Looking Ahead: How Social Workers are Shaping the Future of Mental Health

On 23 September, we brought together the local social work community for a special panel exploring the future of mental health. Our guests, including Emma Shearer from Headspace, social worker and education consultant Rachel Higginson, and Laura Fletcher from Grand Pacific Health, shared powerful insights on prevention, early intervention, and how social workers are helping to build strong, connected communities.In this episode, you’ll hear what’s working, what’s needed, and how we can support one another to shape a future where mental health care is earlier, more accessible, and built to last. Don’t miss the Q&A section, it’s packed with practical reflections and real-world wisdom.

In this episode, we bring you highlights from our 2 September 2025 webinar, National Disability Insurance Scheme, what we are doing to support you, featuring AASW leaders and the AASW National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Working Group.Tune in as we explore:Recent advocacy with the NDIA and governmentEvidence on the effectiveness of social workers in disability and the NDISAASW’s campaign to raise awareness of social workers in the NDISNew resources currently in development

In this episode, Matt Loads shares some information from the AASW Webinar: Pushing for Change: National Registration from 14 May 2025.Dominic Szeker, Senior Policy Officer, AASW shares an overview of how registration for social workers fits into the broader regulatory context.Jim Arneman, ACT Ambulance Service, takes us through a case study of how paramedics were able to become a nationally registered profession in 2018.

Last month we brought you a repeat of our earlier conversation with Rosalie Pockett AM.  Just as we were planning to re-broadcast the follow up episode with her research partner, Kim Hobbs, Kim was named Allied Health professional of 2023 by Western Sydney, LHD.  When you listen to this conversation with her, you’ll understand why. Congratulations Kim!Kim’s award:https://thepulse.org.au/2023/11/23/since-1994-social-worker-kim-hobbs-has-been-dedicated-to-westmead-hospitals-gyaecological-cancer-patients-and-their-families/Special Issue Australian Social Work Social Work and Cancer.Editorial by Rosalie Pockett and Kim Hobbs   Free Access.  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0312407X.2021.1988664?src=AASW Members:Australian Social Work Special Issue Social Work and Cancer Volume 75, Issue 2, 2022.https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rasw20/current  Prof Irwin Epstein on Clinical Data Mining: https://www.routledge.com/Clinical-Data-Mining-in-Practice-Based-Research-Social-Work-in-Hospital/Epstein-Blumenfield/p/book/9780789017093Acknowledgement of Traditional OwnersThe Australian Association of Social Workers respectfully acknowledges the past and present traditional owners and ongoing custodians of the lands on which this podcast is being recorded.  We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and their families, and to the Elders of other communities who may be listening.

This month we bring you an encore release of our conversation with Rosalie Pocket AM who has spent years overturning the inequities and injustices built into our health system.  In this conversation, Rosalie describes her abiding interests in the social and community based factors that influence people’s health.  Next month we will follow this up with her research partner, Kim Hobbs, who will describe how to broaden the partnerships that research those factors If you want to follow up this conversation and hear about the newest practice frameworks in healthcare, learn about effective advocacy for the health sector, or build your professional networks, join us at the AASW’s Online Health Symposium  “Practice Innovations, Challenges and Leadership  Register here!Mentioned in this EpisodeDr Rosalie Pockett AM University of Sydney https://fdp.edsw.usyd.edu.au/users/197Social Work Health Inequalities Network SWHIN https://blogs.coventry.ac.uk/swhin/swhin/=Mt Sinai Hospital Social Work Department New York – Social Work Leadership Enhancement Program https://www.mountsinai.org/locations/mount-sinai/about/health-professionals/social-work-services/professional-developmenthttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00981389.2018.1439134?journalCode=wshc20Acknowledgement of Traditional OwnersThe Australian Association of Social Workers respectfully acknowledges the past and present traditional owners and ongoing custodians of the lands on which this podcast is being recorded.  We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and their families, and to the Elders of other communities who may be listening.

For many people who see a social worker, it is because they are already involved in our health or community services system, and they are referred by another professional. This means they have to make contact with our formal service system, and this is something that doesn’t suit everyone. What if it was possible to walk into a public place like a library, and see a social worker? Even if you didn’t live in that local area? Who would fund a program like that? Is there a sufficient level of need for a library social worker? What difference does it make to the community? Erin McKeegan has the answers.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: https://news.melbourne.vic.gov.au/libraries-offer-a-safe-haven-for-melburnians-in-need/Launch housing https://www.launchhousing.org.au/City of Melbourne’s initiatives to prevent and end homelessness: https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/community/homes-melbourne/ending-homelessness/Pages/ending-homelessness.aspxReview of the trial project: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01616846.2020.1825917FURTHER READINGAn international perspective: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/01/03/1063985757/why-your-local-library-might-be-hiring-a-social-worker#:~:text=Art%20%26%20Design-,When%20the%20answers%20are%20not%20in%20books%2C%20some%20libraries%20hire,finding%20mental%20health%20and%20more.For a contrast to this inclusive approach, see this example of a policing and security-based approach:In the Library with the Lead Pipe:https://apo.org.au/node/271231

When young people walk through Alex Wilson’s door, they are already carrying the stigma from their long involvement in our mental health system.  They know they have been called ‘Frequent Flyers’ or ‘treatment resistant’.  Alex’s aim for her work with these young people is that they will feel appreciated, validated and empowered.  Alex knows that this work involves risks.  But Alex is not cavalier about these risks.  Her rigorous approach to risk is where the conversation starts.Cognitive Behaviour Therapy: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/cognitive-behaviour-therapyDialectical Behaviour Therapy: https://www.sane.org/information-and-resources/facts-and-guides/dialectical-behaviour-therapy-dbtContinuing Professional Development available from the AASWCBT: https://my.aasw.asn.au/s/event-information?EventID=a2Y9g0000002KEBEA2DBT: https://my.aasw.asn.au/s/event-information?EventID=a2Y9g0000002KEaEAMRelated articles from Australian Social Work:YOUNG PEOPLE DESCRIBE WHAT THEY WANT FROM THEIR WORKERS:Zuchowski I, Braidwood L, d’Emden C, Gair S, The Voices of ‘At-Risk Young People About Services They Received: A systematic literature review, Australian Social Work, vol 75 (1) 2022,  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0312407X.2020.1776742ASSESSING RISK IN YOUNG PEOPLE:Lemon G, Stanford S, Sawyer AM Trust and the Dilemmas of Suicide Risk Assessment in Non-government Mental Health Services, Australian Social Work, vol 69 (2) 2016, 145-157 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0312407X.2015.1131843DBT AND SOCIAL WORKCooper B, & Parsons J. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy: A social work intervention?. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 21(4), 83–93.  https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol21iss4id264Acknowledgement of Traditional OwnersThe Australian Association of Social Workers respectfully acknowledges the past and present Traditional Owners and ongoing Custodians of the land on which this podcast is being recorded. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and their families, and to the Elders of other communities who may be listening

Jane Sullivan OAM’s career has spanned paid and unpaid work, community services and the health system, social work and psychology, church organisations and the public sector. As she looks back over her career, it is her conversations with one group of people that stay with her. These were the people who wanted to make the decision that no-one wants to have to make.Jane Sullivan’s OAM Citationhttps://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-01/20230126%20-%20Media%20notes%20-%20OAM%20%28S-Z%29.pdfJane’s resource for parents of children with life limiting conditions:Caring decisions: A Handbook for parents facing end-of-life decisions for their child,The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbournehttps://www.rch.org.au/uploadedFiles/Main/Content/caringdecisions/130890%20Caring%20Decisions%20book_v1.pdfArticles:After an end-of-life decision: Parents’ reflections on living with an end-of-life decision for their childJane E Sullivan Lynn H Gillam, Paul T MonagleJournal of Paediatrics and Child Health / Vol 56, Issue 7, pp 1060-1065https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jpc.14816Ethics at the end of life: who should make decisions about treatment limitation for young children with life threatening or life limiting conditions?Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health / Vol 57, Issue 9, pp 594-598https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1440-1754.2011.02177.x

Professor Tom Calma AO is one of Australia’s most respected human rights and social justice campaigners. He is Senior Australian of the Year 2023, and he is a social work graduate.Prof Calma AO is a- Kungarakan Elder and has worked for more than 45 years at local, community, state and international levels championing the rights, responsibilities and welfare of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. He co-led the co-design of a Voice to Parliament initiative.His call for Australia to address the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples was the catalyst for the Close the Gap Campaign. He was instrumental in establishing the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples; has led the Tackling Indigenous Smoking program; and has co-chaired Reconciliation Australia for over a decade.For NAIDOC Week in early July 2023, the AASW invited Prof Calma AO to present a Webinar for our members about the approaching Referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Australian Constitution and to enable them to advise Parliament and the government, through a Voice to Parliament.The Webinar was facilitated by Linda Ford, a Director of the AASWPROFILESPROFESSOR TOM CALMA AOhttps://australianoftheyear.org.au/recipients/professor-tom-calma-ao LINDA FORDhttps://www.aasw.asn.au/about-aasw/board-of-directors/ MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEINFORMATION ABOUT THE REFERENDUM:‘Referendums. It’s been a while’, Australian Electoral Commission: https://www.aec.gov.au/referendums/ Information about the Voice: https://voice.gov.au/ The Uluru Statement from the Heart: https://ulurustatement.org/ YES23 Community Based Campaign: https://yes23.com.au/ Allies for Uluru: https://alliesforuluru.antar.org.au/ Victorian Women’s Trust Resources: https://www.vwt.org.au/watch-together-yes-how-we-can-work-together-to-enshrine-a-first-nations-voice-in-our-national-constitution/ Acknowledgement of Traditional OwnersThe Australian Association of Social Workers respectfully acknowledges the past and present Traditional Owners and ongoing Custodians of the land on which this podcast is being recorded. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and their families, and to the Elders of other communities who may be listening.

Michelle Moriarty has won an award for establishing groups for widowed people in rural Australia to support each other. But Michelle is not going to stop there, because she would like us all to be able to support young people who have been widowed. Reflecting on her own experience, Michelle realised that the reason she didn’t receive the help she needed was not that people didn’t want to help. It was a language problem. Michelle wants us all to be fluent in talking about grief.Michelle’s award:https://agrifutures.com.au/news/grief-advocate-takes-home-top-honour-2023-wa-agrifutures-rural-womens-award-winner-announced/https://agrifutures.com.au/opportunities/rural-womens-award/The themes in this episode are also discussed in other episodes:Women ‘s contribution to rural Australia is discussed by Prof Margaret Alston OAM:https://open.spotify.com/episode/0dtb0G1LB1QBfkku1LkrxH?si=33b7a82101ea43e4Bereavement is discussed by Julie Kulikoski OAM:https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ZigGWtr0sk9zk19vDVQBP?si=03167b20491d4d8eOther ResourcesAny ordinary Day: Leigh Sales, Penguin BooksTill Death Do Us Part: Fenella Souter, The Age Good Weekend, 20/05/23Online version;https://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/it-takes-two-years-to-rewire-the-brain-remaking-life-as-a-widow-20230405-p5cyfr.html?collection=p5cyg3ACKNOWLEDGEMENTThe AASW respectfully acknowledges the past and present traditional owners and on-going custodians of the land on which this podcast was recorded. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and families, and to Elders of other communities who may be listening.