Dr Hayley Passmore is an early career researcher whose research, translation and impact has received international recognition in the justice, criminology, health, and disability fields. Hayley is based in Boorloo (Perth) on Whadjuk Noongar land. She has qualifications in child health, criminology and psychology, and over 12 years experience working in adult corrections and youth justice facilities. Hayley is currently a Lecturer in Criminology at The University of Western Australia Law School, and an Honorary Research Associate at the Telethon Kids Institute.

Hayley’s research focuses on the development and administration of novel ways to support young people with neurodisabilities such as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Hayley is currently the go-to person in Australia for staff training within the justice sector related to FASD and other neurodisabilities, having pioneered an empirically and clinically-grounded training intervention (Reframe Training) to upskill frontline professionals in the management and support of young people with neurodisabilities. Hayley has personally delivered Reframe Training to over 900 justice and community services professionals across Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory, and has received training requests from education, police, community services, justice, health and disability sectors across Australia and internationally.

Hayley has received multiple awards in recognition for her work, including being named a 2021 AMP Foundation Tomorrow Maker and a 2022 WA Finalist for Young Australian of the Year. In 2023, Hayley completed a prestigious Churchill Fellowship to explore international approaches to supporting justice-involved young people with neurodisabilities, with the aim to adapt that knowledge for local use in Australia.

Chief Investigator, NHMRC Synergy Grant 2023-2028: “Improving Aboriginal Health by understanding the influence of early life environments and contacts with health and social service systems over time and across generations” led by Francis Mitrou at Telethon Kids Institute

Investigator, 2023, “Danila Dilba Health Service review of primary health care service delivery into Don Dale Youth Detention Centre” led by Professor Stuart Kinner at Curtin University

Investigator, 2023, WA Future Health Research & Innovation Fund Stage 1 “Youth Safe Haven: an alternative to the emergency department for youth at risk of suicide in the Peel region”

Chief Investigator, 2022, “Reframe Training for WA Police – Kimberley Project" funded by Kimberley Brain and Mind Foundation

Chief Investigator, 2022, “Reframe Training Queensland Youth Justice Evaluation” funded by QLD Dept of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs

Hayley is the current Unit Coordinator for two undergraduate Law School units (LAWS2230 Working with People in the Justice System 1, and LAWS3312 Working with People in the Justice System 2), and contributes as a lecturer to several other undergraduate and postgraduate units within the Law School and School of Psychological Science. Hayley is passionate about preparing students for future work within the criminal justice system, and regulary facilitates opportunities for students to interact and learn from people who have lived experience of the criminal justice system, or who are working in the sector. 

Situated within the first Australian study to determine the prevalence of FASD among young people involved in the justice system, Hayley's previous research focused on improving outcomes for justice-involved young people with FASD and other neurodevelopmental impairments. After developing, implementing, and evaluating Reframe Training with over 100 staff at Banksia Hill Detention Centre (WA’s only youth detention centre), evidence suggested this intervention has significant capacity to change the way the custodial workforce recognises and responds to the needs of young people in detention. This work has already had significant impact in the health and justice fields due to its uniqueness, high quality, and relevance, with all youth justice agencies across Australia expressing interest in accessing the intervention. Multiple other sectors have requested access to the training, including the police, child protection, education, and health sectors. Hayley has personally delivered the training to over 900 professionals across Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia. Hayley is also working towards expanding the implementation of Reframe Training, having been awarded funding to develop a Train-the-Trainer program, implemented in partnership with the South Australian youth justice agency. This research demonstrates a clinically and empirically grounded approach to achieving sustainable improvements in knowledge and practices to ensure better care for young people with impairments in detention, and has potential to create pivotal policy and practice change across Australia regarding the daily management and support of young people with FASD and neurodevelopmental impairment.

Hayley has received requests for expert advice from multiple government agencies and policy makers in Western Australia and beyond, including legislation changes regarding the sharing of information for justice-involved young people with disability. Hayley has been involved in disseminating information about her research and Reframe Training via the media, completing several interviews for podcasts (ResearchWorks, Under the Wig, The Meaning of Health, and For the Future, Australian Youth Representative to the UN), radio (ABC Midwest and RTR FM), print (ABC News) and television media platforms (ABC News, SBS News and Seven News). Hayley was invited to speak as an expert witness for the Commonwealth Senate Inquiry: Effective approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and support for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in July 2020. She has contributed to written submissions to:

• Review of the Western Australian Equal Justice Bench Book (2020)
• Council of Attorneys-General Working Group regarding Age of Criminal Responsibility (2020);
• Senate Inquiry into effective approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and support for FASD (2020);
• Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory (2017);
• Review of the WA Young Offenders Act 1994 (2017);
• Australian Law Reform Commission’s Inquiry into Incarceration Rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (2017);
• Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2016)