Dr. Eileen Petrie's career began with foundational roots at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, blossoming into a versatile nursing professional with a specialisation in psychiatric care. Her journey through various roles and institutions highlights a commitment to both the art and science of nursing. Practising as a mental health clinician, Eileen’s philosophy of care exemplifies a social model of health – a model that she is committed to educating current and future health professionals to this philosophy of delivery model. Her Mental Health expertise is world renowned with published commissioned work for relevant reports and publications. 

I have been a member of the School of Nursing, Paramedicine and Healthcare Sciences since 2016. I teach into all levels of undergraduate and postgraduate courses from foundational practice and skills though to healthcare leadership. Her contributions to the university Include roles like Workplace Learning Academic Liaison Officer where she was successful in shaping clinical placements with rural, regional and metropolitan health care facilities as well as designing innovative model of clinical engagement. Through this engagement, the significance of Eileen’s work was realised with the establishment of ongoing Scholarships for students to attend clinical placements. 

Prior to employment with Charles sturt University, Eileen worked with the University of Canberra as an Assistant Professor in Nursing and was appointed as Clinical Director of Nursing. During this time, A key feature of Eileen’s work was the successful establishment of new clinical placements in rural and regional areas and along the Sapphire Coast.

Her first experience in academia was with La Trobe university (2003) as a Senior Lecturer. Demonstrating a depth of knowledge and capacity for a diverse student group, Eileen coordinated national and international studies in research as well as being appointed as the Master’s Coursework Coordinator. Completing HDR supervision and thesis marking, her expertise in research and supervision was acknowledged with additional appointments of being the Honour’s Coordinator. Capitalising on her nursing expertise, Eileen also led the development of the Bachelor of Nursing Mental Health Major as well as teaching across all undergraduate subjects. Her commitment to community engagement was extensive and resulted in strengthening partnerships and the university profile in the area.

Dr. Petrie's research is primarily anchored in Action Research, with a significant focus on understanding and mitigating workplace burnout among rural and remote community mental health teams. This research, which formed the basis of her PhD, highlights her dedication to improving mental health care practices and worker wellbeing in challenging environments. Her current research is in partnership with the University of South Australia and Flinders University.  This important study is examining the development of future mental health clinicians from an undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing degree and developing a pathway into this speciality area. Eileen remains committed to developing research capacity of clinicians and her academic peers and is regularly called upon to conduct peer review of research plans and professional development activities.