About Northern Frontiers

About Melinda

Melinda is Northern Frontiers’ Lead Practitioner and brings more than 30 years of counselling, family support and dispute resolution experience to her work with individuals and families.

Throughout her career, Melinda has worked across government and non-government community services in roles including Probation Officer, Correctional Counsellor and Family & Relationship Counsellor. This extensive professional experience, combined with her practical understanding of family dynamics, conflict and separation, underpins the calm and down-to-earth approach she brings to her work.

Melinda is an accredited Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner and works extensively with separated parents through Parenting Mediation and Family Dispute Resolution. Her focus is on helping parents move beyond conflict, consider the needs of their children and, wherever possible, develop practical parenting arrangements that allow their family to move forward.

She also works with participants undertaking Northern Frontiers’ Anger Management Program and related behavioural awareness programs, helping people better understand patterns of behaviour, communication, emotional responses and the impact these can have on relationships and family life.

Melinda holds tertiary qualifications in Counselling and Interpersonal Communication Skills, together with her professional qualifications in Family Dispute Resolution. She is a member of Resolution Institute.

Having worked with people from an extraordinarily broad range of backgrounds and circumstances over more than three decades, Melinda is comfortable discussing difficult and highly personal issues. Her approach is straightforward, respectful and practical, with a strong emphasis on helping people identify realistic ways forward.

About Alex

Alex is the co-owner and founder of Northern Frontiers Mediation & Counselling and an accredited Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner, with a particular focus on Property & Financial Mediation.

Alex takes a practical, solution-focused approach to mediation. He understands that prolonged conflict can take a considerable emotional and financial toll and works with participants to identify the issues that genuinely need to be resolved, consider realistic options and explore whether workable agreements can be reached.

In family matters, Alex assists separated parents to work through parenting arrangements and helps separating couples address property and financial issues without unnecessarily escalating conflict. He also has experience in workplace and broader interpersonal dispute resolution.

Alex holds a Bachelor of Business with First Class Honours in Applied Economics and Resources Management, together with postgraduate qualifications in Family Dispute Resolution.

Before moving into mediation and dispute resolution, Alex held senior sales and marketing positions within the tourism industry and worked extensively throughout the Asia-Pacific region. That experience involved negotiating, problem-solving and working with people from a wide range of professional, cultural and personal backgrounds — skills that continue to inform his approach to mediation today.

As a mediator, Alex is straightforward and pragmatic. He encourages participants to look beyond entrenched positions, consider the practical consequences of the available options and identify areas of common ground that may provide a pathway towards resolution.

Alex is a member of the Mediation Institute.