Glenys Smith

Glenys Smith has been the Social Work Adviser to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs since 1995. In this role, she provides advice to the Department and its officers; its social work providers, and members of the veteran community. She has also worked as a counsellor and group program facilitator for Veterans and Veterans’ Families Counselling Service (VVCS).

Her professional work for the Department is underscored by a personal interest in serving those, who have served Australia. A personal interest founded on a history of service by members of her immediate family spanning the Western Front in WW1, World War 2, and Vietnam.

Since graduation as a social worker in 1979, Glenys has had the opportunity and privilege to practice in several areas, including child and family welfare, social security, community mental health, vocational and rehabilitation services; and the tertiary education sector.
At the core of her practice as a social worker, Glenys understands that human behavior is complex and multifaceted and that while each encounter is unique, individual outcomes (and intervention approaches) are enhanced when there is active consideration of the individual’s internal and external worlds (psychosocial); their families, their friends and their relationships.

Glenys has authored course programs and presented lectures for some ten years at the University of Queensland and Griffith University. She has an ongoing association with the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), as an external social work placement supervisor.