Deanne Hislop

In 2011 my husband’s contract in the North West, (where we had been relocated to for the previous 3 and a half years) came to an end. With this came the decision to relocate again or move closer to family in Perth.

By now our family had grown to two beautiful children, two incredibly naughty dogs, two rather rotund horses and enough stuff to fill a sea container!! We decided to move to Perth and become a FIFO family.

My Children ( then 3 and a half and 2 years of age), did not adapt to our new FIFO routine very well. In trying to offer comfort and some understanding to my children of why their Dad kept leaving, I searched for resources that were child friendly that I could use with my children to help them understand their new life better. Telling a 2 year old child when he is crying for his dad that he will be home in 14 sleeps, in not an effective way of soothing a child, neither is trying to verbally explain what daddy does and why he goes away – It was this lack of available child friendly resources and the need to be able to provide comfort to my young family, that I decided to create MFF.

Having worked in the Not For Profit sector along with a background in retail and working with children it became my dream to create a company that gives back to the community, benefits my children and allows me the freedom and flexibility to be my own boss and so became My Fifo Family the business it is today.

Cath Ashton
Director HRW Consultancy & Training

Cath has extensive experience in the UK and Australia in consulting, training and public speaking on lifespan mental health & wellbeing, workplace mental health and suicide prevention.

Her work in the area of children’s mental health has identified a current and significant emergence of the effects on FIFO lifestyle on the family. She works effectively with educators to raise awareness of social & emotional learning within the school, family and community settings. Cath has developed and implemented strategies for improved outcomes for the child, family and school.

As the WA Network Coordinator for Suicide Prevention she identified at risk communities to gain Commonwealth funding to promote grass roots sustainable awareness initiatives for the prevention of suicide in the community. Her work in this area saw her travel throughout WA working with regional, remote , metro and mining communities.
Cath has consulted on policy development for mental health & wellbeing working with mining & resource companies, education, government, corporate and not for profit agencies.

Ryan McCann
Lion and Lamb Design

Lion and Lamb is a Perth based studio that provides an integrated visual communication service for businesses and individuals aiming to reach their goals.

Behind Lion and Lamb is Ryan McCann, a graphic designer with more than 9 years experience in the visual communication industry.

Lion and Lamb work closely with their clients to develop a strong communications strategy, teamed with effective design, that builds a solid foundation for thriving business and customer relationships.

They offer a full range of services including website design and development, graphic design for print and solutions for on-screen and mobile media.

Mike Nicholas
Run, Mouse, Run – The Cartoon Studio

Mike has been running Run, Mouse, Run since 2004. The Cartoon Studio primarily specialises in illustrations for children’s products, cartoon characters and mascots for businesses and media including online.

Mike also runs cartoon classes for children and is a board member of the Australian Cartoonists Association.

Check out the cartoons at runmouserun.com.au and Mike’s online folio at mikenicholas.com.au