Our Mentors

  • Kathy Kirby

    Kathy is a Registered Nurse, with 20 years’ experience. Her speciality is working with nursing leaders in community, health and aged care to build their capability in the following areas:

    • People Management – including performance management

    • Clinical Governance

    • Quality and Safety

    • Continuous Improvement

    • Developing healthy teams and culture

    Qualifications:

    Bachelor of Nursing: Registered Nurse

    Grad Cert Management and Healthcare Leadership

    Certificate in Coaching

    Check out Kathy’s Bio

  • Kate Lamont

    Kate is a registered occupational therapist with over 20 years’ experience working across the healthcare and policy continuum. Her speciality area is supporting staff new to quality, project or program management roles to build capability in:

    • Clinical governance

    • Project Management

    • Program Management

    • Continuous Improvement

    • Co-design

    Qualifications:

    Bachelor of Occupational Therapy

    Master Health Services Management

    Certificate IV Training and Assessment

    Certificate IV Workplace and Business Coaching

    Check out Kate’s Bio

  • Anita Panayiotou

    Anita is a registered clinical neuropsychologist with experience as working as a clinician, healthcare manager, project manager and researcher. She specialises in supporting new leaders in the following areas:

    • Team and organisational culture

    • Understanding personality and communication styles

    • Clinical governance

    • Project management & evaluation

    • Program Management

    • Continuous Improvement

    • Co-design

    Qualifications:

    Bachelor of Behavioural Neuroscience

    Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology

    Doctor of Clinical Neuropsychology

    Diploma of Management

    Certificate IV Health Administration.

    Currently completing: Master of Health Administration (La Trobe University).

    Check out Anita’s Bio

  • Jo Spence

    Jo is an experienced manager with over 15 years working in the community and healthcare sector. Her specialty area is supporting leaders in community, health and aged care organisations with the following portfolios:

    • Volunteer recruitment and management

    • Community Partnerships

    • Consumer Advisors and Co-design

    • Leisure and Lifestyle

    • Non Clinical Service Management

    Qualifications:

    Associate Degree Community Development

    Associate Diploma Professional Counselling

    Check out Jo’s Bio

  • Nikole Giles - Dickinson

    Nikole is an experienced Executive with a demonstrated history of working in the healthcare & disability industries. Nikole brings extensive healthcare experience, as well as a comprehensive understanding of Aged Care and NDIS framework. Nikole is a registered Nurse and her specialty areas include:

    ·         Consulting – NDIS/Aged Care/Recruitment/Healthcare

    ·         Leadership Support

    ·         Organisational Support

    ·         Management Mentoring

    Check out Nikole’s Bio

Contact us for more Info

What our clients are saying

  • My future direction in all facets of my life from personal to professional development was definately something I had put on the back burner. Through the Mentor program I have been able to refocus, make short and long term goals that are not only achievable but specific to my needs. In times of uncertaintly throughout the aged care sector, this has given me the confidence I needed to make some future plans, both personal and professional, and by doing so not only do I benefit but so does the organisation.

    Aged Care Quality Manager

  • Working with Thrive provided our team with the support and drive to achieve our goals and develop an education and learning strategy for our aged care workforce. Working with Thrive increased my confidence as a leader and manager.

    Health Care Education Manager

  • NCN Health is proud of the high quality of health care it provides to our community and the support we provide to our staff to assist them to learn and grow. Over the past 6 months THRIVE have facilitated a multidisciplinary middle managers leadership program for approximately 30 staff. Their communication with executive in planning the course and after each session has been timely and beneficial and course content relevant and engaging. Most importantly feedback from attendees has been incredibly positive. I would highly recommend. Thank you Kathy and Kate!

    Michelle Butler, Director of Quality, Risk and Performance, NCN Health

  • By engaging Thrive Consultants, Dhelkaya Health experienced an energetic team which thoroughly engaged aged care staff across the organisation. Thrive’s leadership and drive resulted in a collaborative, productive process which progressed key changes and produced standardised processes and procedures. The education and support provided to the teams was practical and sustainable.

    Executive Director Quality, Development and Improvement

  • Thrive consultants provided Dhelkaya Health Residential Aged Care with invaluable support, guidance and resources establishing a Community of Practice which allowed us to implement positive change, education and growth.

    Nurse Unit Manager of 43 bed RACS facility

  • I engaged the Thrive mentoring to support three aged care managers who were all developing and emerging as leaders, and I felt needed some additional support. I think it helped them provide leadership to their teams, and gave an offsite sounding board for how to manage complex situations, and supported them how to have hard conversations.

    Director of Clinical Support, Public Sector Health Service, Regional Victoria

  • The NCN New Leaders Mentorship Program was an incredible experience and a significant success. The course materials were highly relevant, with the Clinical Governance session standing out as particularly informative. Kate and Kathy were exceptional mentors, providing me with real-life experiences and the skill sets necessary to transition into the workforce with confidence and motivation. My experience with the mentorship program was nothing short of amazing. I highly encourage others to participate in this program if you're aiming to become a new leader within your organization.

    Quality Coordinator, NCN Health

  • It was great to speak with someone who has worked in role and could understand the difficulties being faced. Kathy was able to use her experience to give me ideas to be a better leader and to help promote a positive work environment for all. Thanks for the great mentoring sessions Kathy!

    Aged Care NUM

  • This program works very well. It was lovely to have the support of Kathy as I was transitioning into a leadership role. The mentoring sessions were tailored to my own individual needs and I was able to put into practice some very useful strategies suggested by my mentor. I would highly recommend this mentorship program for those transitioning into management.

    Aged Care NUM

  • It helps build confidence in our own skills, working with someone else and sounding out ideas with someone was really helpful, great course.

    Aged Care NUM