BIO

Dr Kathy Mendis is a senior social work academic with over 29 years of experience in the human services field including family violence, child protection, homelessness, family services and community development as well as conducting academic research, teaching social work undergraduates and training early childhood educators in social and behavioural issues of children.

Kathy has volunteered her time as a member of governance boards, and currently as a member of editorial boards of international scholarly journals and a peer reviewer for national and international scholarly journals. She has published several scholarly articles locally to education foand internationally, reviewed a number of academic texts in scholarly journals, published a children’s book for kindergarten and primary school teaching staff and parents, co-produced a short educational film about family violence and a short educational video about homelessness and has a short video explaining social work giving insight into the discipline on YouTube at present.

Kathy is passionate about advocating for social issues impacting vulnerable groups, specifically, improving access to higher education for them and their children as she believes that it is the path out of their current adversities.

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

QUALIFICATIONS

• PhD
  La Trobe University 2013
• MSW (Research)
  La Trobe University 2006
• BSW
  La Trobe University 2001