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As the Victorian State election will be held on Saturday 28 November 2026, the Victorian Government will assume a Caretaker role from 6pm on 3 November 2026. During the caretaker period, content will only be added to this website in accordance with the Caretaker Conventions. See Guidelines for Caretaker Conventions.

Social Work

Professional education

  • Social Work is a profession that encourages continuous professional education. Staff at the Royal Children's Hospital Social Work department do this in a number of ways.

    Social Work Student Education

    The Social Work Department provides clinical placements for qualifying social work students. The Department has a Student Unit with The University of Melbourne, while also accommodating students from other schools of Social Work. Placements are arranged through university Field Placement Officers.

    The Social Work Department is unable to offer work experience or casual observation, to secondary school students or students from other disciplines. However, we are more than happy to discuss the profession with these students.

    For inquiries regarding student education or placements contact Jennifer Burn: Jennifer.Burn@rch.org.au

    Recent Presentations

    • Manguy, A-M. & Crooke, A. (2025, 12-14th November), Mapping the Role of Social Work in Paediatric Hospital in the Home: An audit of practice. Hospital in the Home 17th Annual Conference, HITH Society of Australasia, Sunshine Coast, Australia.
    • Manguy, A-M. (2025, 4th April), Communicating with parents in difficult circumstances: It’s not just what we say, but how we say it. MCHN Paediatric Health Education Program webinar series.
    • Manguy, A-M. (2024, 3-5th May), Effective Communication with Families in Paediatric Emergencies [conference workshop]. Melbourne Children's Clinical Paediatric Update (MCCPU) Conference, Melbourne, Australia.
    • Manguy, A-M. (2024, 20th February), Social Work Leaders: Celebrating Excellence seminar series, Australian Association of Social Workers.
    • Manguy, A-M. (2023, 23rd August), Psychosocial care for children and families following healthcare emergencies. RCH Allied Health Outreach Education webinar series.
    • Manguy, A-M. (2023, 6-9th June), Psychosocial care for parents during paediatric emergencies: Parent perspectives. The 6th International Conference on Practice Research, Aalborg, Denmark.
    • Joubert, L., Hampson, R. & Manguy, A-M. (2023, 6-9th June), Health social work: What’s now and what’s next? An initiative of the 5+1 [conference workshop]. The 6th International Conference on Practice Research, Aalborg, Denmark.
    • Watt, N and Collins, C (2024) It’s Safe to Speak Up: Unusual partnerships to Empower Children and Enhance Safety- Oral presentation to the 10th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health •
    • Watt, N (2024) Academic Practitioner Collaboration in Practice Research- Panel presentation to the 10th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health
    • Southwell, J., (2023) "Misplaced Attachment? Caring for an abandoned infant in hospital". 18th World Association of Infant Mental Health Congress, Dublin, Ireland. 

    • Mills, R. (2023). "Managing unintended negative consequences of innovation. An EMR/My RCH Portal story." 14th National Paediatric Bioethics Conference, Melbourne.

    • Crooke,A. (2023) Complex Referral Meetings and Social work collaborative practice within a Multi-disciplinary team.”. 15th National Allied Health Conference, Perth, Western Australia 2022
    • Southwell, J., (2022) "Abandoned vs relinquished: Challenges for hospital staff caring for unwell children whose parents don’t want to be involved". 13th National Paediatric Bioethics Conference, Melbourne
    • Manguy, A-M. (2022, 18th May), Toward the development of an acute psychosocial model of care for families in paediatric resuscitation settings. Health Social Work Research Symposium, Western Health on behalf of the Health Director’s Social Work Group, Victoria, Australia.  
    • Manguy, A-M. (2021, 31st May – 2nd June), Developing an acute psychosocial model of care for families during paediatric resuscitation: Results from a clinical data-mining audit. The 5th International Conference on Practice Research, Melbourne, Australia.
    • Manguy, A-M. (2021, 31st May – 2nd June), Using existing data to explore practice issues and improve service responses: Application of a CDM methodology in a healthcare context. The 5th International Conference on Practice Research, Melbourne, Australia.
    • Manguy, A-M. (2021, 2020, 2019), Graduate Research Colloquiums. Melbourne School of Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne.
    • Connolly, S., Schutz, J. & Wright, W. (2021) “A map for the long and winding road - from admission to discharge – clinical excellence for ongoing care in paediatric social work A map for the long and winding road - from admission to discharge – clinical excellence for ongoing care in paediatric social work”. 5th International Conference on Practice Research, Melbourne.
    • Cabral, T., Schreuder, C. & Stalker, L. (2021). “Walk & Connect: A pilot peer support walking group for families within the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). 5th International Conference on Practice Research, Melbourne.
    • Connolly, S., Petronzio, S. & Stalker, L. (2020). Social Work vs Social Distancing – the challenges of providing trauma care during a pandemic. National Paediatric Bioethics E-
    • Gold, D. & Logan, L. (2020). Riding the waves, bracing for the tsunami – family violence in the wake of COVID-19.National Paediatric Bioethics E-Conference, The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. 
    • Stalker, L. (2020) Trauma Informed Practice in a Paediatric setting. RCH Allied Health Education - Webinar.
    • Watt, N, McLean, K and Brook, C (2020) Addressing health needs in OOHC: a co-designed co-location collaboration- Oral presentation of the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare OPEN Digital Symposium. 

    Recent Publications


        • Manguy, A-M. & Hocking, A. (2026). Research in clinical health practice. In C. Fouche & L. Beddoe (Eds.), Elgar Encyclopaedia of Social Work: Edward Elgar Publishing.
        • Manguy, A.-M., Oakley, E., & Gordon, R. & Joubert, L. (2025). Family presence during paediatric emergencies: Parent experience and identified psychosocial care needs. Manuscript submitted for publication to Australasian Emergency Care.
        • Joubert, L., Hampson, R., Hocking, A., Braddy, L., Ludbrook, C., Creaven, F., Connolly, S., Aibinu, I., & Wanke, K. (2024). The 5 + 1 Practice Research Model in Health Social Work: The “Eye of the Storm”. Research on Social Work Practice, 34(6), 676-685. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497315241229427
        • Joubert, L., Webber, M., Uggerhøj, L., Julkunen, I., Yliruka, L., Hampson, R., Simpson, G., Sim, T., Manguy, A.-M., & Austin, M. J. (2023). The Melbourne statement on practice research in social work: Practice meets research. Research on Social Work Practice, 33(4), 367–374. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497315221139835
        • Connolly, S. “Paediatric social work during COVID-19: The Melbourne experience”. Social Work Focus. Summer 2020-21 Vol. 
        • Manguy, A.-M., Joubert, L., Oakley, E., & Gordon, R.  Using existing data to explore practice issues and improve service responses: Application of Clinical Data Mining (CDM) methodology in a health care context. In L. Joubert & M. Webber (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Social Work Practice Research (1st ed.). Routledge.
        • Manguy, A.-M., Oakley, E., Gordon, R. & Joubert, L.  Acute psychosocial care of families in paediatric resuscitation settings: Variables associated with parent emotional response. Australasian Emergency Care, in press.
        • Southwell, J. “High risk family violence and COVID-19: Paediatric hospital social workers’ reflections on Victorian Lockdowns, information sharing and firearms”. Social Work Focus. Summer 2020-21 Vol. 5 Issue 4.