'AISWA 2020 Vision' - Information about 2021 opportunities: Aboriginal histories and cultures in the classroom: Reconciliation, resources and funding

Dr. David Mander, Ph.D.

Consultant, Future Footprints, AISWA

Career summary

Member of the Australian Psychological Society (MAPS) and a registered health practitioner with the Psychology Board of Australia, Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), as well as a registered Psychologist with New Zealand Psychologists Board. I am a member of the Australian Boarding School Association (ABSA) as well as the Independent Schools Counsellors Association (ISCA). I currently hold an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow position with the Health Promotion Evaluation Unit at The University of Western Australia.

From 2015 to 2020 I was Senior School Psychologist Yrs7-12 at Aquinas College, Perth. Aquinas College is a K-12 boys’ day and boarding school with over 1300 students in Years 7 to 12. While at Aquinas was responsible for guiding the development of counselling and psychology policy and processes; leading reviews of Pastoral Care, Learning Support, Teaching and Learning, and most recently boarding practices. I was also responsible for developing the transition support program Aquinas Connect and partnering it with UWA to ensure an evidence-base informed both its design and implementation. I am particularly passionate about better understanding young people, boarding schools, social and emotional wellbeing, and mental health – anxiety, depression, and other chronic/severe mood disorders; personality disorders such as schizophrenia; suicidal ideation and NSSI. Prior to this, and while also completing my Ph.D., I was the Yr7-12 Psychologist at Wesley College (2009-2012), Perth a K-12 day and boarding school with 1200 students, whilst also the recipient of an Edith Cowan University Post-graduate research scholarship for three years.

Prior to these appointments, I was employed by the Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia (AISWA) and responsible for the development and implementation of the Future Footprints Programme (2005-2009) across 16 boarding schools - specifically designed to support Indigenous students with the transition experience. Future Footprints have been identified by the State and Federal Governments as a model of best practice and continue on today. Future Footprints and my Ph.D. research have enabled me to forge strong working relationships with a number of Aboriginal Corporations and organisations located in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of WA, as well as in Perth and nationally.I was the Student Support Manager at Balga Senior High School and a youth worker with the Balga Youth Program. Prior to this, I was specifically employed by the South Cross Care Group to work in the community with socially isolated young men diagnosed with and managing complex mental health issues.

As a Psychologist, I have extensive experience working with young people, families, schools, and particularly males.

Research employment

I have been a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow / Senior Research Fellow and Project Director of a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funded project titled: ‘Randomised controlled trial of a universal and targeted intervention to reduce mental health problems from bullying among school students’ - APP1046086. During this time, I was also appointed as a Chief Investigator on a Healthway (WA Health Promotion Foundation) grant, ‘Building School Capacity to Reduce Social Aggression Among Students’, 2009 - 2014, $691,911, ID no: 18939

Contribution to research

I was awarded a Ph.D. from Edith Cowan University in 2012. The title of my thesis was: 'The transition experience to secondary school for male Aboriginal students from regional and remote communities in Western Australia'. Prior to this, there was little literature and no contemporary research into the wellbeing and health of Indigenous boarding students. It provides in-depth insight into the way participants perceive boarding school, as well as explores coping mechanisms, culture shock, homesickness, social and emotional wellbeing, cultural maintenance and spirituality.

Since completion, my Ph.D. thesis has been publicly recognized as one of the most important recent contributions to the literature on Indigenous young people and boarding schools and it has been downloaded over 2500 times from 2014. An Aboriginal Advisory Group supported this research and it involved Aboriginal students, parents, and staff at five boarding schools in WA. Four current Ph.D. candidates (i.e., in Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Northern Territory) are using it as a platform for their research. I have since published three blind, peer-reviewed journal articles directly from my Ph.D.

Community engagement and participation

In 2017 I worked closely with the Strategic Investigations Unit, Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse – which resulted in the recently released final report emphasizing that boarding schools needed to ensure the cultural safety as well as a transition support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students – an issue close to my heart, and the hearts of stakeholders involved with my Ph.D.

Similarly, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet also heavily consulted with me on their ‘Study away review: Review of Support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Secondary Students Studying away from home’ published in 2017.

I have subsequently been invited by the CEO of Boarding Australia to participate in a national Think Tank focussed on boarding and education for Indigenous students who study away from their families and communities.I have conducted specialised mental health assessments and interventions with young people for Anxiety and Depression; Learning and Cognitive assessments and interventions for NSSI, suicidal ideation, Intellectual Disabilities and Learning Disorders, ASD, ADHD; providing psychological input into teaching and learning practices to assist learning across all student groups; provided individual and family counselling for Bullying, Trauma, Grief and Loss, relationship difficulties, sexuality and identity issues, drug and alcohol issues, and school refusal.

Publications

Mander, D. J., & Hasking, P. (2020). The complex nature of mental ill-health, developmental milestones and the transition to secondary boarding school. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 30(2), 127-133. See link: https://journal.spera.asn.au/index.php/AIJRE

Lester, L. J., & Mander, D. J. (2020). A longitudinal mental health and wellbeing survey of students transitioning to a boys’ only boarding school. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 30(2), 67-83. See link: https://journal.spera.asn.au/index.php/AIJRE

Guenther, J., Benvenista, T., Redman-MacLaren, M., Mander, D, McCalman, J., O’Bryan., M., Osbourne, S., & Stewart, R. (2020). Thinking with Theory as a policy evaluation tool: The case of boarding schools for remote First Nations students. Evaluation Journal of Australasia, 20(1), 34-52.

Mander, D. J., & Lester, L. J. (2019). The self-reported perceptions, readiness and psychological wellbeing of primary school students prior to transitioning to a secondary boarding school, Children Australia, 44(3), 136-145.

Mander, D. J., & Hasking, P. (2019). Why understanding mental health is important for boarding schools. In Alliance, 61, 113-117. (Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia)

Mander, D. J. (2017). Motivational Interviewing and school misbehaviour: An evidence-based approach to working with at risk adolescents. Psychotherapy and Counselling Journal of Australia, see link: http://pacja.org.au/?p=3594

Mander, D. J., & Lester, L. J. (2017). A longitudinal study into indicators of mental health, strengths and difficulties reported by boarding students as they transition from primary school to secondary boarding schools in Perth, Western Australia. Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 27(2), 139-152.

Mander, D. J., Lester, L. J., & Cross, D. S. (2015). The social and emotional wellbeing, and mental health implications for adolescents transitioning to secondary boarding school. International Journal of Child and Adolescent Health, 8(2), 131-140.

Lester, L. J., Mander, D. J., & Cross, D. S. (2015). Bullying behaviour following students’ transition to a secondary boarding school context. International Journal of Child and Adolescent Health, 8(2), 141-150.

Lester, L. J., & Mander, D. J. (2015). The role of social, emotional and mental wellbeing on bullying victimization and perpetration of secondary school boarders. Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 25(2), 152-169.

Mander, D. J., Cohen, L., & Pooley, J. A. (2015). If I wanted to have more opportunities and go to a better school, I just had to get used to it: Aboriginal students' perceptions of going to boarding school in Western Australia'. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 44(1), 26-36.

Mander, D. J. (2015). Enabling voice: Aboriginal parent’s experiences and perceptions of sending a child to boarding school in Western Australia. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 44(2), 173-183.

Mander, D. J., Cohen, L., & Pooley, J. A. (2015). A critical exploration of staff perceptions of Aboriginal boarding students’ experiences at four boarding schools in Perth, Western Australia. Australian Journal of Education, 59(3), 312-328.

Stumpers, S. A., Cohen, L., & Pooley, J. A., & Mander, D. J. (2015). The social construction of ageing: Australian and Welsh perspectives. The Australian Community Psychologist, 27(1), 53-72.

Mander, D. J., & Bobongie, F. (2010). Working alliances: The importance of accessing peer/cultural support in educational practice. The Australian Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 27(1), 41-53.

Mander, D. J., & Fieldhouse, L. (2009). Reflections on implementing an education support programme for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary school students in a non-government education sector: What did we learn and what do we know? The Australian Community Psychologist, 21 (1), 84-101.

Book chapters

Shean, M., & Mander, D. J. (2020). Chapter 12: Building emotional safety for students in school environments: Challenges and opportunities. In Health and Education Interdependence: Thriving from birth to adulthood. Springer.

Mander, D. J., Lester, L. J., & Cross, D. S. (2014). Chapter 3: Social, emotional well-being and mental health implications for adolescents transitioning to secondary boarding school. In Adolescence: Places and Spaces, Nova Science Publishers.

Lester, L. J., Mander, D. J., & Cross, D. S. (2014). Chapter 4: Bullying behaviour following students’ transition to a secondary boarding school context. In Adolescence: Places and Spaces, Nova Science Publishers.

Conference papers

Guenther, J., O’Bryan., M., Stewart, R., Benvenista, T., Fogarty, W., & Mander, D. J. (2018). National Indigenous Education and Boarding Symposium: Response to symposium common themes and priorities. See link: http://www.boardingaustralia.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Response-to-Symposium-Common-Themes-and-Priorities.pdf

Guenther, J., Benvenista, T., Redman-MacLaren, M., O’Bryan., M., Mander, D. J. et al., (2017). Theorising impacts of boarding school participation for remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students - national collaboration with the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education for a paper presentation at the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) conference, 26-30 November, Canberra, ACT.

Mander, D. J., & Collard, K. (2009). Working Alliances and transformative practice in post-graduate research: The importance of partnership. 11th Trans-Tasman Community Psychology Conference, 15-17th July. - Fremantle, WA.

Ph.D. thesis

Mander, D. J. (2012). The transition experience to boarding school for male Aboriginal secondary school students from regional and remote communities across Western Australia, Edith Cowan University. See link: http://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/521/