Beth is a registered Occupational Therapist with a PhD in Medicine and Psychology from the University of Otago, Dunedin. She attained a Masters of Occupational Therapy from the University of Illinois at Chicago (2000) and a Bachelors of Arts (1996) in English and Psychology from Indiana University. Beth has accumulated more than 25 years of clinical, research, and teaching experience since graduating with her Occupational Therapy degree. Clinically, Beth worked as an Occupational Therapist/Certified Hand Therapist in public and private settings from 2000 until 2017 in the US and New Zealand.

Beth began her academic career in the Occupational Therapy Department at the Otago Polytechnic Institute in New Zealand in 2017. She made the move to Australia in 2018, and took up a role as lecturer within the Occupational Health and Safety Masters’ program at the University of Wollongong focusing on ergonomics and psychological health and safety. In 2021, she took up the role of lecturer within the Occupational Therapy program at Western Sydney University. She teaches primarily in clinical specialty and practice subjects in the third and fourth year of the program. Beth supervises PhD, Masters and honours students undertaking a variety of research topics. Beth has been involved in program evaluation, course development and content development within her teaching role and is a member of the Translational Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University.

Beth’s PhD research focused on exploring the concept and experience of psychological distress following traumatic upper limb injuries. This has developing into an ongoing program of research, and she continues to work with a team of researchers from the Sydney area to investigate how health systems address the mental health needs of patients following traumatic physical injuries. Beth also has a developing program of research exploring the psychological safety of workers in healthcare and industry roles and ways in which industry addresses psychosocial hazards. This research has helped to inform recent guidance material published by the NSW government related to the management of psychosocial hazards at work. She has an established research profile in the areas of hand injury management, injury prevention, psychosocial hazards, work design, recovery-related distress, injury and recovery experiences, and injury outcomes.

Examples of past projects include:

1. Recovery-related anxiety and disability following upper limb injury (Health Research Council of NZ)
2. An evolutionary concept development: Psychological distress after hand injury (Health Research Council of NZ)
3. An exploration of the concept of legitimacy in health decisions following traumatic upper limb injuries (Health Research Council of NZ)
4. Perceptions of value as a carer for a family member with dementia (Brain Research Centre)
5. An exploration of the goals and roles of carers working with individuals with dementia (Brain Research Centre)
6. Psychosocial hazards in the first 6 months of postgraduate study (University of Otago)
7. Review of contributing factors and interventions for musculoskeletal disorders in aged care workers (Centre for Work Health & Safety)
8. Barriers and facilitators to managing psychosocial risk at work (Centre for Work Health & Safety)
9. Concept analysis of psychological safety in sport
10. Exploration of mental health following traumatic upper limb injury in Southwest Sydney (Lincoln Centre)