Dr Jo Mensinga ~ Senior Lecturer

During her 15 years in direct practice before joining the academy, Jo specialised in relationship counselling and was actively involved in women’s issues, child abuse and domestic violence. She has researched in the area of social work professional practice including child protection decision-making, mentoring, supervision practices, and practitioner learning and development. Jo has also explored social work career choice and decision-making processes. From this collection of work Jo has developed an interest in body-reflexivity.

Jo is a qualified yoga teacher with a diploma from the International Yoga Teachers Association. She has undertaken study tours to the United States and Italy examining trauma and its impact on professional reflection and the use of yoga as an intervention.

Jo works from a qualitative methodological approach including narrative inquiry, organic inquiry, case study, thematic analysis, and the study of social positioning in stories. She is an active member of international discussion groups on the process of narrative inquiry. She has undertaken research with industry particularly on learning and development in child placement with government and on mentoring with a nongovernment peak organisation. Her current interest is researching the contribution yoga and embodiment can make to practitioner reflection and well-being.

Teaching

• WS1006: Foundations of Social Work (Level 1; CNS)
• WS2008: International Exchange (Level 2; TSV)
• WS3025: Group Work (Level 3; CNS)

Interests

Professional

• Providing supervision and mentoring to practitioners
• Facilitating professional development workshops drawing on embodied practices such as yoga and including meditative techniques
• Facilitating and advising practitioners who run trauma sensitive yoga classes for adults and children impacted by trauma.

Research

• Research contact for the Social Work Yoga and Mindfulness Practice Group with the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW)
• Social work professional practice, supervision and worker support
• Social worker's embodied experiences and the impact they have on practice
• Yoga/meditation as a tool for development of reflective practice as well as for practitoner self care
• Narrative methodologies, particularly the self positioning of the narrator in their stories
• Child protection and the impact of trauma on well-being. I am also interested in how yoga can be used to help mediate trauma.

Teaching

• The use of self in professional practice, social work theories and group work
• Problem based learning and its use in developing reflexive practitioners
• The use of e-portfolios in field education

Experience

• 2012 to present - Lecturer, James Cook University (Cairns)
• 2007 to 2011 - Lecturer/Field Co-Ordinator, James Cook University (Cairns)
• 1998 to 2007 - Lecturer, Central Queensland University (Rockhampton)
• 2005 - Senior Project Officer (Secondment), Department of Child Safety (Brisbane)
• 1996 to 1997 - Health Worker, Women's health (Rockhampton)
• 1991 to 1996 - Manager, Relationships Australia (Rockhampton)

Research Disciplines

• Social work (4409)
• Specialist studies in education (3904)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Community services (2301)
• Work and labour market (2305)
• Expanding knowledge (2801)

Awards

• 2017 - Inclusive Practice Award - Awarded in recognition of exceptional support for students with a disability
• 2015 - Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student learning
• 2014 - Inclusive Practice Award - Awarded in recognition of exceptional support for students with a disability
• 2011 - Inclusive Practice Award - Awarded in recognition of exceptional support for students with a disability

Memberships

• 2018 - Social Work Mindfulness and Yoga Group (AASW) - Committee member and research leader
• 1996 - Australian Association of Social Work
• 1995 - International Yoga Teachers Association

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Dewar S, Mensinga J, Redman-MacLaren M and Johns L (in press) A qualitative interpretivemeta-synthesis of social workers’ experience in end-of-life care. Journal of Social Work,
• Gardner E, Pyles L, Mensinga J, DeJong Zuverink L and Fizzell C (in press) A systematic review of qualitative social work articles: Exploring embodiment from 2000 to 2019. International Social Work,
• Suleman A, Chigeza P and Mensinga J (2022) A scoping review and thematic analysis of mentoring models that include leadership and school connectedness theories. PRISM, 4 (1). pp. 56-71
• Crooks A and Mensinga J (2021) Body, relationship, space: dance movement therapy as an intervention in embodied social work with parents and their children. Australian Social Work, 74 (2). pp. 250-258
• Mensinga J (2021) A narrative inquiry exploring social workers' understanding of yoga and its application in professional practice. Australian Social Work, 74 (2). pp. 134-145
• Miles D, Mensinga J and Zuchowski I (2018) Harnessing opportunities to enhance the distance learning experience of MSW students: an appreciative inquiry process. Social Work Educaton, 37 (6). pp. 705-717
• Mensinga J (2017) 'No coughing for me, but I'm okay!’: a human service worker's narrative exploration of her own and other workers' body stories told in a domestic violence service. Children Australia, 42 (2). pp. 87-92
• Lynn R and Mensinga J (2015) Social workers' narratives of integrating mindfulness into practice. Journal of Social Work Practice: psychotherapeutic approaches in health, welfare and the community , 29 (3). pp. 255-270

Book Chapters

• Lynn R, Mensinga J, Tinning B and Lundman K (2016) Is mindfulness value free? Tiptoeing through the mindfield of mindfulness. In: Holistic Engagement: transformative social work education in the 21st century. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp. 215-233
• Mensinga J (2015) She let out a burp and got rid of it! Learning from a social worker's stories about bodies in mental health professional conversations. In: Social Work Practice in Mental Health: cross-cultural perspectives. Allied Publishers, New Delhi, India, pp. 247-257

Conference Papers

• Mensinga J and Dickinson T (2013) Joining the dots and colouring in the spaces: facilitating the acquisition of a social work professional identity with e-portfolio. Proceedings of ePortfolio and Identity Conference. In: ePIC 2013: ePortfolio and Identity Conference, 8-10 July 2013, London, UK
• Dickinson T and Mensinga J (2012) Involving stakeholders in Action Research to develop e-portfolio Assessment for Social Work Field Education. Proceedings of the 2012 Australian Collaborative Education Network (ACEN) National Conference. In: 2012 Australian Collaborative Education Network National Conference, 29 October-2 November 2012, Perth, WA, Australia

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 27+ research outputs authored by Dr Jo Mensinga from 2007 onwards.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• Peer to peer mentoring to support transitions to secondary schools and develop leadership skills (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• An Exploration of the Impact of Raising Children with Anxiety on Maternal Well-being in the North Queensland Region (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Crafting wellbeing: Exploring Human Service workers? and organisational managers? views of using creative activities to prevent and address work related stress. (PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Swimming Upstream: A narrative exploration of the lived experience of older LGBT people and how social work professionals can support and advocate for their community. (PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Embodied Practice for clinicians working with trauma. An exploration of embodied movement and trauma sensitive yoga to support managing burn out and compassion fatigue. (PhD , Primary Advisor)