Dr. Cathy Kezelman AM is a medical practitioner, mental health consumer advocate and President and executive director of Blue Knot Foundation National Centre of Excellence for Complex Trauma. She is past director of the Mental Health Coordinating Council (MHCC), past member of the Mental Health Community Advisory Council (NSW) foundation member of the national Trauma Informed Care and Practice Advisory working Group, member of Independent Advisory Council on Redress.
Cathy worked in medical practice for 20 years, mostly as a GP. Under her stewardship Blue Knot Foundation has grown from a peer support organisation to a national centre of excellence combining a prominent consumer voice with that of researchers, academics and clinicians advocating for socio-political trauma-informed change and informed responsiveness to complex trauma.
She is a prominent voice in the media and at conferences, as well as author of a memoir chronicling her journey of recovery from child sexual abuse: Innocence Revisited- a tale in parts. She is co-author of multiple seminal Blue Knot Foundation documents.
On Australia Day 2015 Cathy was awarded an AM “for significant service to community health as a supporter and advocate for survivors of child abuse”.