Grants
Grant: Early Intervention in High Schools
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence, the Women’s Council, Palmerston Drug and Alcohol Service, and Relationships Australia.
Details: In particular, earlier in 2019 SFV took the opportunity to partnership with the Women’s Council, Palmerston Drug and Alcohol Service, and Relationships Australia WA to deliver an interactive and responsive family and domestic violence workshop to year 11 and 12 students at Sevenoaks Senior College. The program focused on educating students on respectful behaviours, family and domestic violence whilst empowering the students to recognise they had the opportunity and ‘power’ to make a positive difference in the lives of others, in particular their female friends, partnerships, teachers, and family members.
Impact: Discussions were facilitated to allow the participants to use their own past or current examples which allowed the students to lead the conversation and come up with their own strategies to help develop safe behaviours in the future.
Grant: The Kimberley Integrated Family and Domestic Violence Project
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence – funded by Lottery West
Details: The Kimberley Integrated Family and Domestic Violence Project is a community based, Aboriginal co-designed multi-agency collaborative initiative designed to address family and domestic violence (FDV) and intersecting problems such as substance abuse, in the Kimberley.
Impact: Contributing towards an appropriate and effective response to perpetrators of family and domestic violence in the Kimberley region of WA, which promotes the accountability of perpetrators and the safety and well-being of adult and child victim-survivors of family and domestic violence.
Events & Training
Event: Intersectionality in Domestic Violence Conference
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence in partnership with the Centre for Women’s Safety and Wellbeing
Details: The two-day conference featured powerful keynote speakers The Hon. Simone McGurk MLA Minister for Prevention of Family and domestic violence, Rosie Batty, Dr Allan Wade from
the Centre for Response-Based Practice, Antoinette Braybrook, CEO of Djirra, Kate Alexander from the NSW Department of Communities and Justice and SFV Operation Manager Mark O’Hare. In addition, the room also heard from victim-survivor Champo Ngweshe from the Ishar Multi-Cultural Women’s Health Services on her personal experience as a victim of family and domestic violence
Impact: The event focussed on the strengths and challenges of delivering family and domestic violence -Informed practice across a broad spectrum of services that intersect with women, children and men impacted by family and domestic violence. Practitioners, researchers and policy makers from alcohol and drug services, mental health and disability services discussed how family and domestic violence intersects with other disciplines (alcohol, drugs, mental health, disability) and the delivery of family and domestic violence -Informed practiced within this context.
Training: Caring Dads Training Provider
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence has continued its partnership with Caring Dads since 2017
About Caring Dads: Caring Dads is a group intervention program for men who have abused, neglected, or exposed their children to domestic violence. Stopping Family Violence runs facilitator training events to train facilitators in this model.
Impact: Caring Dads training is devoted to ensuring the safety and well-being of our communities most vulnerable. Stopping Family Violence trains facilitators in this model that will work with fathers who have been abusive neglectful or violent in their families.
Training: Safe and Together Training Provider
Stopping Family Violence in partnership with Safe & Together has continued to deliver Safe & Together training since 2017
About Safe & Together: The Safe & Together Institute is a systems change and training organization that helps diverse sectors transform their approach to domestic violence and children. Using a behavioural, whole-of-family approach, the Institute’s Perpetrator Pattern-based Framework encourages interventions with perpetrators as parents and Partners with adult survivors.
Impact: The Safe & Together Model is designed to create systems and practice change that is child-centered, keeping children safe and together with the protective parent.
Training: Stopping Family Violence Training Events
Stopping Family Violence continued to deliver tailored training events to small and large organisations that are tailored to their sector and employees’ needs.
Impact: To create family and domestic violence-informed practice in all areas that create safety for adult and child victim-survivors.
Research
Research Paper: Foundations for Family and Domestic Violence Perpetrator Intervention Systems Paper
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence Partners with RMIT Centre for Innovative Justice
Details: In partnership with RMIT Centre for Innovation Justice, SFV published the ‘Foundations’ discussion paper in December 2019. Written by Rodney Vlais, Elena Campbell and Damian Green, the paper seeks to bring together and articulate the complexity inherent in perpetrator intervention systems in a way that individuals who develop and influence systems can consider, use and build upon it
Impact: Support governments, policy developers and researchers to establish what is needed to facilitate the development of appropriate perpetrator intervention systems.
Research: National MBCP Evaluation Work
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence and the Family and Domestic Violence Sector
Details: SFV have spent the year building and developing our expertise in program evaluation and outcomes measurement as part of our capacity building in preparation for the implementation of an accreditation framework in WA.
Impact: These projects continue to aid SFV in our goal to ensure best practice across the sector nationally and strengthen the evidence base for MBCP work, which remains one of the highest priorities for SFV as it is currently evident that there is still an unacceptable level of uncertainty in terms of under what circumstances these programs work, in what way, for whom, and why. It is hopeful that this work will serve as a starting point for the development of a long-term evaluation strategy for MBCP programs and will pave the way for future, similar opportunities for the agency.
Research: Developing an Outcomes Framework in Australia
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence and the Family and Domestic Violence Sector
Details: This practice-level document, bringing together a range of considerations can be used to assist us to commence consultation around the development and eventual pilot of an outcomes framework for MBCP work.
Impact: Outcomes Measurement is an ambitious and long-term goal but one that is essential if we are to move forward into a more nuanced understanding of perpetrator response and the meaningful measurement of outcomes in this work.
Research: Monitoring and Quality Assurance Framework
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence and the Family and Domestic Violence Sector
Details: The vast array of issues covered in this review included registration processes, the place of complaint mechanisms, the features of comprehensive accreditation systems, program logic models, and safety and accountability planning.
Impact: The resulting framework provides detailed recommendations for an accreditation framework and system for WA MBCP providers and includes a timeline for this work.
Research: ANROWS Partnership Contact Project
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence in partnership with ANROWS and Curtin University
Details: Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Limited is an independent, not-for-profit research organisation established to produce evidence to support the reduction of violence against women and their children.
Impact: The understanding gained from the literature review and surveys will later contribute to improved quality of services provided to victims by identifying gaps between theory and practice and providing practice guidance and considerations for the field.
Partnerships & Networks
Network: Chair of the Men’s Behaviour Change Network WA
Partnership: Men’s Behaviour Change Network WA lead by Stopping Family Violence commenced in 2017.
Committee Details: Since its inception in early 2017, the Men’s Behaviour Change Program (MBCP) Network has been working to develop a collective, powerful voice for perpetrator programs in WA and support the ongoing evolution toward a standard of excellence across the sector. The Network has become an important forum for collaborative practice, discussion, and establishing cohesive research and development agendas across the perpetrator response sphere.
Impact: The Men’s Behaviour Change Network WA is a collaborative group established to strengthen the working relationships across the perpetrator intervention system in Western Australia. The Network provides a forum to support current practice whilst striving to further develop the sector through improved collaboration and evidence-based innovation. The purpose of the Men’s Behaviour Change Network is to bring the sector together to provide advocacy and support as we work to reduce family and domestic violence in Australia.
Partnership: Co-Peaks The Centre for Women’s Safety and Wellbeing – CWSW
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence and The Centre for Women’s Safety and Wellbeing – CWSW,
Details: This partnership commenced in 2017, The Centre for Women’s Safety and Wellbeing is an independent, representative peak body for women’s specialist domestic and family violence, community-based women’s health and sexual assault services in Western Australia is underpinned by our recognition of the importance of gender equality to reduce violence against women and their children and promote their health and wellbeing.
Impact: The Centre for Women’s Safety and Wellbeing is the co-peak with Stopping Family Violence in family and domestic violence sector in Western Australia. Partners with the women’s sector gives a cohesive approach to family and domestic violence for women and children and those perpetrating family and domestic violence.
Network: WA Family Law Pathways Network
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence Chair the WA Family Law Pathways Network Steering Committee
Details: The objective of the Western Australia Family Law Pathways Network is to foster strong links with locally based providers who operate as part of, or alongside, the family law system, to enhance collaboration and improve overall assistance to separated and separating families.
Impact: The WA Family Law Pathways Network hosts an annual conference for those working in the family law system to improve their practice to help families who have separated or are separating.
Network: Respectful Relationships Program
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence in partnership with Starick and Department of Education
Details: The Respectful Relationships Program is a pilot project delivered in primary and secondary public schools across WA. The program supports school staff to implement a whole of school approach to violence prevention with a focus on the impacts of gender inequality and preventing family and domestic violence. SFV has partnered with Starick Services and the Department of Education in the delivery of the program.” The Respectful Relationships Teaching Support Program (RRTSP) has been developed by Starick in partnership with the Department of Communities and the Department of Education to support teachers and school staff to develop the knowledge, skills, confidence and community partnerships.
Impact: As part of the program, participants complete foundation family and domestic violence eLearning modules and attend two workshops to explore best practice principles and tools, develop a plan for a whole of community approach and explore future directions and support. SFV brings a key focus on impacts of gender inequality and family and domestic violence expertise to the partnership and has now supported three rounds of the program with over 25 schools attending the program.
Network Member Humanitarian Entrants Interagency Network (HEIN)
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence became a network member of the HEIN Network led by Department of Communities.
Details: Stopping Family Violence commenced on the network in 2017. Metropolitan multicultural networks are gatherings of government, non-government agencies and community groups that share information, knowledge and resources so that they can better support their culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) communities.
Impact: HEIN facilitates relationships, collaboration and support, and the sharing of information, practice and ideas among agencies that provide services to people from refugee backgrounds.
Network: Healthy Relationships Strategy Group South East Metropolitan
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence committee member
Details: Stopping Family Violence attends monthly meetings as part of the Healthy Relationships Strategy Group for the South East Metropolitan Corridor. This forum brings together delegates from WAPOL, women’s services, perpetrator response, City of Belmont, City of South Perth, Town of Victoria Park, financial services and housing and AOD to identify early intervention strategies for Domestic Violence in the local community.
Impact: As the only representative for perpetrator response on the committee, SFV offers an important voice to this cross-sector collaborative discussion and implementation. SFV aims to ensure that notions of perpetrator accountability and empowering survivors of family and domestic violence remain a top priority of the committee’s discussions.
Network: Multi-cultural Advisory Forum
Partnership: Network led by Department of Human Services
Details: Stopping Family Violence was invited by Department of Human Services to join the Multi-cultural Advisory Group in 2017.The forums provide consultation with multicultural communities at local, state and territory levels. These forums ensure communities know about the department’s programs, services and new initiatives which have an impact on CALD customer. The group provides advice and feedback about the quality and effectiveness of the department’s service delivery to multicultural customers.
Impact: As one of the only representatives for perpetrator intervention work in the forum, SFV offers expertise and advise in the area of engaging with perpetrators in this space to increase the safety of women and children. SFV also utilises the information in these forums to further inform men’s specialist services.
Network: ASeTTs Research Project Reference Group
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence with ASseTTS and University of Western Australia
Details: Stopping Family Violence is part of the Association for Services to Torture and Trauma Survivors (ASeTTs) and the University of Western Australia’s Research Reference Group “The Association for Services to Torture and Trauma Survivors (ASeTTs) and the University of Western Australia’s Research Reference Group for a project developing best practice guidelines for work with perpetrators from refugee backgrounds.
Impact: The ANROWs funded project ‘Best practice principle for interventions with DV perpetrators from refugee backgrounds’ aims to provide evidence to inform interventions for perpetrators of refugee backgrounds that are responsive to refugees’ experiences of torture and trauma. Alongside representative from MBCPs, and CALD and refugee services, SFV offer expertise and constructive advice throughout the project.
Network: National Fatherhood Project – Expert Reference Group
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence and the National Fatherhood Project
Details: Stopping Family Violence participate in the expert reference group for the National Fatherhood Project being led by White Ribbon Australia. For many men, fatherhood is a time of transformation that inspires a deeper understanding about the importance of their role to act as positive agents of change and this project aims to support and encourage this potential. The expert reference group will guide the development and implementation of the Activity Work Plan through ongoing guidance of the project’s activities.
Impact: The project aims to engage with men – as fathers, soon-to-be fathers, or those in father figure roles – to model and foster positive and respectful attitudes and behaviours towards women and girls.
White Ribbon Australia WA State Committee
Partnership: Stopping Family Violence in partnership with White Ribbon
Details: White Ribbon Committees are formal volunteer groups which work directly with the National Office in the strategic and operational coordination of White Ribbon activities in their state.
Impact: White Ribbon is the world’s largest movement engaging men and boys to end men’s violence against women and girls, promote gender equality and create new opportunities for men to build positive, healthy and respectful relationships.
