Fredrik Velander

Course Directors

Dr Fredrik Velander

Course Director Social Work / Lecturer in Social Work
Wagga Wagga
Building 26

Fredrik has a Bachelor of Science in Social Work from Mid Sweden University and a PhD from Curtin University of Technology. After graduation, he worked for 8 years as a research assistant for the National Institute for Working Life in Sweden where he conducted work in the fields of health promotion, organisational development, professional development and alcohol and other drug policies. In 2005 he joined the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University, WA as project coordinator for a community development project in rural Western Australia, in the city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. Within the scope of that project, he worked with community assessment, social marketing for normative change, focus groups, and a range of community interventions to address excessive alcohol use. In 2010 he took up a position as a lecturer at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales and more recently accepted the position as Course Director for Human Services UG.

Currently, he is a member of the following committees:

  • Faculty of Arts and Education Ethics Committee
  • School of Humanities and Social Sciences Research Committee
  • The School Assessment Committee

Fredrik is currently teaching in the following subjects:

  • HCS310 Mental Health Practice
  • HCS510 Social Work Practice in Mental Health
  • HCS200 Social Work Theory and Practice 1

In addition to his classroom teaching he is also supervising higher degree by research students at Honours, Masters, Doctors and PhD levels.

He is also involved in field placement supervision and as a field placement liaison.

In 2009 he received his PhD from Curtin University. His thesis investigated facilitators and obstacles of best practice when preventing alcohol-related harm in the workplace. Research interests include:

  • The connection between our ecological environment and mental wellbeing.
  • Domestic violence and mental health
  • Prevention from a holistic perspective and the human/environment interaction and how that affects individual health and lifestyle patterns.
  • Organisational and professional development, particularly in relation to healthy organisations
  • Best practice research and intervention development