Hopkins Hour: Pathways to inclusive and sustainable employment

The Hopkins Centre held this Hopkins Hour live event about pathways to inclusive and sustainable employment on Thursday 27 March 2025. 

Prof. Tamara Ownsworth, Hopkins Research Director, was joined by presenters and panellists exploring varied pathways to employment following neurological injury.

Dr Jessie Mitchell, Research Fellow from The Hopkins Centre shared findings and case studies of sustained employment from Hopkins Seed Grant looking at personalised pathways to employment. View personal employment stories, journey maps and experiences from people involved in the study, who have been able to sustain work after a neurological injury, with a focus on what has enabled or supported them to work over the long term. Click here for presentation.

Tania Goosen, Senior Vocational Rehabilitation Counsellor for Back2Work Project at Spinal Life Australia, presented on The Back2Work Project supporting vocational engagement after spinal cord injury (SCI). Click here for presentation.

Dr Kerrin Watter, a Hopkins Clinician Researcher, Speech Therapist and Service Manager at ABIOS, spoke about supporting delivery of vocational rehabilitation (VR) after acquired brain injury (ABI). This included the development and implementation of an evidence-based VR Framework, a workshop series to support implementation into practice and insights from consumer and clinician views and experiences under five key themes. Overall findings supported the importance of an individualised specialised ABI VR, collaborative good therapeutic alliance, involving employer and goal setting supports.
Click here for presentation and projects papers on consumer perspectives, a framework for vocational rehabilitation, transitional rehabilitation services and clinician perspectives.

Presentations were followed by a stimulating panel discussion, exploring and sharing ways to support sustainable employment, assistance examples in returning to work and the value of sharing personal journeys and experiences with others.

Thank you Sarah Kekki from MSH ABI-TRS and Belinda McLeod from Spinal Life Australia for sharing their expertise and thoughts during the panel discussion and examples of assistive technology in agriculture.

Click here to access the recording of this event and others on our YouTube Channel 

If you have missed any of the Hopkins Hour online research seminars, please view our gallery of videos on the website: www.hopkinscentre.edu.au/researchvideogallery