding additional qualifications along the way in Breastfeeding Education, Placenta Encapsulation, stillbirth and infant loss support and was a part of an Australian first, joint pilot program between the ADC and Child by Choice, also holding a qualification as a certified Abortion Doula. In addition, Andrea also works for Red Nose Australia in their Hospital to Home Program part-time as Bereavement Support Worker, assisting families who have experienced pregnancy or infant loss (stillbirth, termination for medical reasons, sudden infant death syndrome & sudden and unexpected death of an infant) from 20 weeks gestation up to 12 months of age.

In 2019, along side another bereaved mother, Andrea founded a peer to peer support group for parents who have experienced termination for medical reasons. One of the first of its kind in Australia, the peer to peer group has now provided support, comfort and a safe space to over 130 Australian families. Andrea is passionate about the informed decision making process, ensuring families have all the tools, support resources and information they require to make educated decisions and advocate for themselves and their baby’s in a complex medical maternity system.

Andrea has two living children and uses her advocacy and support work as a way of ‘mothering’ her three other children lost to early pregnancy loss and termination for medical reasons. Her own struggles with infertility, pregnancy loss and the inspiring families she works with on a daily basis are her greatest source of motivation.

Margaret Shield (they/them) is a queer, neurodivergent, single parent to two young children.

Margaret currently works in the therapeutic team at a regional, specialist family violence agency.

They also have a strong academic background with extensive teaching and research experience in both quantitative and qualitative health research methods. Margaret’s academic interests were focused on women’s reproductive and sexual health, social inclusion/exclusion, and experiences of stigma and discrimination.

Margaret has an unwavering passion for social justice, a strong commitment to intersectionality, and collective liberation, and a keen understanding of the social model of health and disability.