Presenting: Engaging young people

Penny Burns , General Manager / Acting CEO Menslink (ACT), joined Menslink as General Manager in 2021 on her return to Australia after 15 years living and working in Papua New Guinea.  She has had a diverse career across both public and private sectors including a love of working with small businesses.  She is a passionate hands-on leader who loves a challenge and is focused on contributing positively to the communities she works with offering understanding and respect for culture and diversity.

Menslink supports young men aged 10 - 25yo in the Canberra region with a range of early intervention programs and services; free counselling, mentoring and via our Menslink in School programs delivered by presenters sharing their lived experience.  

Menslink helps young guys get through tough or lonely times with the least amount of pain or harm to themselves or those around them, supporting them to reach their full potential and becoming the great adult men they want to be.  We believe everything is possible for them, their families, their mates and our community.

Life isn’t all about work, Penny is a proud mum of two boys for whom she strives to provide (more days than she doesn’t) a nurturing and encouraging environment to support their growth through all the normal teenager challenges they face.  Ever conscious that it really is true that it takes a ‘village’ to raise a child, many positive role models both male and female have been rallied to support this responsibility, and are owed credit for her boy’s development to date.  Penny loves that her boys also share her joy of “off the beaten track” adventures and all things crazy, and her aim is to deliver the world, once they are eventually ready to leave home, two well-rounded resilient humans.