It is with deep sadness that the Board, staff and volunteers of Mountains Youth Services Team farewell Joy Cusack, who served on the MYST Board for more than a decade from 2015, including as our Chair.
Joy brought to MYST a rare combination: the rigour of a long corporate career, more than twenty years of not-for-profit governance experience and an unwavering belief that every young person, especially those facing the steepest challenges, deserves the chance to fulfil their dreams and be valued in their community.
As Chair, Joy steadied and strengthened MYST through some of its most testing years: bushfires, floods and a pandemic that changed how young people needed us. Under her leadership MYST secured long-term funding certainty, renewed its Board and strengthened its governance, and expanded mental health training into local high schools. When MYST was between chief executives, Joy stepped in as Acting CEO.
Joy put it best in her final Chair’s message: “Respect, innovation and advocacy has and continues to be our North Star.”
She leaves MYST stronger, kinder and more capable than she found it and her legacy lives in every young person our team supports across the Blue Mountains.
This has been a year of profound loss for the MYST family, and we hold all who have served this organisation in our hearts.
Our sincere condolences to her husband John, her sons Joel and Jeffrey, her daughter-in-law Debbie, her grandchildren Jaimie and Daniel, and all her family and many friends. Farewell Joy and thank you for your service