Anne O’Neill has committed the last 9 years of her life to reducing the suffering, isolation and harm experienced by Western Australian people who have bereaved through homicide, or traumatised through other crimes, regardless of their race, gender, class or life circumstances. Ann’s work has flowed to other states and countries, and she hopes to make it global, eventually. The most telling evidence of Ann’s devotion to humanitarianism is in her everyday way of being in the world, which includes…

Spending time with victims of crime, both in person and on the telephone. She is there to hear, acknowledge, and understand people’s pain and suffering, and to refer them to services most likely to meet their needs in a timely and appropriate manner, and then trying to maintain contact so as to follow up on their progress.

Forming treasured friendships through these contacts, which promotes the building of trust, and in turn increase people’s sense of community, belonging, and connectedness; thus reducing some of the isolation and loneliness experienced by victims of crime, especially Secondary Victims of Homicide, who are an extremely isolated subgroup of victims of crime.

Educating and raising community awareness, via talks, lectures and published materials increasing the broader community’s understandings of the unique needs of victims of crime and secondary victims of homicide, and the inequities and secondary victimizations they face which Ann hopes in turn contributes to positive sustained systemic advancements in social justice and human rights for these communities.

Ann liaises and networks with local and international organisations seeking to meet the needs of victims of crime and secondary victims of homicide.

Ann often uses her personal experiences of homicide as an illustrative example, which is often taxing emotionally and physically leaving her vulnerable for criticism and even attacks.

The volunteer nature of activities Ann undertakes, combined with the fact that she has personally donated vast amounts of money and time in kind is evidence of absolutely no ulterior motive.