Dr Kathy Sloots
Alan White
Men’s health advocate/ author/prostate cancer survivor
Alan experienced continence issues after prostate cancer, for which he sought help. After making various lifestyle adjustments, today, his continence is good. Alan was the first Australian consumer to be invited to present at the 2023 conference in Nara, Japan, at the Multinational Association Survivorship in Cancer Control, (MASCC). He continues to be involved with Navigate trial which is now in its Implementation phase and will be rolled out around Australia. He also runs the Bayside-Kingston prostate cancer support group with his wife Fiona.
Audrey Burgin
Audrey Burgin is a Consumer Advocate and Continence Nurse Consultant in Brisbane with a long career working in community health nursing, aged care, continence promotion and management of incontinence. She has first hand experience of the impact incontinence has on people’s lives from caring for family members and others. Audrey strives to free people from the stigma of incontinence and encourages them to get help from health professionals. She has special interests in health promotion, consumer education, resource development, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.
Jacinta Crickmore
Leanne Murphy
Counsellor | Children’s book author | Consumer | Advocate | Birth Trauma consultant
Leanne has a Counselling private practice in Diamond Creek VIC, is a passionate advocate for women’s health, birth injuries and birth trauma (incl PTSD), is a consumer at Northern Health and Western Health hospitals, and author of a children’s book “When Mummy went to hospital”. Proudly her children Connor and Molly are the illustrators of that book.
Leanne suffered a catastrophic birth injury in 2011 which required six operations including an ileostomy bag, and later its reversal, and spent over 50 days in and out of hospital over that time. This injury resulted in her being faecally incontinent for many years. Leanne is a guest speaker about her birthing experience sharing to hospitals, universities and at professional development panels. She is also a consultant for maternity services and is called upon as a consumer for input representing mothers and/or babies.
Christin Young
Christin Young is a 27-year-old woman located in Sydney, NSW. Growing up in Wollongong, a city two hours south, she began experiencing untreatable and undiagnosed incontinence. This was alongside the onset of distressing symptoms that would later be diagnosed as a rare neurological condition, 'Paroxysmal Kinesigenic Dyskinesia' (PKD). Due to the nature of her chronic illnesses, it was a challenging 3 to 4 years before she was able to see a specialist and begin to attempt management.
Managing this throughout high school gave Christin unique insights into how the education system can best understand, accommodate, and address the impact that chronic illness can have on the mental health and identity of young people. As an adult, Christin has a heavy focus on highlighting the challenges around stigma for young men and women experiencing incontinence in Australia. She hopes to see change that elevates the support of young people with incontinence by the medical community.