Broken to Brilliant was honoured to announce at our Christmas in July High Tea that Bob Atkinson agreed to be our Patron.
Bob served as the Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service (QPS) for 12 years from 2000 until his retirement in October 2012. In a 44-year policing career, Bob served from Goondiwindi to Cairns in a range of roles, including as a prosecutor and 20 years as a detective. After his retirement from the QPS, Bob was appointed as one of 6 Commissioners of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which ran from 2012 to 2017.
Bob is currently serving as Co-Chair of the Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Council and Chair of Queensland’s 9-member Truth, Healing and Reconciliation Taskforce, helping guide implementation of reforms arising from the Royal Commission. In 2018, Bob was appointed as a Special Advisor to the Queensland Government to examine and report on a range of youth justice matters and in 2019, was honoured as a Queensland Great in recognition of his continuing service to the Queensland community.
Bob joins our International Patron Karen Jacobsen in supporting the Charity.
Karen has been our Patron since 2018. Karen is an award-winning Singer and Songwriter, Author of two books, and Harry Connick Jr called her "hypnotic" on his national talk show.
You have heard Karen’s voice in over a billion devices giving directions in GPS devices worldwide, and as the original Australian "Siri" in iPhones.
Karen created the empowerment brand 'The GPS Girl' and in her speaking engagements presents five key directions for Recalculating.
Karen narrated our first book Broken to Brilliant, and sections of our second book, Terror to Triumph and the third book Shattered to Shining.
We are thrilled that our Charity has the support of Bob and Karen to help domestic violence survivors to rebuild their lives after abuse.
The Christmas in July High Tea is an annual event held on the 4th Sunday of July.
