Company and Board

John Armstrong has been involved in Citizen Advocacy since the late eighties.  He served as a a citizen advocate/guardian for a gentleman for nine years and was a board member and Chairperson of Citizen Advocacy Sunbury and Districts until taking up residence in Sydney in 2003. He is an independent consultant and trainer specialising in Social Role Valorisation and PASSING (the evaluation tool based on SRV) having trained with Dr Wolfensberger at Syracuse University; the originator of Citizen Advocacy. John is often called upon to lead CAPE evaluations or mentor new CAPE Team Leaders and provide training to CA coordinators, advocates and board members as requested. He does these activities quite separately from his activities with the Trust.

John, with Barbara Page-Hanify and Kelli Haynes were the founders of CAA and the Citizen Advocacy Trust of Australia in 2005.

I am delighted and honoured to serve as a board member of Citizen Advocacy Australia. My long involvement with the Sunbury Citizen Advocacy program, gives me a deep understanding and appreciation of the holistic and transformative nature of citizen advocacy matches and the protection and richness of unpaid relationships.
Blessed with the love and support of my wonderful husband and two, now young adult sons I have been able to regularly volunteer with community and disability organisations. I am passionate about ensuring people with disability lead healthy, productive lives and enjoy the good things in life that come from having socially valued roles.
A background in accounting and business ownership, my family’s lived experience of disability, an affinity with disability advocacy and the work of Dr Wolf Wolfenberger, gives me confidence that I can contribute to the great work done by Citizen Advocacy Australia, so citizen advocacy flourishes.

I have been Involved in Citizen Advocacy as an Advocate for the last 20 years in an advocacy relationship with Andrew a man of profound Disability. Andrew and I have come along way since that first meeting in 2001 as we journey together in facing life’s challenges. During this time I became enthusiastic about the Citizen Advocacy and the greater need for it in the wider community. I have spent a few years on the board of Citizen Advocacy South Australia and at one stage I was Vice Chairperson. Soon after completing my time with the board I have fulfilled various program functions including been part of the Program committee in making decisions about Key Office Activities and completing several internal reviews of our local program. In 2010 I was part of a team convened to to do an External review (known as CAPE) of another Citizen Advocacy in Rockhampton which opened my eyes to the need to protect and promote the principles and practices of Citizen Advocacy. I am grateful to be part of Citizen Advocacy Trust of Australia as a Director which I believe has a key function in protecting and promoting Citizen Advocacy here in Australia.

Dr Mark Feigan Master Social Science (Policy and Human Services) RMIT University, PhD La Trobe University, started his involvement in advocacy for people with disability as a Citizen Advocate in Melbourne’s Western Suburbs in the late 1980s. During the 1980s and 1990s he served as in different roles on the Board of Citizen Advocacy Wester Region Inc., including chairperson, and was also on the board of Citizen Advocacy Resource Unit Inc. He was the inaugural Executive Officer of Disability Justice Advocacy Inc. (DJA) for twelve years from 1990. During the 1990s and the early 2000s he was also on the Board of the Victorian Council of Social Services and was made a life member for his contribution. He has worked in disability program areas within federal and state government departments. In 2011, he was awarded a PhD for writing the first comprehensive history of the Victorian Office of the Public Advocate, where he has worked as a senior policy and research officer since 2005.