Flinders PhD student and former staff member Mr Andrew Paterson has been named the Social Work Change Agent of the Year by the SA branch of the Australian Association of Social Workers.

The award, presented as part of the recent Social Worker of the Year Awards, recognises the outstanding contribution by a social worker who makes transformative difference to individuals, families or communities through organisational or systems change.

Mr Paterson has worked in a wide range of roles, all of which have been characterised by innovation and reform.

The Founding Supervisor of the Crisis Care Unit, he worked in partnershiip with police to establish Crisis Intervention for domestic violence in South Australia, before becoming the first professional CEO of Victims of Crime Service SA (now Victim Support Services). In his next role as general manager of Mobilong Prison, he introduced a non-paramilitary approach, opening up management and including prisoners in consultation.

After operating a consultancy that specialised in community-based crime prevention programs, Mr Paterson was appointed as Field Education Co-ordinator in the Master of Social Work program at Flinders in 2010, where he expanded the range of placements to include the courts and SAPOL.

He is currently working on his PhD, Resilience and Policing.