Women’s Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services WA

Carolyn Wall – Events Manager WCDFVS

I would always recommend Jacqui O’Leary. Jacqui’s enthusiasm towards her work and our events was infectious. She not only diligently obtained our required photographs but was able to capture the spirit of the event with her random shots.

She always has interesting professional insights and suggestions to contribute to the success of the project.  I have always been more than satisfied with the quality of the end product she provides.

Orana House
Women’s Refuge

Mel Rowe – Manager Orana House

Jacqui’s passion and enthusiasm for telling ‘good news stories’ about people who have overcome trauma and hardship is inspiring. Her focus is always on advocacy and social justice and enabling people themselves to recognise and enjoy their achievements and successes.

Jacqui worked closely with Orana House and one of our clients, helping her to tell her story of recovery from domestic violence, mental health issues, addiction and homelessness and move to a situation where she is now happily living cleanly and safely in her own home with her children.

Jacqui has a great ability to build relationships, put people at ease and gently coach them to share their experiences as a healing journey for themselves and as a way of helping others.

Mandy

Mandy (FDV survivor)

Jacqui spent some time interviewing me and getting to know my family and I as we worked together to tell my story. 

Jacqui took the time to build a relationship and trust and was compassionate, patient and caring and didn’t rush me. 

Having Jacqui tell my story was so important to help with my healing and so I could keep moving forwards in my journey and recovery. 

Be My Koorda Aboriginal Autism Support Group

Be my Koorda – Evelyn McKay

I worked with Jacqui at Therapy Focus through promoting my Lego Group for Aboriginal kids with Autism, Be My Koorda, and following those interactions she reached out to me about Communications opportunities after interviewing me for Amnesty International.

Jacqui came out to the group and volunteered her time taking photos for us and writing an article to boost promotional opportunities leading up to the next Autism Symposium.

I would highly recommend Jacqui. She did a lot for our group and she took the time to get to know the kids and build relationships, which made a big impact for kids with Autism to be listened to and to feel special. 

Men’s Outreach Service Aboriginal Corporation – Broome

Jacqui interviewed and photographed us at the Intersectionalities in Domestic Violence conference in Perth. She was photographing and covering the event and was thrilled to find us after she had been trying to reach out for a while for an interview and to tell our story. We spent some time with Jacqui over the course of the event as she got to know us, listened to our story and was patient to make sure she got it right.

We built a rapport with Jacqui and became closely connected through this process. After saying goodbye, she then took the time to edit the content and get it just right so it perfectly reflected our story and told it justly. She went back and forth numerous times to honour the integrity of the story and we were incredibly grateful for the care she took during this time. We shared the story widely after the release and we got an unprecedented response to it and more people wanted to know what we could do and what we had overcome in the community through our personal journey with domestic violence. We would highly recommend Jacqui as a photographer, an interviewer and a story-teller who will dedicate herself to every aspect of the story to deliver the very best work.

Stopping Family Violence

Mark O’Hare – Operations Manager Stopping Family Violence

Jacqui started work with Stopping Family Violence (SFV) at a stage when we really needed to start to tell the story of the work of SFV. Jacqui quickly showed a strong passion for the work in developing an awareness in the community around FDV.

Jacqui demonstrated this passion in her commitment to finish projects and provide stories in a way that represented the real lives of people working across organisations but also for people who had been impacted by FDV. 

Jacqui’s skills definitely excelled in the journalism component of the role. She clearly has a natural talent for building rapid rapport with clients that allowed them to feel at ease and truly tell their story.