Trevor Waring

Trevor Waring was born in 1943 and grew up in Broken Hill. At 15 he left school and moved to Newcastle to work in the BHP Steelworks. In his early twenties Waring was working as a social worker with wayward youth in Newcastle. Waring had to complete a high school leaving certificate before enrolling in a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Newcastle as a mature age student. He studied in the evening while working during the day and also caring for a young family. Waring studied at the University of Newcastle in the first years the institution was autonomous and located in the bushland suburb of Shortland.

Waring majored in psychology and devoted the rest of his career to the field. In 1976 he completed a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology and practiced as a psychologist until 2011. Waring made major contributions to the field of suicide prevention in Australia and the current guidelines for media reporting on suicide are a result of his work. As well as private practice he served many psychology institutions. Appointments included member of the Hunter New England District Health Board, Director of the Australian Psychological Society, President of the NSW Psychologists Registration Board and Chair of the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council, an organisation he played a leading role in establishing. Awards included the Australian Psychology Society President’s Award for Distinguished Contribution to Psychology in 2011.

In 1985 Waring was elected to the University of Newcastle’s governing council and would remain there for 27 years. He became Deputy Chancellor in 1997 and Chancellor in 2004. Waring was the first graduate of the institution to become Chancellor. This was a difficult time for the University because of a plagiarism scandal in previous years. Waring also had to oversee close to 500 job cuts because of financial difficulties in his first years in the job. The University was in a much better place eight years later thanks to the leadership of Waring and Vice-Chancellor Nick Saunders.

In 1995 Waring was appointed Conjoint Professor at the University of Newcastle and was able to strike a balance between being an academic and a practitioner. He continued to teach classes after retiring from private practice and the Chancellor role. In 2004 Waring was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for outstanding work in mental health and psychology.

Professor Trevor Waring AM died in 2016 at the age of 72.