Mrs Andrea Fernandez
Andrea Fernandez is an Educational and Developmental Psychologist and a board-approved supervisor. She is passionate about supporting young people with learning and mental health challenges and advocating for Educational and Developmental Psychology through her supervision work and APS activities.
Andrea began her career with the South Australian Department for Education, conducting psychological assessments, and assisting school staff and parents to support children with complex needs. Since 2020, she has worked at Mercedes College (currently on maternity leave), a Reception to Year 12 school in Adelaide. She uses comprehensive assessment and intervention practices to assist students, their teachers and their families to navigate learning, behavioural, and mental health challenges. Throughout her work, she has championed collaboration with teachers and families, advocated for policies that strengthen student wellbeing and agency, and promoted ethical and data-driven practices to ensure high-quality support.
Andrea provides supervision to Educational and Developmental Psychology registrars and provisional psychologists working in schools, helping them to develop skills and confidence. She promotes the profession to university students, including at the APS Psychology Career Expo, by highlighting pathways into Educational and Developmental Psychology, despite the absence of training programs in South Australia.
Andrea is a dedicated Fellow of the APS College of Educational and Developmental Psychology. She has served as the Chair of the SA and NT section of the CEDP since 2021 and is the SA representative on the National CEDP Committee. In these roles, she has organised high-quality professional development and social events, managed the CEDP PsyCommunity page to keep members informed and engaged, and initiated regular meetings among state section chairs to share ideas and strengthen connections within the College.
Andrea is committed to continuing her support for young people, their families, and emerging psychologists, and fostering positive change within the Educational and Developmental Psychology community.
Prof Carmela Pestell
Professor Pestell has been a dedicated and influential member of the APS for decades, holding dual endorsements in Clinical Neuropsychology and Clinical Psychology. With more than 30 years of continuous involvement in clinical practice, research, and teaching, she has contributed extensively across government health services, private practice, and academia. Notably, she served for 18 years as Director of the WA Neurosciences Unit before transitioning to academia, and since 2013 she has been a Professor at the University of Western Australia, where she continues to shape and inspire the next generation of psychologists.
Carmela has made sustained, high-impact contributions to the APS at both state and national levels. She was the inaugural Chair of the WA Branch of the APS College of Clinical Neuropsychologists and later served on the National Executive Committee. Her leadership has informed APS workforce planning and clinical practice guidelines, and she recently represented the APS on the national FASD Diagnostic Guidelines Working Group. Through these roles, she has helped influence policy, strengthen training frameworks, and elevate the visibility and value of neuropsychology across Australia. Her service was formally recognised in 2023 with both the APS President’s Award and the College of Clinical Neuropsychologists Outstanding Service Award.
Carmela’s academic and clinical expertise is notable for its breadth and depth. She holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and separate Master’s degrees in both Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology. Her publication record, comprising more than 100 research outputs, demonstrates leadership across complex and evolving areas of psychological science. Her work spans acquired brain injury, neurodevelopmental conditions, culturally responsive neuropsychology, and psychological interventions, consistently shaping education, policy, and clinical practice. Across all areas of her career, Carmela’s contributions reflect a commitment to advancing psychology in ways that meaningfully address the needs of individuals, families, and communities.
Mr David Heap
David Heap has made numerous contributions to the APS and the psychology profession for over four decades. His leadership roles include Chair of the College of Organisational Psychologists (2021–2023), Deputy Chair (2013–2014), and National Convenor of the Interest Group in Coaching Psychology (2011–2013). David’s dedication was recognised with the College Award of Outstanding Service in 2018.
He has played a pivotal role in organising major conferences, serving on committees for the Industrial and Organisational Psychology Conferences (2015, 2017) and the International Congress on Coaching Psychology (ICCP) across multiple years.
David’s initial undergraduate training in his BSc (Psych) (Hons) degree at UNSW was in clinical psychology and he was a member of the Division of Clinical Psychologists as well as the Division of Organisational Psychologists.
After completing an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) he has worked mostly in organisational psychology. His first position as a psychologist was with the RAAF and he has also worked for the Attorney-General’s Department, PA Consulting Group, KPMG, AGSM, Davidson& Axsmith, and Deloitte. He formed Insight Management Consulting in 1991 and continues there as a Partner.
Over the past 25 years, he has focused on leadership development and executive coaching, working with senior leaders in finance, professional services, government, and education.
David taught applied and organisational psychology at AGSM (1991–2001) and the Australian College of Applied Psychology (2007–2014), where he led the Coaching and Management Stream. He was a Visiting Fellow at UNSW and is currently an Adjunct Fellow at Macquarie University where he sits on the Organisational Psychology Course Advisory Committee.
Prof Gemma Sharp
Professor Gemma Sharp is a distinguished clinical psychologist, researcher and innovator with well over a decade of experience in practice, research, and education. She began her psychology studies in 2011, completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology in 2017, and is endorsed as a clinical psychologist and board-approved supervisor. She has been an APS member since 2012 and a Fellow of the APS College of Clinical Psychologists since 2019.
Professor Sharp has made substantial contributions to the APS, including serving on the Executive Committee of the ePsychology Member Group and as Early Career Representative on the College of Clinical Psychologists National Committee, where she co-established the Connect Program linking junior psychologists with senior mentors. She advised on the Medicare Benefits Schedule Consultancy for Eating Disorder Plans, helping shape a framework now providing up to 40 mental health sessions annually for people with eating disorders. She has also contributed as lead expert to multiple APS practice guidelines on cosmetic procedures, eating disorders and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies, developing educational courses completed by thousands of health professionals.
Focusing on body image, eating and weight disorders, Professor Sharp has published more than 115 research outputs, including award-winning papers in high-impact journals such as The Lancet. She is a world-leading pioneer in AI-assisted mental health interventions, notably through JEM® and ED ESSI® chatbots, now commercial services supporting hundreds of thousands of individuals in Australia and internationally.
As Founding Director of the Consortium for Research in Eating Disorders (CoRe-ED), Professor Sharp established a first-of-its-kind international charity uniting researchers, clinicians, lived experience advocates and industry partners to advance innovations in eating disorders research. CoRe-ED has nearly 1,000 registrants from 35 countries and 30 global partners, delivering monthly educational events and global research pitch competitions, amplifying psychology’s impact on mental health worldwide.
Ms Katrina Streatfeild
Katrina joined the APS as a student member in 1993 and was awarded full membership in 1999. She was the student representative for the Bendigo Region APS in 1998, APS Peer Group Coordinator for the APS Mildura Region Peer Group in the mid-2000s and has been a member of the APS Productivity Commission, CEO Veteran’s Suicide and Mental Health and other APS advisory groups. Katrina joined the APS National CCOUNP committee in 2019, was National CCOUNP Conference Chair in 2020 and National CCOUNP College Chair in 2021-22. Katrina was a member-elected APS Non-Executive Board Director from 2022-24 and has and continues to represent the APS on external expert reference and stakeholder groups. Katrina has contributed to APS policy reviews and acted as a subject matter expert for APS best practice publications. Katrina is a Fellow of the APS College of Counselling Psychologists and APS College of Clinical Psychologists.
Katrina has founded regional and rural psychology clinics, worked in clinical, consultant and management positions across the NFP, corporate, private and government sectors. She primarily works with trauma across the lifespan, and supervision of provisional and registrar psychologists. Katrina was awarded a Golden Key membership for her master’s research exploring a proposed developmental trauma diagnosis applied to a rural CAMHS sample. She was awarded a Rotary Health PhD Scholarship for research exploring trauma impacts on children living in transitioned ADF Veteran families.
Katrina currently works in and oversees a group practice in the Macedon Ranges, Victoria, and is committed to bringing mental health services to the rural community.
Dr Peter Streker
Dr Peter Streker is a community psychologist who has worked for over 30 years with a wide range of communities and organisations on complex topics such as trauma, family violence, drug issues, street sex work, racism, sexism, sexual assault and building social connections across difference. Peter currently manages a workload that combines therapeutic work with training, supervision and projects that work on large scale social change.
Peter’s PhD was published a book I Wish That He Hit Me: Working with psychological and emotional abuse. He has trained thousands of professionals working with complex trauma through the Blue Knot Foundation. Peter is the former Chair of the Australian Psychological Society’s Victorian and National Colleges of Community Psychology, a Senior Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne and Adjunct Fellow, College of Sport, Health and Engineering at Victoria University.
Peter has supported the APS’s work through his contributions to the:
- APS Public Interest Advisory Group Member 2014-18
- APS Festival of Psychology Taskforce 2024
- APS Professional Development Working Group 2021
- APS Professional Practice Working Group 2025
- Development of online training for staff and students of 39 Australian universities on reducing sexual assault
He has also presented at APS events on topics such as:
- Working with Collective & Transpersonal Trauma
- Working with violence webinars,
- Psychological Abuse
- Managing family violence perpetrators in the workplace
- What psychologists can do to stop racism
- Understanding and addressing family violence.
- Managing increased family violence risks through the COVID-19 pandemic
- Bolstering the Space Beyond Therapy: Lessons from COVID-19