Miss Kelsey Fitz-Gerald

Kelsey is currently a PhD student at the University of Newcastle, researching safeguarding awareness and practices of individuals who have, or are, attending Christian churches in Australia. The 2017 findings of The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse demonstrated that churches had catastrophically failed to protect children from sexual abuse, and this is seen across church denominations. Kelsey is passionate about the need for Christian churches to understand child abuse prevention and response in their context. Through her research and advocacy work, she seeks to support Christian leaders and communities to create safer environments for children.

Kelsey currently holds the position of sessional lecturer and Child Safeguarding Officer at Brisbane School of Theology (BST), an Australian University of Theology affiliated college. Kelsey utilizes her healthcare background, and understanding of neurobiology and trauma, to deliver content in PC134 Child Abuse in Christian Communities; Prevention and Response unit.

She is also the creator and coordinator of BST’s child safeguarding conferences. These conferences engage experts across disciplinary fields including research, trauma, child abuse prevention and response, and theology. The aim is to provide Christians with knowledge and skills to prevent child abuse in churches. These conferences have been running since 2022 and have been hosted in Brisbane and other major regional centers on 6 occasions.

Kelsey has previously worked as a physiotherapist and clinical supervisor in public, private and non-profit sectors in Australia and overseas, providing trauma-informed care for children and their families. She completed her Master of Theological Studies in 2023, with her research looking at child sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible. She incorporated narrative criticism and child-centric approaches to evaluate Isaac’s experience in Genesis 22:1-19 and the questions that arise for the treatment of children.

Kelsey is a post-graduate member of the Center for the Study of Violence.