Dr Louise Morley

Senior Lecturer , Social work - School of Health

Phone: +61 2 6773 4537

Biography

Dr Louise Morley, is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of New England in Armidale, Australia. She has extensive practice experience in government and non-government organisations working with individuals, groups and communities in Australia and overseas. Her practice areas include health (oncology), disability, rural practice and child protection (specifically child sexual assault). Throughout her career she has focused on the systematic impacts of inequality on rural and remote communities. In 2015 she completed her doctoral research, where she examined the deeply personal issues for workers in a highly contested political and policy environment. Her thesis was concerned with social workers’ private experience of professional practice when working with vulnerable children and their families.

Qualifications

2015 Doctor of Philosophy, University of New England
2001 Bachelor of Social Work (Hons1) University of Western Australia
1998 Bachelor of Arts, University of New England

Teaching Areas

Dr Morley teaches across the UNE Social Work Program at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels. She is focused on how students integrate knowledge, skills and values, and the process of applying these in adverse circumstances, emphasising humane and ethical practice approaches, especially in the context of working with vulnerable children and their families. She is also focused on encouraging students to develop their critical framework to inspire them to influence positive systemic change in their practice. She is the unit coordinator for the following units:

HSSW 413/513: Human Rights, the Law and Social Justice
HSSW 304/504: Child Protection and Juvenile Justice
HSSW 300/400: Social Work and Disadvantage
HSSW 511: Community Development Practice

Since 2018 she has been involved in implementing the International Study Program in Hanoi, Vietnam. She sees programs like this as valuable because exposure to diverse international perspectives enriches student’s knowledge of social work practice.

Dr Morley is currently the Course Coordinator for both the Bachelor of Social Work and the Masters of Social Work (Qualifying).

Research Interests

Dr Morley’s primary research interest is understanding the complex organisational dynamics that surround social work practice and further developing the supports needed for practitioners to navigate this often challenging terrain. Areas of focus to date include reforming child welfare systems, child welfare workforce issues, working with vulnerable children and their families who experience multiple and complex difficulties, domestic violence prevention in rural communities and community development practice.

She is also interested in exploring the social world through various sociological lenses and in so doing contribute to the theoretical broadening of social work knowledge.

In terms of methodology, Dr Morley is qualitative researcher who works within constructionist and interpretivist paradigms and uses various methods such as discourse analysis and narrative inquiry. She is also interested in action research, an approach that facilitates the participation of those affected by pressing issues through involving them in reflective analysis, as well as in the development of practical solutions to ‘real world’ problems.

Dr Morley also has experience in supervising honours students and higher degree research students in various areas including policy analysis, medial analysis, lived experience in various settings and exploring what it means to work within a critical framework in social work.

Research Supervision Experience

Dr Morley supervises Bachelor Honours, Masters and PhD students in areas related to her own research. Projects have included analysing adoption policy for children in out of home care, exploring philosophical concepts for practice and working towards preventing family and domestic violence.

Publications

Dissertation and Thesis

Morley, L. (2015). What does it take to be a good social worker?: A study exploring the dynamics involved in performing emotional labour in the practice context of vulnerable children and their families. [University of New England]. https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/18364

Morley, L. (2001) Social work and a love of humanity. Honours Dissertation [Dept of Social Work University of Western Australia].

Book Chapters

Morley, L & Crawford, F. (forthcoming) Fostering Trauma-informed relationships in education: Recognition, respect & re-membering. In L Tufford & A Dylan (eds) Trauma-informed Social Work Education: Implications for Students, Educators, Pedagogy, and Field. Routledge.

Journal Articles

Jones, R., Usher, K., Rice, K., Morley, L. & Durkin, J. (2023) The shame of sexual violence towards women in rural areas. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 00, 1–7. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.13269

Doyle, K., Pascoe, E., Donnarumma, S., Anderson, M., Stoyle, K., McDaid, D., Morley, L., Russ, E., Hawkins, P., Doyle, P., Short, M., (2023) A transnational student-led, rural-focussed inquiry: social work educational competency in disaster management, Social Work Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2023.2254794

Russ, E., Morley, L., Driver, M., Lonne, B., Harries, M., & Higgins, D. (2022). Trends and needs in the Australian child welfare workforce: An exploratory study. Canberra: ACU Institute of Child Protection Studies. https://doi.org/10.24268/acu.8x396

Zodins, J. M., Morley, L., Collings, S., & Russ, E. (2022). Children’s rights in adoption from out-of-home care: how well do legislative frameworks accommodate them? Australian Journal of Human Rights, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2021.1996759

Morley, L. (2021). Contemporary practitioner experiences of relational social work: The case of child welfare. Australian Social Work, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407x.2021.2001831

Morley, L. (2021). Social work, Max Weber and ethical irrationality. The British Journal of Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcab225

Lonne, B., Russ, E., Harrison, C., Morley, L., Harries, Robertson, S., Pearce, T., & Smith, J. (2021). The front door to child protection – Issues and innovations. International Journal on Child Maltreatment: Research, Policy and Practice, 3, 351-357. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s42448-020-00051-9

Morley, L. (2019). Working with communities to prevent domestic violence: A practice framework and the Six Ps. New Community, 17(65), 8-13.

Lonne, B., Harries, M., Boyle, C., Harrison, C., Morley, L., Pearce, T., Robertson, S., Russ, E., & Smith, J. (2018). Report for the Department of Family and Community Services ‘Their Futures Matter’ Access System Redesign Triage and Assessment Tools: “Accessing help through the front door”.

Morley, L., & Myhill, J. (2018). Collaboration in child welfare: What should practitioners expect from themselves? Communities, Children and Families Australia, 12(1), 23-43. https://doi.org/10.3316/informit.437805997499254

Ife, J., & Morley, L. (2002). Human rights and child poverty Fifth International Conference on the Child, Montreal. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.574.6148&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Morley, L., & Ife, J. (2002, 2002/03/01). Social work and a love of humanity. Australian Social Work, 55(1), 69-77. https://doi.org/10.1080/03124070208411673

Book Reviews

Morley, L. (2021). The impact of community work: How to gather evidence. Australian Social Work, 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2021.1927462

Morley, L. (2016). Understanding Emotions in Social Work: Theory, Practice and Reflection. Australian Social Work, 69(2), 227-228. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407x.2016.1140084

Conference Presentations

Morley, L, Russ, E. & Lonne, B (2018, July) The ‘heavy lifting’ needed for building relationships. Paper presented at the Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development, Dublin, Ireland.

Morley, L. (2013, October). Articulating the tensions of social work practice: Useful for social work education? Paper presented at the Australian Association of Social Work & Welfare Education Symposium, Curtin University of Technology, Perth WA.

Morley, L. (2012, June). It’s all part of the story: How presenting diaries to participants can contribute to the conversation. Paper presented at the Narrative Matters Conference, Paris.

Morley, L. (2011, November). Relationships and social work practice in the context of working with vulnerable children. Paper presented at the AASW North Queensland and Queensland Biennial Conference, Townsville, QLD.

Reports

Usher, K., Clarke, J., Morley, L. Jones, R., Wayland, S. Robertson, S. & Durkin, J. (2022) Sexual Assault in Rural, Regional and Remote New South Wales. Armidale, NSW. Armidale, NSW: School of Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New England.

Lonne, B., Harries, M., Boyle, C., Harrison, C., Morley, L., Pearce, T., Robertson, S., Russ, E., & Smith, J. (2018). Report for the Department of Family and Community Services ‘Their Futures Matter’ Access System Redesign. Triage and Assessment Tools – “Accessing help through the front door”. Armidale, NSW: School of Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New England.

Memberships

Dr Morley is a member of the Safe in Our Town Committee in Glen Innes. This committee is dedicated to raising awareness about the issue of domestic violence in the town and interacts with a wide range of interested groups, with there is extensive scope for action research to be conducted. There is also scope for students to contribute towards this project through placement experiences.