Tessa Cunningham

Tessa has a professional background in social work spanning over eight years in youth services, primarily in the youth homelessness sector. During this time, she worked closely with criminalised young people, supporting them as they navigated systemic injustices and inequities. These experiences inspired her return to studies, where she completed a PhD that employed co-design and narrative methods to explore the everyday lives and lived experiences of criminalised young people. Her PhD challenged dominant silencing approaches by prioritising young people's agency and amplifying their voices in shaping the direction of the research. It critically examined the violences produced by dominant discourses of race, class, and gender, as well as the practices of the broader carceral society and the formal carceral system.

Tessa has tutored and lectured across a range of social work topics and has contributed to numerous research projects on issues including Aboriginal governance, housing and homelessness, and transitions for young people leaving guardianship care.