Our people

Bachelor of Communication Disorders (Speech Pathology)

Cathy Bucolo provides clinical input and advice to the Summer Foundation to inform policy, communications and practice.

She has gained a wealth of knowledge from working with various groups and shares this knowledge with a variety of audiences in education and training workshops, resource development and mentoring health professionals.

Cathy provides clinical input and advice to the Summer Foundation to inform policy, communications and practice.

Cathy has been at the Summer Foundation since 2016 and in the past has worked as a speech pathologist, case manager, consultant, trainer and project worker for more than 20 years. She specialises in acquired brain injury, rehabilitation, disability and advocacy, transitional living and capacity building.

Bachelor of Physiotherapy

Monique de Costa joined the Summer Foundation in 2017 and is the Design Lead in the Project Implementation team.

In her work in the Project Implementation team Monique supports people with disability to share their experiences of the disability, health and aged care systems. This work gives people with disability an opportunity for their voice to be heard, which can influence policy making and empower others to avoid or leave aged care.

Monique has a background in physiotherapy and has worked in hospital, rehabilitation and aged care settings. Through this experience she saw how difficult it was for people with disability to tell their stories.

Andrea is an occupational therapist with a background in the disability sector. She worked in both the public and private health sectors before joining the Summer Foundation in 2018 and has a depth of experience working with people with vision impairment. Andrea’s commitment to co-designing solutions with people with disability has guided her career and continues to influence her work.

Gina Fall has been with the Summer Foundation since early 2012. In her role as Curator in the Lived Experience Team she supports people with disability who have a story to share and also provides administration for our projects.

The stories, which are captured in digital and written forms, are used to support submissions, influence policy-makers and to give people with disability a voice.

Bachelor of Arts
Masters of Teaching

As a curator Louise Bradley works with people with lived experience of disability to share their insights to inform the work of the Summer Foundation.

The Project Implementation Team is currently gathering participants for a number of research projects, developing a series of digital clips to promote the ILO model of housing and working with a number of people contributing to a ‘promoting inclusion’ issues paper.

Louise began working at the Summer Foundation in 2012 and while studying worked at different times in the Research, Ambassador and Story-telling teams until 2016. After 4 years of teaching, living abroad and travelling, she is now back where her career began!

Bachelor of Occupational Therapy

Emma Gee’s role encompasses the sharing of valuable insights as both a provider and recipient to better educate and inform the Summer Foundation’s work. She has worked on building important capacity tools for the TAC/State Trustee’s Project.

Before joining the Summer Foundation, Emma was an occupational therapist working with neurological outpatients. Emma survived a stroke while she was in her 20s, later working at the Stroke Foundation as a project officer. She also owns her own business, is an inspirational speaker and author of ‘Emma Gee’.

Adv Dip Business (Public Relations/Event Management)

Dayanna Torres supports Summer Foundation teams to keep projects on track with deliverables, grant agreements/requirements and budgets.

Dayanna has worked in both the corporate and not-for-profit sectors in events, administration and project support. She has been at the Summer Foundation for more than 3 years.

Certificate IV Disability Work, Graduate Certificate in Human Services

Kelly has over 15 years’ experience in the disability sector, working in housing and support services, leadership, customer engagement, case management and training. Kelly us a strong advocate for people with disability and specialises in the NDIS and SDA.

Bachelor of Business

Helen Jeisman provides project support to Summer Foundation executives and works with managers to coordinate project planning, monitoring and reporting, as well as problem solving and managing relationships with external organisations.

Helen has worked for the past 7 years in event and project coordination within the not-for-profit sector, including nearly 3 years at the Summer Foundation.

Diploma of Events

Alana Dobra is responsible for managing and coordinating all aspects of events conducted by the Summer Foundation.

She has worked for 9 years in events and hospitality. After completing a Diploma of Events at Swinburne University in 2016 Alana further developed her skills in event operations and management for corporate and gala events.