Dr Anni Hine Moana awarded the ACA’s Excellence in Research Award
We are delighted to announce that Dr Anni Hine Moana FHEA, Lecturer in the Graduate Program of Addictive Behaviours, has received the 2026 Excellence in Research Award from the Australian Counselling Association.
Dr Hine Moana was recognised for her outstanding contribution to counselling research and practice during the recent ACA Conference Awards Dinner in Melbourne.
Sponsored by the Institute of Applied Psychology, the Excellence in Research Award acknowledges her groundbreaking doctoral research exploring narrative therapy approaches with Aboriginal women, as well as the significant impact of her subsequent publications in the field.
“I am filled with deep gratitude to the Aboriginal counsellors, the women with whom they worked, and those who prepared the ground for this field of inquiry. I remain acutely aware of that debt,” Dr Hine Moana says.
“It was particularly heartening and humbling to be approached during the evening by both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal counsellors who shared that my research and publications had supported and further informed their practice.”
For Dr Hine Moana, receiving the award was not the only highlight of the evening. One of her former students from Monash University’s Master of Counselling program, Aaron Tenenbaum, received the Outstanding Student Counsellor Award.
The award recognises a student counsellor who is already making a significant contribution to the counselling profession and demonstrates exceptional promise, dedication and commitment to both study and practice.
“I nominated Aaron because he is the most outstanding counselling student I have ever taught,” Dr Hine Moana says.
“He is intelligent, insightful, reflective, and deeply compassionate. He has also dedicated a lot of time over a number of years to supporting young people through his volunteer work.”
Congratulations to both Anni Hine Moana and Aaron Tenenbaum on these well-deserved and outstanding achievements.
Find out more about Dr Hine Moana’s work:
- The Ethnographer Unbared: Looking at My Own History Book
- On the relationship between shame and problems with alcohol through the narratives of Aboriginal women.
- Listening to the Silence: Shame, Storytelling and Healing with Aboriginal Women
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