Women's Mental Health Australia Names Katrina Locandro as COO

Women’s Mental Health Australia (WMHA) is proud to announce the appointment of Katrina Locandro as Chief Operating Officer, recognizing her significant contribution to the organization’s growth and impact over the past six years.

Katrina joined WMHA in a community-focused role in 2020 and has been instrumental in helping to define the strategic direction of the organization with Founder and CEO Luke Morris.

During the last six years, she has contributed to WMHA's expansion to a national advocacy and awareness organization for women's mental health, through gender-specific research, advocacy, educational programs, and awareness campaigns.

Her appointment as COO acknowledges the continued growth of WMHA and the growing need to acknowledge the changing nature of mental health outcomes of Australian women due to the influence of biology, life stages and social experiences.

The growth of the organization’s reach, influence, and impact on a national level has been a direct result of the leadership Katrina has provided for WMHA, said Founder and CEO Luke Morris.

Key Highlights:

• Women’s Mental Health Australia appoints Katrina Locandro as COO
• Katrina helped expand WMHA into a national women’s mental health advocacy organization
• She aims to strengthen women-focused research, advocacy, and policy impact

“Katrina has played an incredibly important role in shaping WMHA into the organization it is today. She brings a rare combination of strategic thinking, operational leadership and genuine commitment to improving outcomes for women in this country,” Luke said.

“As we continue expanding our work and impact nationally, I’m excited to have Katrina stepping into the COO role to help lead the next phase of growth for the organization.”

She understands not only how to build an organization, but how to ensure the work remains deeply connected to the women we are here to support.

On her appointment, Katrina said that her priorities continue to be about ensuring that women's lived experiences are represented in the research and systems that are designed and developed to support women.

“One of the most powerful parts of working in women’s mental health is hearing directly from women about the challenges they are facing and the barriers they continue to encounter when trying to access support,” Katrina said.

“Whether it’s workplace burnout, maternal mental health, the misdiagnosis or late diagnosis of mental health conditions, caregiving pressures, or difficulty navigating the mental health system, women’s experiences are complex, interconnected and too often sidelined because it can seem too hard to find a solution.”

My role here is to further build the bridge between research, advocacy and impact; and to ensure that women's voices are not left behind, but used to inform the design of policies, programs and systems that will work for women.

There is still much to be done, I am very driven and hopeful what can be achieved with the voice, experiences and realities of women center stage.

Katrina has been appointed at a critical time for WMHA's continued expansion, in both the development of new national research, advocacy and educational programs to enhance the care and support for women's mental health across Australia.