Social Work Lecturer
Telephone Number
02 9000 9604
shannon.said@excelsia.edu.au
Shannon Said is a social work researcher and practitioner, working with Pacific, Maori and culturally diverse people groups over the past ten years. He has held various positions as a researcher at Western Sydney University, The University of Sydney, Australian Catholic University and others in the areas of music and other cultures, support programs for disadvantaged and minority university student groups, and music therapy as an alternative for young people from trauma backgrounds. Shannon has more recently has worked as a Youth Access Practitioner at headspace and Youth Development Worker at Bridging the Gap.
Shannon completed his PhD (Music) from Western Sydney University in 2017, then completed his Master in Social Work (Qualifying) in 2020 from the University of Wollongong. He is currently completing a Graduate Diploma of Counselling at Excelsia College.
Shannon was a recipient of the Vice Chancellor’s Leadership Scholarship for his B. Music, and also a Western Sydney University / APA scholarship for the completion of his PhD, based on the completion of his first class Honours degree.
Shannon’s thesis explored Christian-Maori diaspora identity in South West Sydney. His research interests focus on decolonising research in diaspora and minority group research contexts, and promoting Indigenous and diaspora approaches to research and community engagement. He also has an interest in his own Maltese-Australian diaspora community, and how notions of national identity are impacted by migration, dual citizenship and hyphenated cultural identities.
Shannon is part of a team of researchers who have recently completed a report entitled Mental Health Talanoa, exploring how Pacific peoples across Greater Western Sydney utilise and face barriers to accessing mental health supports. He is exploring the role of spirituality and religion in social work practice, and the gendered nature of manifestations of depression amongst young men, and how diagnostic descriptors do not necessarily recognize these realities.
Australian Association of Social Workers (2020-present)
Maltese-Australians’ Youth Committee, MAYC (2015-present)
Said, S 2018, ‘A shell and a stone: Pacific chaplaincy practice at Western Sydney University’, Pacific Dynamics: Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, vol. 2, no.1, June 2018
Said, S 2018, ‘Knowing through being known: reflections on Indigenous epistemology and participatory consciousness’, Interventions, DOI: 10.1080/1369801X.2018.1558091
Ravulo, J, Said, S, Micsko, J & Purchase, G 2020, ‘Social value and its impact through widening participation: A review of four programs working with primary, secondary & higher education students’, Cogent Social Sciences, vol. 6, no. 1, doi: 10.1080/23311886.2020.1722307.
Said, S 2013, ‘The Line in the Sand: Negotiating the flow of composition, collaboration and local community engagement in new Maori-Christian popular music in South West Sydney’, International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) 2012 Conference Proceedings, pp.146-158.