Committee Members
Lidia Di Lembo - Chairperson
Lidia is the Founding Director of SabrinasReach4Life Incorporated and mother to daughter Sabrina Josephine who took her life in August 2017. Following the loss of Sabrina, Lidia with her husband Michael, family and friends embarked on a community raising campaign which included a 3,000km fundraising bicycle ride from Adelaide to Darwin to raise awareness of suicide, to help reduce the stigma of mental illness, promote mental health. A total of $100,000 was donated to the Black Dog Institute and some funds helped establish a Sabrina Di Lembo Memorial Scholarship at Charles Darwin University. Lidia is committed to pursue systemic change in suicide prevention, passionate to advocate for those impacted by suicide, or those caring for someone who is in distress and need of either peer led support or professional assistance; and bringing the sector together by forging strong collaborative partnerships to help reduce loss of life and trauma in our community.
In 2019, she established the first Suicide Bereavement Support group in Darwin, is Co-Chair of Postvention Australia. She is a member of: QLD & NT State Committee for Suicide Prevention Australia, the StandBY National Lived Experience Advisory Group, Roses in the Ocean Lived Experience Collective, the Wayback Service Advisory Group (TeamHEALTH). Lidia was the Coordinator of the World Suicide Prevention Day 2020 NT Forum and WSPD Breakfast event in 2019 Professionally, she works for the NT Department of Health and has over 30 years of public service experience working in leadership positions across both the Commonwealth and Northern Territory Government.
Bogusia Goring - Secretary
Bogusia is the secretary of SabrinasReach4Life Incorporated. Working in the Victorian Education Dept for 20 years, of which 12 of those years as a School Services Officer implementing and coordinating programs for children with special needs within a mainstream Primary School environment. The remainder 8 years working as an administration/finance officer within the Primary School setting. On becoming a permanent resident in the NT in 2015 Bogusia acquired a position with the Salvation Army Homelessness Residential + Alcohol and Other Drugs rehabilitation at Sunrise Centre and in 2018 as a Rental Officer with the YWCA of Darwin Housing Program. Having Lived Experience Bogusia understands the support availability challenges of those bereaved by suicide in the NT. In 2018 SabrinasReach4Life established a Bereaved By suicide Support Group for those in need of support. Bogusia is committed in helping to improve support in reducing the stigma of suicide and advocate in the intervention, prevention and postvention of suicide, and other health services.
Joe De Luca - Treasurer
Joe migrated to Darwin as a child. Joe is Lidia's brother and has been involved with SR4L since inception as was part of the support team on the Adelaide to Darwin ride. As a Certified Practising Accountant (FCPA) he has worked in both the NT and Commonwealth Government in a range of senior management positions for over 35 years. Whilst with the Commonwealth, Joe worked with the then Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health. Joe also spent 5 years in program delivery of Indigenous Art, Broadcasting, Language, Culture and Sports programs in NT government. He is passionate about promoting, preserving, and maintaining cultural identity, language, and heritage, having been a community radio broadcaster and an in-house trainer for over 25 years.
Joe is also a strong advocate for the Ethnic Community and has promoted Territory issues at a national level with both the Federation of Ethnic Communities Council of Australia (FECCA) and the National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasting Council (NEMBC). Joe continues to serve on several NT based community organisations including the Royal Life Saving Society NT.
Coral Osborn - Committee Member
Coral has a Bachelor of Psychology and a Graduate Diploma of Counselling (Loss and Grief); is a Crisis Support Counsellor with Lifeline and is currently a consultant with a Brisbane based agency delivering human resource services. In her Lifeline role she is involved in suicide prevention and supporting people who have been affected by suicide. Before moving to Queensland, Coral lived and worked in Darwin for more than 30 years and is aware of the unique societal and environmental context of life in the Northern Territory. She remains linked to Darwin through family and friends as well as the desire to contribute to suicide prevention and improvement in the services available to people who have been impacted by suicide.
Maria Vescan - Committee Member
Maria is a dedicated Registered Psychologist and Clinical Psychology Registrar. She is recognised as a member of both the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and the Australian Association of Psychologists (AAPi). In her previous role as a Coordinator at WayBack Support (TeamHEALTH), Maria provided crucial psycho-social support services to individuals navigating the aftermath of suicide attempts or facing suicidal crises. Her commitment to mental health extends to her prior work with St John Ambulance NT, where she specialised in delivering Mental Health and Crisis Support courses as well as specialised Emergency Medical Dispatchers training, enabling them to respond to mental health and suicide crisis calls effectively and ensuring the highest quality of care for those in distress.
Marina Vannucci - Committee Member
Marina is an Occupational Therapist with a passion for mental health and strives to support the most vulnerable or hard-to-reach people using a trauma informed approach. She has a history working in disability services, government and private practice. Since 2020 she has embarked on a journey with Neami National working initially in north Queensland and now in Darwin at the Head to Health Centre. Marina has a holistic approach to supporting others to maintain their mental health and enjoys learning from her professional counterparts and clients alike. Marina joined the Sabrina’s Reach 4 Life committee as a general committee member in 2021 after supporting the WSPD event earlier that year.
In her spare time, Marina is seen training her pet dog or doing projects at home.
Committee Member - Katrina Monahan
Bio to come
Past Management Committee members: Nikki Ryder, Lydia Gawa, Felix Matarazzo, Matt Hull, Irene Stark, Pauline Neil, Joan Washington, Elisabete Ponti
Sub Committee:
Bereavement Support Group - Maria Vescan, Bogusia Goring, Joe De Luca
Advocacy and Capacity Building - Lidia Di Lembo, Coral Osborne
Governance and Risk - Joe De Luca, Lidia DiLembo, Bogusia Goring