At least three decades of research on the intersection of substance use with domestic and family violence consistently shows the frequency, severity and impact of violence increases in the context of the perpetrator using alcohol and other drugs.
CHRISTIE is an action research project which will extend the evidence base about effective interagency work for children, young people and families impacted by domestic violence so that they experience service systems that work as collaborative partners to keep children safe and together with non-offending parents. The project draws on practitioner expertise elicited through a series of interagency Communities of Practice (CoPs) and senior management Project Action Group meetings, including local collaboration and information-sharing.
CHRISTIE is the latest collaborative research between the Safe & Together Institute and the University of Melbourne, building on the foundations of previous projects based on the Safe & Together™ Model, including PATRICIA, Invisible Practices, STACY, STACY for Children, ESTIE and ALFies.
Researchers:
Funding:
Funded by the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence National Partnership Agreement administered by NSW Ministry of Health and DVNSW
Partners:
Project Dates: February 2024 – December 2025
Contact: Dr Margaret Kertesz
On March 25th, 2025, the second KODY Practitioner Workshop was held in Brunswick, Melbourne. Practitioners and program managers from Kids First and Odyssey House Victoria (OHV), along with researchers from the University of Melbourne and Southern Cross University, attended the five-hour workshop. In the KODY project’s third and final year, the workshop provided an opportunity for practitioners, program managers, and researchers to reflect on the novel and ambitious KODY program. Where did the program succeed? Where and how did it fall short on delivering an all-of-family service? Where, and more importantly, how, can it be improved? The interdisciplinary professionals gathered at the workshop, whose collective insights encompassed acquired experience, current practice, and research evidence, attempted to answer these reflective and important questions.
The workshop ran in three parts. In the first part, ‘Stories from Research and Evaluation’, researchers presented an overview of KODY evaluation data gathered over the 3-year period, with practitioners providing feedback and reflections on the implications for research and practice. In the second part, ‘Stories from Practice’, practitioners were invited to write a story about a client or family they had worked with on the KODY program (or a client or family who would have benefited from the KODY program). In the third part, ‘Creating the KODY Model for Change’, practitioners examined the existing elements and goals of the KODY program, shared ideas about how to improve the KODY model, and reflected on the implications for future service delivery.
Citation:
Kertesz, M., Nguyen, H. T. D., Guillou, M., Tsantefski, M., & Humphreys, C. (2024). KODY Practitioner Workshop: A KODY Model for Change. Report of Practitioner Workshop with Kids First and Odyssey House Victoria, 25 March 2024. University of Melbourne and Southern Cross University.