Katrina Gersbach is a Lecturer in Social Work and Human Services and a PhD Candidate within the Faculty of Arts and Education at Charles Sturt University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of New South Wales, and a Master of Education. Katrina’s professional practice experience is primarily in the fields of child and family welfare, education, and health, including extensive work alongside Indigenous communities in Western New South Wales.

Katrina lives in a small rural town on Wiradjuri Country with her family and is an active member of her local community. She serves on several boards and committees that advocate for the rights and wellbeing of children and families. Her professional and personal commitments are deeply grounded in principles of participation, collaboration, and inclusion.

Katrina has more than a decade of experience in higher education, teaching across undergraduate and postgraduate programs in Social Work and Human Services. Her teaching and research draw on her social work practice background, working alongside children and families using collective, strengths-based, and trauma-informed approaches.

Her practice experience includes roles in case management, family support, group facilitation, individual counselling, and service management across government and non-government settings. She is a member of the International Network of Co-operative Inquirers, and The Children's Voices Centre.

Katrina has also contributed to academic service as a peer reviewer for The British Journal of Social Work (Q1), Child Protection and Practice (Q1) and Social Work in Mental Health (Q2).

Katrina is an early-career researcher whose work focuses on participatory, child-centred, and collaborative approaches to research, learning, and practice. Her PhD explores children’s social and emotional wellbeing in a remote primary school through a participatory co-design project that privileges children’s voices in the development of wellbeing initiatives.

Her broader research interests include:

• Child and family wellbeing in rural and remote contexts

• Participatory, arts-based, and trauma-informed research methodologies

• Collaborative and co-operative approaches to learning and teaching in higher education

• Professional identity and reflective practice in social work education

Katrina teaches across subjects in child welfare, counselling, group work, and case management within the Bachelor of Social Work and Human Services degrees at Charles Sturt University. Her teaching philosophy is grounded in relational, strengths-based, and trauma-informed pedagogies that encourage reflective and ethical practice.

She integrates real-world case studies, participatory learning activities, and practitioner-led insights to connect theory with practice.