Gerry Georgatos is a son of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) migrants, with his first language Greek and thereafter, English. He has Masters in Human Rights Education, Social Justice Advocacy and in Civil Rights Arbitration.
Gerry spent the last two decades writing prolifically on suicide prevention and trauma recovery. As a suicide prevention and poverty researcher, he had an experiential focus, working alongside vulnerable and marginalised individuals and communities.
Gerry has helped launch 17 legal actions, including against governments to right wrongs and compel systemic reforms. He has successfully represented refugees to avoid deportations among his many representations on behalf of people with nowhere else to turn.
Gerry was the inaugural national coordinator of suicide postvention responders with the National Indigenous Critical Response Service. He had associations with the First Nations Homelessness Project and the internationally-focused Wheelchairs for Kids charity. He founded the volunteer National Suicide Prevention & Trauma Recovery Service. In retirement, he volunteers with his humble charity legacy, The Georgatos Foundation.
He was also known for a three years pro bono foray into journalism and for his four decades-long human rights and social justice activism.
Gerry is a vegan, animal rights campaigner, refugee rights advocate, a prison abolitionist who believes children and adults should not be incarcerated for non-violent offences. He is a redemptorist. He visits prisons to inspire the incarcerated to turn their lives around. He has a long history of working alongside the homeless. He mentored children impacted by sexual abuse, having been a child survivor.
He has a deep affection for IA and is a regular contributor more than a decade long.
Gerry now lives with Parkinson's Disease “but doesn't let it get in the way”.
You can follow Gerry on Twitter @GerryGeorgatos.
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