Rate My Professor Jamie Sorby

Jamie Sorby is a Kamilaroi woman serving as Lecturer in Social Work and Human Services within the Justice and Society division at Adelaide University. Her scholarship emphasizes the incorporation of First Nations knowledges and Aboriginal perspectives into social work practice and education to foster cultural safety and decolonial approaches. As an early-career academic teaching on Kaurna Country, Sorby navigates challenges in embedding Indigenous methodologies amid Eurocentric frameworks. She led the 2022-2023 Australian Association of Social Workers-funded project 'Enhancing culturally safe supervision in crisis services through First Nations knowledges.' This collaborative, co-designed initiative involved Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal social work academics and practitioners. It conducted a comprehensive literature review to identify gaps in cultural healing practices, explored key elements for increasing cultural safety for First Nations help-seekers in crisis services, gathered evidence on cultural resources and training materials, and produced a culturally informed evidence base publication. Core concepts included providing supervision on Country, encompassing Aboriginal ways of knowing (identity), being (relationality and community), and doing (deep listening and yarning), drawing from sources such as Bessarab (2015), Martin & Mirraboopa (2003), and Satour & Goldingay (2021).

Sorby's peer-reviewed publications advance these themes. In 'Supervision on Country: Enhancing Culturally Safe Social Work Supervision Through First Nations Knowledges' (Australian Social Work, 2025, with McKenzie, Regan-Coe, and Zufferey), she examines place-based supervision practices. 'Decolonial Pathways in Social Work Education' (Australian Social Work, 2026, with Shabbar) addresses positionality and challenges in social work teaching. 'Kinship and Cultural Strengths—Learning from an Aboriginal Perspective' (Australian Social Work, 2024, with Buchanan and Smith) highlights cultural insights in research. Additional works include 'Teaching Using Aboriginal Pedagogies in the University Curriculum' and a chapter in Radical Hope in Social Work (with Zufferey). Her contributions influence social work by championing Indigenous-led practices, ethical knowledge sharing, and culturally responsive supervision.