Rachel Fernald

Position: Lecturer
Study area: Social Work/Community and Human Services
Location: Berwick
Phone: +61 3 5327 6178
Email: r.fernald@federation.edu.au

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy (In Progress)-Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology-2017

Bachelor of Social Work (First Class Honours)-2014

Associate Degree in Criminal Justice Administration-2004

Specialist in Law Enforcement Diploma-2004

Teaching

Course(s)

Bachelor of Community and Human Services

Units

Health and Wellbeing in Diverse Communities (CHSUG 1003)

Theories and Models of Practice (CHSUG1003

Ethics for Professional Practice (GSCSC 6003)

Conflict Management (GCSCS 6004)

Biography

    Rachael is a Social Worker who lectures in the Bachelor of Community and Human Services. Rachael is also completing her PhD where she is researching criminal justice responses to victims of family violence. She is interested in the research and development of appropriate trauma informed responses to victims of family violence.

    Rachael holds multidisciplinary industry experience in social work practice in the areas of family violence case management and crisis counselling and advocacy responding to victim survivors of sexual assault. Her previous experience includes working in aged care, working within law enforcement operations as a front-line police officer. She has a diverse background with experience and training in social work, aged care, criminal justice administration and law enforcement.

    Rachael is passionate about her students learning and she cares about her students and provides support throughout their learning journey to ensure they have a strong knowledge base of the principles of practice, theoretical frameworks and a practical application of discipline knowledge to find their strong professional identity in their future career and practitioner journey in social work and community and human services.

Areas of expertise

Rachael has a background in family violence support work and crisis counselling. She is a qualified social worker with expertise in supporting victims of family violence and sexual assault. She is a qualified social worker who supports her students through their learning journey. She focuses on students adopting trauma informed approaches, compassionate care, and critical reflexive practice and applied theory.  Rachael is interested in research on system responses towards victims of violence, the preservation of practitioner constructed safe spaces for service users in practice and extending this knowledge in multidisciplinary approaches. Rachael is currently completing her PhD.  Her research is titled “Reporting and Recording of Breaches of Family Violence Intervention Orders: Experiences and Perspectives of women and support workers”.

Research interests

  • Social work practice and policy
  • Practice based responses to interpersonal violence and abuse
  • Gender and family violence
  • Policy and primary prevention work in gender equity
  • Gender impacts on community safety

Publications

Refereed conference proceedings

“Exploring Gendered Trauma Within Family Law” at the Australian Institute of Family Studies 2018 Melbourne Conference: What matters most to families in the 21st Century?