As a clinician and more recently as an academic and researcher, Rachel’s work focuses on building registered nurse capacity for advanced nursing practice in a range of different contexts.  Her work is informed by wide-ranging clinical experience across several decades, including primary health care in Madagascar and the Solomon Islands and clinical, teaching and research experience in public health, general practice and mental health settings in urban and rural areas of New South Wales, Australia.

Rachel has extensive experience in curriculum design, subject and course development at several universities, including University of Newcastle, University of Sharjah, and now at Charles Sturt University. She has developed and taught a range of subjects in the Master of Nursing. 

Research activities in Australia, Thailand, Egypt, East Africa and the United Arab Emirates include capacity building activities in cross-cultural settings, health promotion and early intervention, mindfulness-based interventions (MBSR and DBT), competency-based nursing curriculum, developing nursing capacity for advanced practice, clinical practice development, mental health literacy and mental health workforce development.

From mid-2017, a key focus of Rachel’s research has been on collaborative activities focused on developing and evaluating specialist Movement Disorder Nurse positions across Australia, including a project underway in Western New South Wales.

Rachel is a fellow of the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses. and is credentialed as a mental health nurse.  She continues clinical practice as a credentialed mental health nurse and therapist at the Orange Aboriginal Medical Service.