Rate My Professor Amelia Wheeler

Dr. Amelia Wheeler is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work within the Faculty of Health at the University of Canberra. She holds a PhD in Social Work and has served as a social work educator for 12 years. Before entering academia, Wheeler worked as a practitioner in child welfare, out-of-home care, domestic and family violence, and family law sectors. Her research was inspired by observations that children's voices are often marginalized in family mediation and divorce processes, leading her to explore child-inclusive practices.

Wheeler's research specializations include gender-based violence, children and young people's participation in welfare services, anti-racist social work, and ethics in everyday professional life. She collaborates with practitioners and organizations, such as the ACT Office of the Senior Practitioner, to analyze Positive Behaviour Support Plans for service users with challenging behaviors. This work examines representations of rights, wishes, and preferences in plans involving restrictive practices like physical restraints, seclusion, and psychotropic medication, aiming to translate findings into practice that upholds dignity and autonomy for disabled and neurodivergent people. Her key publications encompass 'A Decolonising Critical Discourse Analysis Framework for Positive Behaviour Support Plans' (Australian Social Work, 2026, with Farwa, Russ-Smith, Margaret, and Wray), 'Managing Risk and Child Participation in Out-Of-Home Care: Practitioner Perspectives' (Australian Social Work, 2025, with Moreno and Thorpe), 'Everything is white: Exposing and deconstructing whiteness as risk in the helping professions' (Handbook of Critical Whiteness, 2024, with Russ-Smith and Farwa), and 'Heteropatriarchy and Child Sexual Abuse: Contemplating Profeminist Practice with Men Victim-Survivors' (The Routledge International Handbook of Feminisms in Social Work, 2024, with Sharma). Wheeler accepts PhD students and hosts public panels, including 'What is Social Work Research?' in 2024.