Rachel Downie

Rachel Downie is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Stymie Pty Ltd. An Educator of 30 years, Rachel created Stymie in 2013, following the loss of a student to suicide. After the tragedy, fellow students came forward with potentially life-saving information they were too frightened to share earlier, due to an embedded stigma and fear around speaking up.

Stymie is an anonymous tool that provides a confidential channel for young people to report all kinds of harm, enabling schools to respond directly, promptly and proactively. Through this innovation, Stymie not only tackles bullying and all kinds of harm head-on, it additionally fosters a culture of care where youth have the courage and empathy to #saysomething on behalf of themselves and others.

Beyond her work at Stymie, Rachel is actively engaged with various organisations and advocacy groups to promote online safety, mental health awareness, and responsible digital citizenship.

RacheI was recognised for her work and passion in 2020 by being named Queensland's Australian of the Year. She has a vision for a World where young people have access to the help they need, always. All Ways.

The development of Stymie was an innovative solution for the challenges faced by so many students, challenges that are ever-increasing with the complication of online relationships, however, Stymie alone isn’t enough. Australia remains well above the average for reported bullying rates for OECD Countries. Rachel’s project “No Hate Here Mate” will explore early intervention and support systems utilised in schools and communities experiencing a lower rate of bullying, with an aim to use best practice to develop recommendations for programs and improvements that can be adopted into Australian school’s wellbeing frameworks.