What's important to us
We keep it real
We pride ourselves on building authentic relationships with real empathy.
We lend an ear
Learning, to us, begins with listening. Before all else, we take the time to listen to service users, staff on the ground and to the researchers who have come before us.
We do work we’re proud of
We’re purpose-driven not only as a business, but as individuals. We care about and take pride in doing quality work we’re proud of, knowing our success makes a difference in improving real people’s lives.
We punch above our weight
Armed with curiosity, we aim to create outsized impact by innovating solutions that think outside the box.
My experience working with the Peregrine Centre on the facilitation of a co-design process was a perfect example of their values in action. As a lived experience facilitator who works in mental health and suicide prevention systems improvement initiatives, I can often feel like my expertise is not valued or my input even really wanted. Rebecca and Rich treated me as an equal partner from start to finish. It was the same way they approached engagement with the lived experience co-design participants – they took a humble and generous approach to working with community and showed a genuine desire to deeply listen and learn from each and every person. This meant that authentic relationships were able to be built quickly with people who have understandably low levels of trust – this allowed for really rich and meaningful conversations to happen.
Carrie Lumby, Director, Lived Experience, National Mental Health Commission
Our people
Frontline experience, clinical expertise
Rebecca holds a Doctorate of Clinical Psychology/Masters of Science from the University of Sydney and an MBA in Social Impact from UNSW. She is a Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Family Therapist and has been practicing for over 20 years. She currently sits on the national advisory committee for Mission Australia and is a Honorary Fellow at the University of Wollongong.
Her previous positions include Deputy Director of Clinical Psychology at the University of Wollongong, Unit Head at the Alternate Care Clinic (Tertiary NSW Health clinic for children in Out of Home Care) and Director of Mental Health at Grand Pacific Health (an NGO supplying health services in regional NSW/ACT).
She has previously been the Chair of Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy and a member of the executive for the Australian Association for Family Therapy. She is a Churchill Fellow and Centre for Social Impact Scholarship holder.
Rebecca’s particular research interests include family violence, rural mental health, suicide prevention and boundary spanning interventions, such as the intersection between design and human services.
Prof. Frank Deane is a Honorary Senior Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Wollongong and was previously Director of the Illawarra Institute for Mental Health at the University of Wollongong for 20 years.
He trained as a clinical psychologist at Massey University in New Zealand (BSc., MSc., PGDip.Clin.Psych) and practiced in the USA for 6 years before returning to New Zealand, where he completed his PhD and became a Senior Lecturer at Massey University.
Frank moved to the University of Wollongong in 1998 to be the Director of Clinical Psychology programs and taught in the clinical programs for 22 years.
Frank has broad research interests related to understanding what determines help-seeking for mental health problems and factors that lead to better treatment outcomes for both mental health and alcohol or other drug problems.
He is also interested in research on clinical training, supervision and coaching.
He has conducted research evaluating the effectiveness of different coaching models at increasing transfer of training and improving fidelity among staff delivering recovery oriented services for people with severe and persistent mental illnesses.
He has published over 318 peer reviewed journal articles and supervised 50 doctoral students and over 100 Masters or Honours research student projects to completion.
He is particularly interested in pragmatic study designs and utilises a diverse range of research methodologies and data analytic strategies in his research and evaluation activities.
Dayle is a clinical psychologist and holds a PhD (Clinical Psychology). Alongside her role within The Peregrine Centre, Dayle currently practices as a psychologist working with adolescents and their families. Dayle is a strong advocate for mental health education and access.
Dayle has worked within mental health research for over a decade, with a particular focus on people from marginalised groups. She has experience working on a range of projects, including delivery of online programs, telephone care, clinical trials, and collaborating with peer workers to deliver care.
Having grown up in the New England area, Dayle understands the difficulties for regional and rural populations to access care. Dayle is passionate about the delivery of timely and appropriate mental health care to all people, no matter personal circumstance.
Heather has a background in nursing; she commenced working in mental health as a new graduate, in Child & Adolescent Mental Health, providing services to families in regional centres, through to rural and remote communities in Western NSW LHD. She has also worked in crisis mental health, providing services via Telehealth across Western NSW & Far West LHD.
She has completed her Masters in Mental Health (Child & Adolescent), a Grad Cert in D&A Nursing and a Grad Cert in Disability Inclusion. Heather is passionate about equity of health service provision to rural and remote communities, which stems from growing up in a small farming community.
Bethany has a background in research, evaluation, and community-focused program design and delivery. She holds a Master of Social Work and a Master of Human Rights and has supported a range of health and community initiatives across diverse settings. Her work focuses on designing and implementing context‑responsive evaluation approaches that prioritise community perspectives and lived experience, and that contribute to sustained, evidence‑informed service improvement.
She works collaboratively with teams to develop evaluation frameworks, create practical data collection tools, and translate findings into clear, actionable insights. Her experience includes building staff capability in social impact measurement, effective data use, developing training and implementation resources, and producing outputs that inform planning and decision‑making across clinical and community contexts.
Michelle is a social worker by background having worked in the government, non-government, charitable and academic sectors in NSW and Northern Territory. Michelle has worked in the complex and sensitive areas of domestic violence, grief and loss, elder abuse, sexual health, child sexual abuse and women in the criminal justice system, managing several challenging projects. She has an ongoing commitment and passion for human rights and social justice in Australia aiming to bridge the gap between the advantaged and less advantaged in society.
Previously she was a generalist social worker in Community Health in the Eurobodalla region and case manager with the Eurobodalla Bushfire Recovery Support Service . She has also worked at the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in their policy and community engagement teams. In her role at Dress for Success Sydney she managed Success Works, a program focused on supporting women with a criminal history into employment.
Charlotte is a current PhD candidate at the University of Sydney School of Education and Social Work. She has a Bachelor of Social Work (First Class Honours) and Bachelor of Arts (Sociology and Socio-legal Studies) from the University of Sydney. Charlotte is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker with experience working in community mental health, suicide prevention and counselling settings.
Charlotte has a special interest rural and remote mental health and in incorporating lived experience approaches into services responses to social and emotional distress. Her current research is focused on exploring experiences help-seeking for suicidal distress in rural and remote NSW.
Jenn, with her foundational background in general nursing, discovered her passion within Child & Adolescent Mental Health settings. Having provided clinical care to children, youth, and families across Vancouver, Canada, her expertise took her across the globe, from America to New Zealand, and finally to Australia.
In Western Australia, Jenn transitioned into Clinical Education and project roles, where she supported research, governance, risk management, and training initiatives across metropolitan Perth. Her relocation to Coffs Harbour, NSW, gives her real time insight to the challenges faced by regional communities and practitioners.
With clinical and research experience spanning numerous Primary Mental Health Care settings and a master’s degree in Public Health, Jenn is deeply committed to translating innovative practices and evidence into real-world applications. Her interests include digital mental health modalities, early intervention and prevention of mental illness, and empowering clinicians to deliver safe and effective clinical care.