Shelley Wright

Shelley Wright is a senior lecturer in occupational therapy at Flinders University and has more than 20 years’ experience as an academic. Most recently, she was the Course Coordinator of the Occupational Therapy course at Ballarat Australian Catholic University (ACU). Prior to that, Shelley was a longstanding lecturer at the University of South Australia (UniSA). Shelley has also had many years of clinical experience in a range of mental health and paediatric roles, including working with children experiencing trauma and their families and with children with disabilities and their families.

Shelley has a keen interest in research and has been involved in delivering research training, having coordinated honours research topics at both UniSA and ACU. Shelley has supervised over 20 research students, including undergraduate honours students, research masters and PhD students, and is currently co-supervising two PhD students at other universities in the areas of: (1) Consumer involvement in occupational therapy education: co-creating curriculum, and (2) university student occupational balance and mental health in East Africa. Shelley's PhD was conferred in 2016, Topic: Playfulness in preschool children: A preliminary investigation into the impact of parental characteristics and child abuse and neglect. Shelley’s research interests include well-being, the impact of trauma throughout the lifespan, mental health and play and playfulness.