Deborah Western, Ph.D.

Dr. Deborah Western is a social worker with extensive practice experience in the fields of child and family welfare, sexual assault and family violence. She has worked for the peak body for family violence organisations in Victoria (Domestic Violence Victoria) and has researched and published as well as presented at conferences throughout Australia and internationally in relation to practice, management, policy, research and evaluation in the fields of family violence and violence against women more generally. Dr. Western is currently engaged in a number of research projects that are focused on evaluating models of service delivery for women and their children experiencing and/or leaving violence, on examining options for contemporary models of service delivery for women experiencing family violence and evaluating the effectiveness of selected preventing violence against women strategies within a local government area. In 2011, she contributed to the review and evaluation of the Gender Justice theme (which included global violence against women programs and strategies) for the Oxfam International Sense-making exercise. Her doctoral research explored women's experiences of depression and how group work, journalling and methods of consciousness-raising could assist women with their understanding and recovery from depression. Her research interests include feminist practice and research; family violence; prevention of violence against women; evaluation of violence against women programs and strategies; gender analysis; and women and mental health.