Staff profile

Dr Tracy Fortune

Senior Lecturer, Final Year MOccTher Prac Co-ordinator

Faculty of Health Sciences

School of Allied Health
Department of Occupational Therapy

HS3-426, Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

BAppSc(Occ.Ther) ( La Trobe ) Master of Science (East Lon) PhD (U Syd)

Area of study

Occupational Therapy

Brief Profile

 Tracy is currently senior lecturer in the Department of Occupational Therapy at La Trobe University, where she works across both years of the graduate entry Masters program. Tracy's primary coordination and teaching responsibility sits within the final year capstone subject:  Macro Strategies for Professional Practice - which combines theory and practice relating to occupation, prevention, project management and professional practice readiness. How students in practice professions develop agency and political acumen to support their ability to thrive within organisations once they graduate is a particular interest of Tracy's.   

Tracy 's research expertise is in the area of qualitative methodology. Her Master's degree focused on her interest in the area of occupation and clinical reasoning, and her dissertation explored the role of British occupational therapists working in child and adolescent mental health.  While in London , Tracy worked in an NHS Trust with children and families, and in local government (social services).  

On her return to Australia in 1996, Tracy developed, taught in and managed the undergraduate occupational therapy program at Charles Sturt University , and in 1998 began doctoral level studies. Her PhD was an ethnographic exploration of acute inpatient mental health environments for older people.

Tracy is committed to exploring innovative approaches to teaching and learning, the development of health promotion and project management skills among occupational therapists, and in enabling occupational therapists within inpatient mental health facilities to work more collaboratively and with influence.

Tracys other recent experience includes:

Senior Project Officer, North Western Aged Mental Health Program (Service Development & Capacity Building)

Policy Analyst, Drug Programs Bureau, NSW Health (Capacity Building).

 

Teaching Units

 

OCT 5 MSP: Macro Stategies for Professional Practice

OCT4 HOB: Humans as Occupational Beings

Professional Practice units

 

 

Recent Publications

 

Peer reviewed publications

Fortune, T., Ryan, S. & Adamson, L. (In Press) Transition to practice in supercomplex environments: Are occupational therapy graduatess adequately prepared? Australian Occupational Therapy Journal.

Wood, R., Fortune, T. & McKinstry, C. (In Press) The perspectives of occupational therapists working in primary health promotion. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal.

Fortune, T. & McKinstry, C. (2012) Project-based fieldwork: Perspectives of graduate entry students and project sponsors. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 59, 265-275.

Fortune, T. (2012) Should higher education curriculum develop political acumen among students? Higher Education Research and Development, 31 (4), 611-613.

Fortune, T. (2010) Invited Commentary [Occupational therapy in the modern adult acute mental health setting: A review of current practice by C. Lloyd, & P. Williams.] International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation, 17, 489-493.

Smith, B. Hassett, A. Harrington, S. Fortune, T. (2010) A profile of inpatient admissions to an aged psychiatric service in Victoria. Australasian Psychiatry, 2. 146-151.

Fortune, T. & Fitzgerald, M.H. (2009) The challenge of interdisciplinary collaboration in acute psychiatry: Impacts on the occupational milieu. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal. 56, 81-88.

Hassett, A, Fortune, T and Smith, B. (2007) Mental health care for our ageing Australian population. Australasian Psychiatry. 15, 480-483.

Fortune, T., Ryan, R., Garlick R. & Farrell, J. (2007) Touching their lives: North-Western Mental Health’s approach to practice development in Aged Persons’ Mental Health. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing.16, 147-155.

Fortune, T., Maguire, N. & Carr, L. (2006) Older consumers’ participation in the planning and delivery of mental health care: A collaborative service development project. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 54, 70-74.

Fortune, T., Farnworth, L. & McKinstry, C. (2006) Project focused fieldwork: Core business or fieldwork fillers? Australian Occupational Therapy Journal.53, 233-236.

Fortune, T. (2000) Occupational therapists: Is our therapy truly occupational or are we merely filling gaps? British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 63, 225-230.

  CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Fortune, T., Ennals, P. & Kennedy-Jones, M. The hero’s journey: Uncovering threshold barriers, dispositions and practices among occupational Therapy students In Proceedings of the 4th Biennial Threshold Concepts Conference: From personal practice to communities of practice, Trinity College, Dublin, June 27-30, 2012.

Morgan, S., Fortune, T., & Menz, H. Increasing occupational engagement and falls reduction in sedentary older adults: An evaluation of the NoFalls Exercise Program. (Poster presentation) In Proceedings of the 14th Congress of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists, Sydney, 23-28th July 2006.

Fortune, T. Project management competencies for allied health professionals. In, Proceedings of the 6th National Allied Health Conference Melbourne, February 2005.

Stoker, L & Fortune, T. Training, workforce and organisational development needs of youth services and youth workers: A NSW perspective. In, Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Drugs and Young People. Sydney, May 2002.

Fortune, T. & Hanson, T. The Youth Services Training Project: Building capacity to respond to drug and alcohol issues in young people. In, Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Drugs and Young People. Sydney, May 2002

Older Publications

 Fortune, T. (1999) Students' fieldwork stories: Reflecting on supervision. In Thinking and reasoning in therapy: Narratives from practice, eds, S. Ryan & E. McKay, Stanley Thornes: Cheltenham.  

 Fortune, T. (1996) The proto-occupation/occupation interface: An exploration of human occupation and its symbolic origins. Journal of Occupational Science, Australia , 3 , 86-92.  

Fortune, T ., Ryan, S. (1996) Applying clinical reasoning: A caseload management system for community occupational therapists. British Journal of Occupational Therapy. 59, 207-211.    

Fortune, T. Wilding, C. & Adamson, L. Contemporary practice issues: Preparing undergraduates for graduate realities. In Proceedings of the 20th AAOT National Conference, Canberra, 1999.  

Fortune, T., Brown, G., McKay, E. & Coe, R. Clinical reasoning: Transforming teaching, learning and practice.  In, Proceedings of the 12th WFOT International Congress, Montreal, Canada 1998.  

Fortune, T. & Kettlewell, L. Caseload weighting for community occupational therapists. In Proceedings of the British Association of Occupational Therapists, National Conference, Edinburgh 1995.      

Research projects

 

Chief Investigator: The Schoolyard Participation Project; with: Allison Cox (Clin Doc Candidate); Ellie Fossey (Associate Investigator) & Elspeth Froude (Associate Investigator).

Chief Investigator: Supporting Social Inclusion in Community Gardening: The role of the occupational environment; with Elise Whatley (Masters Candidate) & Anne Williams (Associate Investigator).

Chief Investigator: The experience of community based health workers in primary health promotion: An occupational perspective; with: Rebecca Wood (Honours Candidate) & Dr Carol McKinstry (Associate Investigator).