Meet the people behind the collective.
We’re not a big faceless provider. We’re a collective of small business owners with deep roots in the disability sector, here to make systems feel less impossible and support feel more human.
Chris James
Chris has dedicated his professional career to the development of social justice and equal opportunity. Since graduating with his Bachelor of Social Science (Social Psychology) in 2011, he has worked across a wide variety of roles including Disability Support, Residential Care, Education, Case Management, Local Area Coordination and Support Coordination.
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Chris’ passion lies in ensuring the community have access to services, supports and resources so they can live a rich and full life. Chris has an interest in the applications of technology in disability and how modern innovations can promote independence and autonomy for people living with disability.
Before founding The Upstream Collective, he was part of National NDIS Roll out in 2016 where he worked as a Local Area Coordinator in NSW. After moving to the ACT, he continued to work in the NDIS in both Support Coordination and Local Area Coordination. Whilst working in these roles, he was responsible for supporting hundreds of participants and their families to both build their NDIS plans and assist them to use their funding, all whilst leading a team of over 20 Local Area Coordinators to support their participants.
These roles have provided Chris with a deep insight into the inner workings of the NDIS and have allowed him to be a positive support in thousands of participants' lives.
Rin Boughton
Rin has been engaged in social justice and advocacy since she was in high school. From fundraising for education programs in Papua New Guinea and South America, to working alongside local government officials to improve homelessness services. These early experiences solidified her interest in building a career in the social justice space.
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Whilst undertaking her undergraduate degree, she won the Young Australian of the Year Award and was selected as a Community Advocate for the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaign. After graduating from university, Rin worked for a series of wonderful organisations including Youth Solutions, Youth Off The Streets and Whitelion. She was also awarded the ZEST Award for Outstanding Youth Leadership alongside her colleagues at Youth Solutions.
In 2020, Rin graduated with a Masters Degree in Social Change and Development and co-founded The Upstream Collective with her husband (and business partner), Chris James. Rin’s primary role is NDIS Specialist and Support Coordinator, but her role extends to managing the Upstream Pro-bono Initiative which provides free administrative and advocacy support for people applying for NDIS funding, and to access other payments and subsidies through Centrelink and Medicare.
Prior to founding The Upstream Collective, Rin was the National Director - Programs and Operations of Carers Australia. Whilst she worked at Carers, her team were involved in producing The Secret Life of Carers Podcast and developing a Carer Focused Mindfulness Program (that was delivered virtually during COVID 19’s lockdown).
Adam Hale
Adam joined the collective as a Founder in 2021 and has been an essential ingredient in the success of our community. After completing his studies in Psychology and Community Services, he immersed himself in the sector and worked exclusively to support disabled folk, their support systems, and the wider disability workforce. His love for offering genuine care and building positive relationships with our upstreamers and their families, has created a supportive environment that is conducive to the best care and outcomes.
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Prior to becoming a Founder of The Upstream Collective, Adam worked as a Local Area Coordinator where he worked to support participants and their supports through the NDIS Planning Process, as well as acting as a Mentor for fellow LAC’s that were new to the role. His natural inclination to mentor and support his colleagues led to a promotion to a Workforce Trainer. This training role involved facilitating the training and skill building of all new LACs in the ACT, as well as providing supplementary support to other teams in SA and QLD. When the COVID 19 lockdowns occurred in 2020, Adam adapted his training role to be 100% virtual and continued to train and support his team whilst maintaining his own case load.
In between his role as an LAC and Workforce Trainer, and joining the collective, he held a Support Coordination role which provided him a new opportunity to support participants and use his understanding of working as an LAC, to provide the highest quality of supports.
In Adam’s role as Founder, he works closely with a range of providers across the ACT and Southern NSW to impart his knowledge about the NDIS and provides probono assistance to folks who need assistance to apply to the scheme.
Celeste Verstegen
Celeste joined the collective in April 2023 and she came to us with a wealth of experience in working with disabled folk in community mental health and home care settings. This coupled with her studies in Psychology has given Celeste a unique perspective in supporting our participants in a range of ways.
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One of the key reasons that Celeste joined our team was to move away from the traditional delivery of disability supports that are often managed by large organisations, the upstream model that allows her to use her time, resources, and skills to support NDIS participants face to face with less bureaucracy and red tape.
In her work with the collective, Celeste loves to work with her participants to make daily activities as seamless and stress-free as possible whilst providing transport and care for her participants when they attend medical and disability related health appointments.
Doris Naisara
Doris joined the collective in May 2023 and supports our participants in both Canberra and Sydney. Her interest in community work was born at a young age with her involvement with her family (across Australia and Fiji) and led to her studying a Bachelor of Social Sciences.
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From her community development work in Fiji, to supporting her students to learn to improve their literacy skills whilst training them to be community workers, through to her work with our upstreamers, her positive energy is always contagious. Her unparalleled dedication to support work as a long-term career is at the heart of what we do.
Prior to joining the collective, Doris worked alongside Chris, Rin and Taryn as a teacher of Community Services and Youth Work in Western Sydney. Since leaving teaching, Doris has committed her time and resources to support work, and we are very lucky to have her incomparable presence in our community.
Taryn Humlin
Our paths first crossed with Taryn 10 years ago, when she was teaching alongside Doris, Chris and Rin. In this teaching role, Taryn was focused on educating and supporting students enrolled in accredited courses in the Business and Leadership Faculty. After her teaching role, Taryn connected with the NSW Department of Justice as a Team Leader where she coordinated and delivered a range of accredited programs for people who were incarcerated or on parole.
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Taryn continued her work within corrections when she transferred to the ACT and transitioned to a new role as the Drug and Alcohol Program Team Leader. This role allowed her to combine her experience in education and her interest in supporting people living with addiction and the mental health challenges they faced.
After several years in the justice system, Taryn decided to redirect her energy to support neurodiverse participants as a Mentor, Support Worker and Gardener. Now that she has been a part of the collective for 2 years and has been immersing herself in the NDIS sector, she is in the process of training to become a Support Coordinator.
Craig Robberds
Craig has been in our orbit for several years, with Craig and Rin working alongside each other on a shared participant's case. In late 2024, Craig joined our team, and he has hit the ground running.
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Prior to joining us, Craig was working in the learning support team at Cranleigh School, supporting students with significant intellectual disabilities engage in a specialist education setting. Outside of school hours, Craig works with Sense Rugby (an Occupational Therapy based Rugby Program). Sense Rugby aims to support neurodiverse children to successfully engage in team sports and Craig’s involvement with the program is built on his experience as a 1st Grade Football Coach at Wests Rugby Club.
In his time off you’ll find him at the gym, going to the movies and spending time with his family.
Antares Wood
Rin and Antares first met in Canberra delivering a residential care program for late teens living with disability and complex trauma. They joined forces again as Interim CEO and Deputy to a group of eight struggling education organisations and charities, and are now elated to collaborate for clients at The Upstream Collective.
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Antares is a strong Advocate and Systemic Navigator for our clients, and values most in her work with us - seeing clients achieve what can initially seem impossible.
Antares’ lived experience with disability comes from incurring lifelong spinal injuries in a car accident aged 30 treated primarily with annual day surgeries, managing a chronic autoimmune condition and being a Carer with two family members living with disability.
Her professional experience spans three decades of service delivery, leadership and design work in social welfare, mental health, homelessness, education and employment services, including 18 years with Centrelink, Commonwealth Department of Human Services, Services Australia and the Department of Health. Antares has also operated her own business, contracted with multiple schools, public and community organisations in various teaching, leadership and executive roles, and served locally through volunteer roles from Stall Operator to Board Chair for an independent primary school and Wildcare Transporter at the Gold Coast.
Antares holds a Graduate Certificate in Human Resources Management, a Trinity College London Diploma in Speech and Drama (Teaching), and a Certificate IV in Workplace Assessment and Training. Having grown up and begun her career in inner-city Sydney, followed by 17 years in Canberra, Antares now works online nationally from her rural home in Queensland, shared with her daughter and their beloved 58kg guardian dog, Mr Ted.
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