Team — SHE Speaks

Our team

PROJECT LEAD, POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY COACH

Professor Narelle Lemon

Dr Narelle Lemon is a Professor and VC Professorial Research Fellow Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Narelle is an interdisciplinary scholar, researcher and educator across the fields of arts, education, and positive psychology. Her research expertise is in fostering wellbeing literacy in the contexts of K-12 schools, initial teacher education, higher education, and community education. Her leadership in wellbeing education is focused on capacity building in wellbeing and self-care of proactive action across diverse areas of evidence-based wellbeing science in order to flourish. Narelle is a qualitative researcher with a strength in creative methods including poetry, mobile documentary making, visual narratives, and podcasting. She’s an active scholar on social media utilising this community for connections and wellbeing advocacy. Narelle is a successful podcaster with her podcast Teachers Supporting Teachers ranked in the top 25% of education podcasts.

TEAM MEMBER, PSYCHOLOGIST

Professor Julie Ann Pooley

Dr Julie Ann Pooley is a Professor of Psychology and the Associate Dean Psychology, Counselling and Criminology in the School of Arts and Humanities at Edith Cowan University. Julie Ann has over a decade’s experience in middle management and leadership positions. She has extensive experience in teaching in both the undergraduate and postgraduate psychology programs in Australia and internationally. She is a passionate tertiary educator that has won several University and National Teaching Awards. Julie Ann’s research spans areas of stress, resilience, and posttraumatic growth within the contexts of transition and disasters. Her involvement in Resilience research stems from her Phd research on Community Resilience in Disaster Communities and includes projects on women, adults, and children in many contexts. As a result, Julie Ann has supervised many research students at all levels, and has authored many books, chapters and articles. In addition, Julie Ann has been involved in and directed many research consultancies, projects and given workshops and presentations locally, nationally and internationally.

TEAM MEMBER, FILM MAKER

Professor Verena Thoma

Dr Verena Thomas is a Professor of Communication and Associate Dean Research at Edith Cowan University. With a background in documentary filmmaking, Verena’s work focuses on creative research approaches and communication for social change. She has led numerous award-winning research and production projects with donors, government and NGO partners in the areas of health communication, gender equality and education. Verena has mentored cohorts of researchers and practitioners in cross-cultural contexts in meaningfully applying participatory filmmaking, digital storytelling, and more broadly creative and co-design research methods. Verena facilitates these participatory research processes in collaboration with community groups and works with institutions and organisations that want to strategically integrate creative approaches into social change programs.

TEAM MEMBER, PHD CANDIDATECAROL SEGAL

Lucy Wright

Lucy is the Pastoral Care Leader within the School of Nursing at the University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle campus. Originally from the United Kingdom, Lucy is a registered nurse with over 14 years of international experience across diverse clinical settings.

Since relocating to Perth in 2021, Lucy has transitioned into the higher education sector, recognising the direct relevance and transferability of her nursing expertise to educational environments. For the past four years, she has contributed as a sessional academic, teaching undergraduate nursing students and developing a strong interest in student wellbeing and pastoral care.

With a broad clinical background, Lucy brings a deep understanding of the importance of self-care and its role in promoting sustainable health and preventing long-term health issues. Her passion for wellbeing as a whole, has led her to pursue a postgraduate certificate in Wellbeing in Education, where she discovered and connected with the SHESpeaks Project.

Deeply aligned with the values of SHESpeaks, Lucy is a committed advocate for self-care and wellbeing—both personally and professionally—and is excited to contribute to a project that reflects her dedication to fostering holistic support within learning communities through PhD studies.

TEAM MEMBER, PHD CANDIDATECAROL SEGAL

Carol Segal

Carol is a Higher Degree by Research (HDR) candidate at Edith Cowan University, where she is investigating functional breathing as an evidence-informed self-care practice for women through a PhD. Graduating second in her Master of Education (Advanced) in 2024, Carol brings academic rigour to a field she has been immersed in for more than two decades.

Her research explores breathing as both a physiological process and a lived experience. Our breath is the bridge to presence and a foundation for habit formation, wellbeing literacy, and female empowerment. At the heart of her work is Breathtaking, a 10-week program she curated. The course evolved after 25 years of teaching yoga and meditation, witnessing the transformative potential of functional, conscious breath in herself and her students.

Carol previously delivered Breathtaking to girls and women in South Africa, where she also supported the development of Agro-ecology gardens to strengthen connection to land, community, and self. The rhythm of the breath mirrors not only the cycles of women but also reminds us of the cadence and tempo of the earth and her seasons. An experienced facilitator, guest speaker, and retreat coordinator, Carol is known for creating spaces that are inspiring, safe, fun and grounded in wellbeing.

Her doctoral mission is to strengthen Breathtaking with robust scientific evidence while preserving its creative and experiential depth. Through this integration of research and practice, Carol seeks to empower women to regulate their nervous systems, cultivate sustainable self-care habits to live with greater vitality.

Ultimately, her work reminds women to pause and breathe.

meet the SHE Speaks team

The project team build on their strengths as women, researchers, educators, and leaders in the fields of education, positive psychology, psychology, health, communications, and creative arts.