Our work and our team
Support for Councillors, Council Staff, Public Service and Workplace Leaders to navigate the unique pressures and complexities of their role, resolve conflict, build trust and strengthen their teams.
Drawing on evidence based professional insight, lived experience and a human-centred understanding of the work we help leaders navigate conflict, meet their compliance obligations, strengthen their leadership capability and contribute to healthier communities and democracy.
We work across Australia and New Zealand to help build teams build internal capability and conflict resilience.
About our founder Anne-Marie
A former Mayor and Local Government Councillor as well as an award-winning Lawyer & Nationally Accredited Mediator, Conflict Resolution Specialist, Speaker Trainer and Churchill Fellow. As a corporate trainer and speaker Anne-Marie has worked with a lot of leaders and teams over the years and has experienced in complex dispute resolution, stakeholder engagement, complaint management and team building.
Training:
Lawyer
AMDRAS Accredited Mediator
Graduate of Pathways to Politics for Women - University of Melbourne
Certified High Conflict Coach
Ethical Leadership - Harvard University
Negotiation Mastery - Harvard University
Brain-based conversation skills and coaching skills - ICF certified
Neurocapability - Advanced Diploma of Nueroscience of leadership
Mental Health First Aider
Trauma Informed Disute Resolution Practitioner
Master Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) practitioner
Transformative Relationship Mediation
She have won many industry awards and has been recognised as a Thought Leader, an Innovator and a Wellness Advocate for her innovative approach and work in assisting clients manage conflict.
10 seconds of resilience from the 10 second coach
Venita is our resident resilience coach.
Local government leadership asks a lot of the nervous system - hostile chambers, public scrutiny, and the constant pressure to stay composed when everyone is watching. Venita can help you build the kind of resilience that actually holds up in those moments. This is not generic wellbeing advice, but practical, brain-based tools grounded in what the evidence shows genuinely helps under sustained pressure.
She's the author of 10 Second Coach, a book built on a simple, evidence-based premise, that you don't need an hour of self-care to change the direction of a hard day. Often, a deliberate ten-second pause is enough to interrupt a stress response, regain composure, and choose your next move rather than react to it. This is exactly the skill local government leaders need most and are rarely taught.
Venita holds an Advanced Diploma in the Neuroscience of Leadership, a Diploma of Positive Psychology, and specialist training in Brain-Based Coaching and Brain-Based Conversation Skills® — a combination that lets her explain not just what helps under pressure, but why it works.
