A huge Thankyou to our ambassador Nicky Charman for running a donation drive for our Cuddle Cases Program. Â The amazing Calexico community pulled together to provide toiletries, teddy bears, sanitary items and other comfort and essential items for our Cuddle Cases program to support children entering care in Queensland. These items will provide some support to children at a traumatic time and let them know someone cares.Â
Andrea is one of the founding Directors of u&u recruitment partners, an executive recruitment business with 110+ staff across Queensland, NSW, Victoria and London. Â
Andrea commenced her recruitment career in 2003 working with an international recruitment firm before founding her business with her business partner in 2012. u&u was acquired by a Japanese listed business, Will Group, and Andrea now works across all the Will Group brands as Director, Employee Engagement. Her role is to help the Will Group brands thrive through their people and practices.
Having worked in the recruitment industry for 20+ years, Andrea is passionate about supporting the current and future talent of our workforce. She has seen first-hand the importance of ensuring the next generation of talent have the opportunities provided to them to thrive, regardless of their background or life circumstances. Andrea is committed to supporting the Foundation as an Ambassador as she truly believes that the services offered by Change for Youth Foundations programs can act as a critical support in unlocking the potential of our youth, who could be tomorrow’s future leaders.
Andrea has a double degree in Business and Science from Queensland University of Technology and has completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Management through Central Queensland University.
Lisa Honeychurch is the Founder of Change for Youth Foundation and has spent more than two decades working across law, child advocacy, psychology and systems designed to protect and support children and young people.
Lisa is a qualified lawyer who practised as an employment and litigation lawyer for more than 20 years. She was a partner and manager at ClarkeKann Lawyers before establishing and running her own specialist legal practice, Honeychurch Workplace Lawyers, for more than eight years.
Her commitment to child welfare extends well beyond her work with Change for Youth Foundation. Prior to establishing Little Stars Kids, Lisa undertook pro bono legal work for Act for Kids and served on the Research Committee of The Abused Child Trust, contributing to her longstanding interest in research, prevention and better systems for children who have experienced abuse and neglect.
Lisa also holds a double major in psychology and has undertaken significant training in trauma and the impact of trauma on the developing brain. She has also contributed to the development of training in this area.
Lisa has a particular interest in the rights of children within the legal and justice system and has advocated for children’s rights for many years, both through her work in litigation and through non-adversarial advocacy.
Her professional experience has reinforced her belief that protecting children requires more than responding to harm after it occurs. It requires laws, policies, systems and institutions that are deliberately designed around the safety, rights and developmental needs of children and young people.
In 2016, Lisa founded Change for Youth Foundation and developed the Little Stars Kids Camp model for children who had experienced abuse and neglect. She subsequently developed the Empower Youth Program for children living in out-of-home care in Queensland.
Drawing on her legal and systems expertise, Lisa built these programs with a strong focus on child safety, safeguarding, governance, accountability and trauma-informed practice.
Lisa has an avid interest in research relating to child welfare, child protection and the experiences of vulnerable children and young people, and in translating that research into practical legal, policy and systemic change.
She is particularly interested in building laws and systems that better support children and young people, prevent harm and ensure that children’s rights and voices are recognised within the systems that affect their lives.
Lisa’s work supporting children who have experienced abuse and neglect was recognised when she was named a finalist in the Queensland Community Foundation Emerging Philanthropists category in 2019.
Lisa’s focus is on challenging systems that fail children and advocating for evidence-based change that improves their safety, rights, wellbeing and life outcomes with a particular interest in corporal punishment law reform. Lisa is a member of the Ending Physical Punishment against children committee.