Hayley is an accredited AASW Social Worker, Counsellor, and Lecturer in Social Work and Human Services. She has over a decade of experience in both community and private practice roles within mental health and disability settings. Hayley has also contributed to the sector through mental health sector reform roles and human rights projects. Her practice framework incorporates both anti-oppressive and human rights-based approaches to community and clinical practice.

Before joining the University of Southern Queensland, Hayley was a research assistant and sessional academic at the School of Public Health and Social Work at QUT. During her time there, she contributed to the creation of a social work focused podcast ‘Critical Conversations for Social Work’ and completed research evaluating social work podcasting as a form of activist practice and social scholarship.

Her research interests include a focus on the use of social media and podcasting as forms of activist practice, education, and scholarship, as well as anti-oppressive and human rights-based approaches to mental health and disability practice.

Currently, Hayley teaches across all programs within the Human Services and Social Work discipline, with a teaching focus on professional practice and placement units.