Rate My Professor Violette McGaw

Dr. Violette McGaw is a psychologist, researcher, and lecturer in the School of Educational Psychology and Counselling, Faculty of Education, Monash University. She is an Educational and Developmental Psychologist, Fellow of the College of Educational and Developmental Psychology, Board-Approved supervisor, and scientist-practitioner. Dr. McGaw completed her Doctor of Philosophy at Monash University, with her doctoral thesis exploring the lived experiences of veterans, partners, and youth in families where a veteran parent has PTSD related to military service. This work was nominated for the Mollie Holman Award for Best Doctoral Thesis in the Faculty of Education in 2021. Findings have been presented at the 5th International Conference on Families with Parental Mental Health Challenges in Switzerland (2016), the International Conference of the Parental and Family Mental Health Worldwide Collaborative in Prato, Italy, and the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide in Australia (2022). She possesses extensive counselling experience with adults, teens, and children in private practice and hospital settings, with a strong background in military and veteran clients specializing in trauma and associated issues. Dr. McGaw also maintains a special interest in neurodiverse clients across the lifespan, particularly adults with late diagnoses.

Dr. McGaw's research specializations include families living with trauma, veteran families, trauma-informed practices in educational settings, families living with adversity, neurodiversity, and parental mental health challenges. She serves as Chief Investigator on key projects such as the Independent Evaluation of the Supporting Recovery Pilot funded by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (2025-2026), Best practice in Trauma-informed education for students in out-of-home care through Anglicare Victoria’s TEACHaR Program (2024-2025), and StigmaBeat, a co-production project to develop a digital anti-stigma resource funded by the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (2021-2022). Notable publications encompass 'Systematic review and meta-analysis investigating nature-based interventions for adolescent mental health: program characteristics and effectiveness' (2026, Journal of Environmental Psychology), 'The impact of childhood abuse on future military sexual assault and PTSD symptomology in Australian veterans' (2025, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry), 'What can teachers do to help young people exposed to traumatic events? Young peoples’ perspectives' (2025, International Journal of Educational Research), 'Proof-of-concept evaluation of EASE© family-focused education with undergraduate nursing students' (2025, International Journal of Mental Health Nursing), and '‘I’m just one soldier of many in the battle against stigma’: young people’s experiences developing an anti-stigma resource' (2025, The British Journal of Social Work). She teaches EDF4605 Introduction to Counselling Psychology, EDF5062 Grief and Trauma Counselling, and EDF5561 Clinical Case Formulation, and is accepting PhD students through 2026.