Tara Lal lost her dad to mental illness, her mum to cancer and her brother to suicide, while she was still only a child. She is the author of Standing on My Brother’s Shoulders – Making Peace with Grief and suicide; a memoir that tracks her journey through a childhood scarred by this trilogy of tragedies. The book tracks Tara’s subsequent struggle to make sense of her life and to find peace and meaning.

Today Tara is a full-time firefighter with Fire & Rescue NSW, a Mental Health First Aid instructor and has previously managed the psychological wellbeing program in Fire & Rescue NSW where she worked with researchers at the Black Dog Institute to develop programs aimed at building resilience and improving mental health outcomes in firefighters. She is a registered Physiotherapist and a speaker for the mental health charity Beyond Blue. She shares her life story through speaking and writing as a way to reduce stigma and build understanding and awareness of mental illness, grief and suicide whilst also offering hope to anyone facing adversity. Most recently Tara has embarked on a PhD at the University of New England focusing on the impact of cumulative exposure to suicide on Firefighters.