Lived Experience Committee

Knowmore’s Lived Experience Committee was formed in early 2026, and seeks to bring guidance and real word experience to our holistic service.

Chris Coombes, our Lived Experience Lead, says “The Committee exists to ensure lived experience informs not just what we do, but how we do it.”

The Committee brings together survivor leadership, expertise and insight to guide our work across advocacy, trauma-informed legal assistance, financial counselling, social support and specialised cultural support for First Nations peoples.

Giving individuals with lived experience a voice is an important step, and ensures lived experience meaningfully informs our services and systemic advocacy.

Co-Chair

Aunty Glendra (Gallindurra) Stubbs OAM

Aunty Glendra Stubbs is a Wiradjuri woman. Her mob originates from the Mudgee/ Dubbo and Narrandera area. Aunty Glendra has been with Knowmore Legal Service for more than 10 years and has been Knowmore’s Elder In Residence since 2021. Aunty Glendra supports the organisation to provide legal advice to the Stolen Generations and to those who have experienced childhood sexual abuse, in a culturally safe, trauma informed way. Aunty Glendra champions the rights and the voices of survivors every day.

Co-Chair

Chris Coombes

Chris (they/them) is the Lived Experience Lead at Knowmore. Chris has held appointments in government and non-governmental organisations, including as an Independent Expert Reviewer for the NDIS and is currently an Expert Advisory Member to the Attorney-General’s Department on Sexual Violence Law Reform. Chris has been a client of Knowmore’s. Chris is passionate about Survivor leadership, disability and children’s rights.

Sandra Noble

Sandra Noble is a proud Warlpiri woman, lived-experience advocate and public speaker. Her work is informed by lived experience of the Stolen Generations, coercive control, domestic and sexual violence, child sexual abuse, homelessness and starting life again later in life. She is committed to ensuring First Nations voices, language and cultural ways are respected in justice and violence reform and has contributed to national reform through the Australian Law Reform Commission Inquiry into Justice Responses to Sexual Violence.

Bronwyn Smith

Bronwyn Smith is a proud Wakka Wakka woman. Bronwyn holds knowledge of cultural obligations, protocols, rights and cultural practices across Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, as well as holds deep relations with people in Cherbourg, Woorabinda, Palm Island, Yarrabah, Bamaga and Darnley (Brub) Island. She led a cultural Immersion Program for Knowmore staff who attended the Cherbourg Ration Shed and Museum, and invited the Healing Foundation to Cherbourg and they took Bronwyn up on that offer. She has held a range of senior positions and appointments within Queensland state governments. Bronwyn is passionate about her family, her people, her culture, and said “It is important that I impart my knowledge onto primarily my family”.

Dani Villafaña

Dani Villafaña is a young gender-justice campaigner, community organiser and victim-survivor advocate. As co-founder of Youth Against Sexual Violence Australia, she has witnessed first-hand the impacts of sexual violence on school-aged young people across Australia. In 2022, she was named Newtown Woman of the Year and in 2021 was awarded an Edna Ryan Award for Community Activism, and the Trailblazer Award by Girl Up (United Nations Foundation). She commenced a Master of City Planning at UNSW in 2025. Dani was awarded the Peter Mitchell Churchill Fellowship to investigate legal and community responses to sexual violence within secondary school communities.

Giancarlo de Vera

Giancarlo (they/them) is a respected disability, racial justice and LGBTIQA+ human rights advocate, and is proudly a queer, non-binary intersectional leader of colour. Giancarlo has been recognised by Pro Bono Australia in their # Impact 25, a publicly voted list of Australians making the most social impact in Australia and abroad, and as one of the 40 under 40 most influential Asian-Australians. Giancarlo is currently CEO of BEING – Mental Health Consumers, the NSW peak body for mental health consumers, Co-Chair of the Disability Rights Committee for Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, Chair of the City of Sydney’s Inclusion (Disability) Panel, Secretary of Disabled Australian Lawyers Association and Treasurer of the Australian Centre for Disability Law. They also sit on numerous Australian and NSW Government and social service sector boards, and currently serve as Ambassador for Australia Day, for Rainbow Giving Australia and for the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Equality at Work and Include Ability project.

Kirsty Pratt OAM

One of Kirsty’s most significant campaigns ran for several years and culminated in a 6-month parliamentary sit-in during 2017/18, and directly led to important law reform enabling access to justice for thousands of Western Australian survivors. Kirsty applies these reforms in her role as Abuse Client Consultant at Bradley Bayly Legal, supporting abuse survivors on their journey to healing. Her team has been awarded for “always sticking up for the little guy” and through this work, she has twice shared a podium with fellow Law Clerk, Erin Brockovich. With a strong connection to her community, Kirsty is active in voluntary roles on various committees, including many years as the Co-Chair of the Victims of Crime Reference Group with the WA Department of Justice and previously serving as an executive director on the board of Complex Trauma WA, the peak body for WA health professionals working with complex trauma.