Simon is the CEO of Thorne Harbour Health, formerly the Victorian AIDS Council.
Simon was first introduced to harm reduction, when as a 21 year old, he accidently got a part time job working in the Dandenong Needle Exchange. This experience resulted in a change of career path, that would see him spend the next three decades working in, and managing, alcohol and drug programs and other human services.
He has previously worked at Peninsula Health, the Salvation Army, YSAS and the Ozanam Community. He was on the Board of the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association for ten years, serving six years as President and is a current Board member of VicHealth and the AIDS Trust of Australia.
Simon established Australia’s first 24/7 mobile needle syringe program at Peninsula Health, Touchbase.org.au – Australia’s premier alcohol and drug information site for the LGBTI and HIV communities and in 2008 was a Victorian Travelling Fellow researching older adult substance use treatment options in the USA and Canada, where it became obvious that drug education and harm reduction become even more important as we age and our bodies change.
