Michelle Newcomb
Biographic Data
| ID | 153777 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michelle Newcomb |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michelle |
| FAMILY NAME | Newcomb |
| SIGNATURE | NEWCOMB M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Queensland University of Technology |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9899-5576 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 17 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Recognising and Responding to Burnout
Using care ethics to support staff wellbeing in social work
The well-being of frontline social workers is critical to sustaining ethical and effective practice. However, poor workplace conditions, high client demands, and limited organizational support contribute to social worker stress, burnout, and workforce attrition. While care ethics is a recognized framework for social work practice, its application to the organizational care of social workers remains underexplored. This study examines how Australia…
Reimagining leadership in social work
Understanding activist leadership is vital for the future of social work. This article examines leadership styles and models prevalent in social work, exploring their alignment with one of the profession’s central obligations: achieving social justice through activism. Leadership in social work has historically been framed through managerial or hierarchical approaches with effects of neoliberalism often dictating approaches for the profession. Mo…
Defending Discomfort
Trigger warnings have become a hotly contested practice in higher education, including within the field of social work. Learning to become a social worker can be a demanding process that requires in-depth study about often socially taboo and traumatic topics. The learning process can, understandably, cause discomfort that may result in a disconcerting or anxiety-provoking experience for social work students. However, the inclusion of challenging …
The Problematisation of Young People Within Existing Housing-Related Policy in Queensland
More young people are experiencing homelessness and housing stress in Australia than ever before, with policy responses failing to address a current housing and cost-of-living crisis. Of particular concern when considering increasing rates of youth homelessness and housing stress is the absence of research examining existing policy. This research was undertaken in the Australian state of Queensland and contributes to addressing this gap in knowle…
Creating safety
Female social work early career academics (ECAs) face many challenges within a neoliberal university context. The tension between balancing the social justice mission of the profession against the consumer model of higher education is conflicting and contributes to feelings of isolation and alienation. This article documents a group of female ECAs experiences by drawing on critical, post-modern and feminist knowledge traditions. The qualitative m…
Individual Responsibility and Disconnection
The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia called for a lockdown that impacted the delivery of social work and human services. This study investigated the experiences of 15 social work and human service practitioners in Southeast Queensland, Australia. Telephone and Zoom interviews were conducted with practitioners and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Three themes arose: 1) technology problems; 2) flexibili…
A Simulated Placement
COVID-19 presented fresh challenges for social work field education, requiring agile and innovative solutions. To address the scarcity of direct client-facing placements during the extended and unpredictable public health restrictions, Australian Catholic University (ACU) created the Simulated Placement Experience (SPE) for final-year students. The program immersed students into nine practice scenarios over a two-week (70-hour) intensive placemen…
Supportive Social Work Supervision as an Act of Care
Supportive supervision is an important but often over-looked practice in contemporary social work, often assisting in maintaining practitioner well-being. The following research explores how eleven social workers in Australia experience supportive supervision and its impact on their well-being and job satisfaction. The research used interpretative phenomenological analysis to reveal the complex and important role supportive supervision has for so…
The emotional labour of academia in the time of a pandemic
During the COVID19 pandemic, emotional labor has become an indispensable resource in social work, providing comfort, strength, and focus for many. Within the social work academy, emotional labor has been required to support students, especially as education has moved quickly into online and remote teaching modes. For the majority female social work educators, the pandemic has also led to a rise in caring responsibilities, especially for children.…
Post-Anthropocentric Social Work
Post-Anthropocentric Social Work: Critical Posthuman and New Materialist Perspectives." Ethics and Social Welfare, 15(4), pp. 444–445
Self-Care Rhetoric in Neoliberal Organisations
Self-care has become an increasingly important practice for social workers to ensure practitioner wellbeing and effective, ethical practice outcomes. However, undertaking self-care activities is often considered the responsibility of individual social workers with limited consideration of how the workplace may influence their understanding and practice of self-care. Based in Southeast Queensland, Australia this paper uses interpretative phenomeno…
Student Constructions of Resilience
Resilience is a desirable attribute for social work and human services (SWHS) graduates. A history of childhood adversity may have led students to develop resilience, which is transferable to SWHS practice. Limited research has been conducted with students as to how resilience is formed and conceptualised. This survey of 265 SWHS students is the first Australian research to survey students about their conceptualisation of resilience and childhood…
When Teacher Becomes Student
Social work education in Australia is bound by a range of rules and assumptions supported by both higher education institutions and the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW). This autoethnography explores a range of contradictions within social work education from the unique perspective of someone who was simultaneously a student and academic in social work. This experience occurred because, although PhD qualified in social work, ruling…
GoSoapBox in public health tertiary education
Most pedagogical literature has generated “how to” approaches regarding the use of student response systems (SRS). There are currently no systematic reviews on the effectiveness of SRS, for its capacity to enhance critical thinking, and achieve sustained learning outcomes. This paper addresses this current gap in knowledge. Our teaching team introduced GoSoapBox (an interactive online SRS) in an undergraduate sociology and public health subject, …
Childhood Adversity and Self-Care Education for Undergraduate Social Work and Human Services Students
Many students pursuing social work and human services courses have experienced adverse childhoods. This article focuses on their learning about self-care, an important skill for future practice. Interviews with 20 undergraduate students with a history of childhood adversity found unmet needs both for conceptualizing self-care and developing strategies to implement self-care in their day-to-day lives. Many cited limited role modeling and little im…
Collaboration and competition on a wiki
While the Internet has been described as fundamental to higher education students, social and leisure internet tools are also increasingly being used by these students to generate and maintain their social and professional networks and interactions. Rapid technological advancements have enabled greater and faster access to information for learning and education. As such, we sought to integrate interactive, online social media into the assessment …
Childhood Adversity and Self-Care Education for Undergraduate Social Work and Human Services Students
Many students pursuing social work and human services courses have experienced adverse childhoods. This article focuses on their learning about self-care, an important skill for future practice. Interviews with 20 undergraduate students with a history of childhood adversity found unmet needs both for conceptualizing self-care and developing strategies to implement self-care in their day-to-day lives. Many cited limited role modeling and little im…
A Simulated Placement
COVID-19 presented fresh challenges for social work field education, requiring agile and innovative solutions. To address the scarcity of direct client-facing placements during the extended and unpredictable public health restrictions, Australian Catholic University (ACU) created the Simulated Placement Experience (SPE) for final-year students. The program immersed students into nine practice scenarios over a two-week (70-hour) intensive placemen…
Supportive Social Work Supervision as an Act of Care
Supportive supervision is an important but often over-looked practice in contemporary social work, often assisting in maintaining practitioner well-being. The following research explores how eleven social workers in Australia experience supportive supervision and its impact on their well-being and job satisfaction. The research used interpretative phenomenological analysis to reveal the complex and important role supportive supervision has for so…
Self-Care Rhetoric in Neoliberal Organisations
Self-care has become an increasingly important practice for social workers to ensure practitioner wellbeing and effective, ethical practice outcomes. However, undertaking self-care activities is often considered the responsibility of individual social workers with limited consideration of how the workplace may influence their understanding and practice of self-care. Based in Southeast Queensland, Australia this paper uses interpretative phenomeno…
When Teacher Becomes Student
Social work education in Australia is bound by a range of rules and assumptions supported by both higher education institutions and the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW). This autoethnography explores a range of contradictions within social work education from the unique perspective of someone who was simultaneously a student and academic in social work. This experience occurred because, although PhD qualified in social work, ruling…
Student Constructions of Resilience
Resilience is a desirable attribute for social work and human services (SWHS) graduates. A history of childhood adversity may have led students to develop resilience, which is transferable to SWHS practice. Limited research has been conducted with students as to how resilience is formed and conceptualised. This survey of 265 SWHS students is the first Australian research to survey students about their conceptualisation of resilience and childhood…
Individual Responsibility and Disconnection
The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia called for a lockdown that impacted the delivery of social work and human services. This study investigated the experiences of 15 social work and human service practitioners in Southeast Queensland, Australia. Telephone and Zoom interviews were conducted with practitioners and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Three themes arose: 1) technology problems; 2) flexibili…
Post-Anthropocentric Social Work
Post-Anthropocentric Social Work: Critical Posthuman and New Materialist Perspectives." Ethics and Social Welfare, 15(4), pp. 444–445
Collaboration and competition on a wiki
While the Internet has been described as fundamental to higher education students, social and leisure internet tools are also increasingly being used by these students to generate and maintain their social and professional networks and interactions. Rapid technological advancements have enabled greater and faster access to information for learning and education. As such, we sought to integrate interactive, online social media into the assessment …
Childhood Adversity and Self-Care Education for Undergraduate Social Work and Human Services Students
Many students pursuing social work and human services courses have experienced adverse childhoods. This article focuses on their learning about self-care, an important skill for future practice. Interviews with 20 undergraduate students with a history of childhood adversity found unmet needs both for conceptualizing self-care and developing strategies to implement self-care in their day-to-day lives. Many cited limited role modeling and little im…
GoSoapBox in public health tertiary education
Most pedagogical literature has generated “how to” approaches regarding the use of student response systems (SRS). There are currently no systematic reviews on the effectiveness of SRS, for its capacity to enhance critical thinking, and achieve sustained learning outcomes. This paper addresses this current gap in knowledge. Our teaching team introduced GoSoapBox (an interactive online SRS) in an undergraduate sociology and public health subject, …
Student Constructions of Resilience
Resilience is a desirable attribute for social work and human services (SWHS) graduates. A history of childhood adversity may have led students to develop resilience, which is transferable to SWHS practice. Limited research has been conducted with students as to how resilience is formed and conceptualised. This survey of 265 SWHS students is the first Australian research to survey students about their conceptualisation of resilience and childhood…
When Teacher Becomes Student
Social work education in Australia is bound by a range of rules and assumptions supported by both higher education institutions and the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW). This autoethnography explores a range of contradictions within social work education from the unique perspective of someone who was simultaneously a student and academic in social work. This experience occurred because, although PhD qualified in social work, ruling…
The emotional labour of academia in the time of a pandemic
During the COVID19 pandemic, emotional labor has become an indispensable resource in social work, providing comfort, strength, and focus for many. Within the social work academy, emotional labor has been required to support students, especially as education has moved quickly into online and remote teaching modes. For the majority female social work educators, the pandemic has also led to a rise in caring responsibilities, especially for children.…
Post-Anthropocentric Social Work
Post-Anthropocentric Social Work: Critical Posthuman and New Materialist Perspectives." Ethics and Social Welfare, 15(4), pp. 444–445
Self-Care Rhetoric in Neoliberal Organisations
Self-care has become an increasingly important practice for social workers to ensure practitioner wellbeing and effective, ethical practice outcomes. However, undertaking self-care activities is often considered the responsibility of individual social workers with limited consideration of how the workplace may influence their understanding and practice of self-care. Based in Southeast Queensland, Australia this paper uses interpretative phenomeno…
Supportive Social Work Supervision as an Act of Care
Supportive supervision is an important but often over-looked practice in contemporary social work, often assisting in maintaining practitioner well-being. The following research explores how eleven social workers in Australia experience supportive supervision and its impact on their well-being and job satisfaction. The research used interpretative phenomenological analysis to reveal the complex and important role supportive supervision has for so…
Creating safety
Female social work early career academics (ECAs) face many challenges within a neoliberal university context. The tension between balancing the social justice mission of the profession against the consumer model of higher education is conflicting and contributes to feelings of isolation and alienation. This article documents a group of female ECAs experiences by drawing on critical, post-modern and feminist knowledge traditions. The qualitative m…
Individual Responsibility and Disconnection
The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia called for a lockdown that impacted the delivery of social work and human services. This study investigated the experiences of 15 social work and human service practitioners in Southeast Queensland, Australia. Telephone and Zoom interviews were conducted with practitioners and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Three themes arose: 1) technology problems; 2) flexibili…
A Simulated Placement
COVID-19 presented fresh challenges for social work field education, requiring agile and innovative solutions. To address the scarcity of direct client-facing placements during the extended and unpredictable public health restrictions, Australian Catholic University (ACU) created the Simulated Placement Experience (SPE) for final-year students. The program immersed students into nine practice scenarios over a two-week (70-hour) intensive placemen…
Defending Discomfort
Trigger warnings have become a hotly contested practice in higher education, including within the field of social work. Learning to become a social worker can be a demanding process that requires in-depth study about often socially taboo and traumatic topics. The learning process can, understandably, cause discomfort that may result in a disconcerting or anxiety-provoking experience for social work students. However, the inclusion of challenging …
The Problematisation of Young People Within Existing Housing-Related Policy in Queensland
More young people are experiencing homelessness and housing stress in Australia than ever before, with policy responses failing to address a current housing and cost-of-living crisis. Of particular concern when considering increasing rates of youth homelessness and housing stress is the absence of research examining existing policy. This research was undertaken in the Australian state of Queensland and contributes to addressing this gap in knowle…
Recognising and Responding to Burnout
Using care ethics to support staff wellbeing in social work
The well-being of frontline social workers is critical to sustaining ethical and effective practice. However, poor workplace conditions, high client demands, and limited organizational support contribute to social worker stress, burnout, and workforce attrition. While care ethics is a recognized framework for social work practice, its application to the organizational care of social workers remains underexplored. This study examines how Australia…
Reimagining leadership in social work
Understanding activist leadership is vital for the future of social work. This article examines leadership styles and models prevalent in social work, exploring their alignment with one of the profession’s central obligations: achieving social justice through activism. Leadership in social work has historically been framed through managerial or hierarchical approaches with effects of neoliberalism often dictating approaches for the profession. Mo…
Social Work Education and Practice (13 works) · Social Work (12 works) · Political science (10 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Public relations (8 works) · Medicine (7 works) · Pedagogy (6 works) · Homelessness and Social Issues (5 works) · Social science (5 works)