Dr Fiona Oates is an experienced Social Worker, author and researcher with expertise working in urban and rural settings. Dr Oates is known for her non-nonsense down to earth style including the use of humor to explore difficult subject matter. Dr Oates has a passion for supporting the mental health and well-being of practitioners working in trauma-laden environments including in the child and family, housing and homelessness, health, legal and justice practice settings. Dr Oates developed the TISS (Trauma Informed Support & Supervision) model which is informed by her research, practice and personal experiences of occupational traumatic stress. The TISS model is a trauma-informed, practitioner-centered framework that acknowledges the challenging occupational environment practitioners work in and has context specific strategies embedded within.
Dr Oates is an Adjunct Research Fellow with the Cairns Institute situated at James Cook University and is a member of the AASW National Research Committee.