Belle is a Noongar woman from the South-West of Western Australia.  She is connected to her culture through her grandmother, Lyla Hume, who has been a strong role model in her life. She grew up on Wadandi Boodja (Country) as a child, then relocated to Whadjuk Boodja (Perth) as a young adult to study psychology. 

Belle completed her Master of Psychology (Clinical Psychology) at the end of 2008 and her thesis examined the outcomes of a school-based resilience program for Indigenous primary school students. She was the inaugural recipient of the Australian Psychological Society Bendi Lango Bursary. Belle now has over 15 years’ experience working in the mental health field in a variety of roles including Clinical Psychologist, group therapist, mentor, and researcher.  She has worked in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous programs in Australia and in Canada (unceded Coast Salish Territory, Vancouver). She has extensive experience in providing both short- and long-term psychotherapy, with a particular focus on social and emotional wellbeing, complex trauma, anxiety, depression, suicide prevention and suicide bereavement. 

Belle is a Research Fellow with the Transforming Indigenous Mental Health & Wellbeing (TIMHWB) project which is an innovative Aboriginal-led research project with Aboriginal researchers and significant partnerships with a range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community organisations and professional bodies. TIMHWB aims to improve primary and clinical mental health care; specifically regarding cultural safety and responsiveness in mental health care services, and social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities. TIMHWB operates within an Indigenous Knowledge Framework that upholds a commitment to decolonising research and empowering Aboriginal peoples and communities, utilising Aboriginal Participatory Action Research.