• Home
  • Author: Rhys Lawry

DICE ‘ROLE’: Disrupting Child Sexual Exploitation – Researching Onset of Young People’s Lived Experience with Coerced ‘Self-produced’ Material

This project focuses on how children and young people are being coerced to ‘self-produce’ Child Exploitation Material (CEM). This qualitative study will utilise an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to hear from children, young people and relevant professionals so they can identity the various pathways leading children and young people to ‘self-produce’ CEM. It is anticipated that by understanding the events and actions that children and young people are subjected to, that prevention and response strategies can be further identified, refined and implemented to help keep children and young people safe from exploitation.

Read more about the DICE (Disrupting Child Exploitation) Project

Researchers:

PhD Candidate Genevieve Bloxsom is being supervised by Professor Cathy Humphreys, Dr Gemma McKibbin and Dr Jennifer Davidson.

Funders:

A stipend studentship has been provided by McKillop Family Services as part of their Power to Kids Program.

Partner organisations:

In addition to McKillop Family Service’s studentship, they also participate as part of the Advisory Committee. This project is a nested study within the DICE (Disrupting Child Exploitation) Project.

Project Dates: Oct 2022 – Oct 2025

Contact: Genevieve Bloxsom

Programme responses for men who perpetrate intimate partner violence in the context of alcohol or other drugs: a scoping review (2023)

This scoping paper explored the contextual factors influencing the development and implementation of programmes addressing men’s perpetration of intimate partner violence in the context of substance use. Twenty-one peer reviewed studies reporting on ten programs were included for analysis. This scoping review found a limited evidence base, indicating systemic barriers hindering services’ capacity to expand this field of work. Additional support is required from the wider service systems to intervene in men’s perpetration of intimate partner violence and use of substances.

Access Document

Read more about the KODY project

Researchers: Callaly, V., Kertesz, M., Davidson, J., Humphreys, C., & Laslett, A.-M.

Year: 2023

Citation: Callaly, V., Kertesz, M., Davidson, J., Humphreys, C., & Laslett, A.-M. (2023). Programme responses for men who perpetrate intimate partner violence in the context of alcohol or other drugs: a scoping review. Advances in Dual Diagnosis. doi:10.1108/add-07-2022-0021

A systemic approach to advancing cross-sector collaboration between family violence and substance use service

This PhD project is an action research study that investigates systemic ways to improve cross-sector collaboration between substance use and family violence services. This project is nested within the KODY research.

Researchers: Van Callaly, Cathy Humphreys, Margaret Kertesz, Jennifer Davidson, Anne-Marie Laslett

Project Dates: 2021-2024

Contact: Van Callaly

Publications: Callaly, V., Kertesz, M., Davidson, J., Humphreys, C., & Laslett, A.-M. (2023). Programme responses for men who perpetrate intimate partner violence in the context of alcohol or other drugs: a scoping review. Advances in Dual Diagnosis. doi:10.1108/add-07-2022-0021

Domestic Violence Linked to Alcohol Use is A National Emergency – Pursuit Article

”Alcohol and other drug use increases the severity of violence towards victim survivors, but the drug and alcohol sector and the domestic violence sector remain stubbornly siloed.”

In this Pursuit article, Professor Cathy Humphreys drew attention to data on increased numbers of domestic-related assaults and alcohol-related assaults recorded in Alice Springs between 2021-2022, to highlight the intersection between domestic and family violence and alcohol and other drugs in Australia. In particular, Professor Humphreys discussed experiences of violence where alcohol and other drug use is part of the tactics of coercive control used by perpetrators, and emphasised the role of wholistic service responses in this area.

Read the article

Author: Professor Cathy Humphreys

Date: 30 January 2023

Citation:
Humphreys, C. (2023, 30 January). Domestic Violence Linked to Alcohol Use is A National Emergency. Pursuit. https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/domestic-violence-linked-to-alcohol-use-is-a-national-emergency

BPD Community Relational Support

Abstract: This project aimed to explore relational support as an area of learning and intervention contributing to more positive relationships, recovery, and wellbeing for people with lived experience of BPD. This study focused on family, friends and carers of someone with BPD as a priority group in the BPD community, and an identified gap in research and literature. This project aimed to contribute to the emerging discourse surrounding the role of relationships and social connection in recovery from BPD and support for family, friends, and carers, and provide an initial evidence base for further inquiry in this under-researched and complex area.

Researchers: Dr Anneliese Spiteri-Staines & Jasmin Isobe

Funders: Melbourne Disability Institute

Partner Organisations: BPD Community

Project Dates: March to October 2022

Contact: Dr Anneliese Spiteri-Staines

Final Project Report

Exploring relational support for the BPD community: Final project report (2022)

This project aimed to explore relational support as an area of learning and intervention contributing to more positive relationships, recovery, and wellbeing for people with lived experience of BPD. This study focused on family, friends and carers of someone with BPD as a priority group in the BPD community, and an identified gap in research and literature. This project aimed to contribute to the emerging discourse surrounding the role of relationships and social connection in recovery from BPD and support for family, friends, and carers, and provide an initial evidence base for further inquiry in this under-researched and complex area.

Download project report

Researchers: Anneliese Spiteri-Staines, Jasmin Isobe

Year: 2022

Citation: Spiteri-Staines, A., & Isobe, J. (2022). Exploring relational support for the BPD community: Final project report. Melbourne: University of Melbourne.

Beyond co‐occurrence: addressing the intersections of domestic violence, mental health and substance misuse. (2022)

This paper reports an Australian project designed to simultaneously explore and capacity build professional practice when working at the intersection of parental mental health and/or problematic substance use and domestic violence (DV). Data from this paper are derived from two main sources: observations and ethnographic notes obtained during 28 Community of Practice (CoP) meetings and semi-structured interviews with 28 CoP participants. Participants were front-line workers from a range of government and non-government organizations providing services to families experiencing DV across three Australian states who participated in The STACY Project: Safe and Together Addressing ComplexitY.

Thematic analysis was employed to examine the research questions:

  • How do professionals and organizations understand and respond to families experiencing DV, parental mental health difficulties and problematic substance use issues?
  • How did practitioners report participation in the STACY Project reorienting professional practice with families experiencing DV, parental mental health difficulties, and substance misuse issues?

This paper reports workers’ exploration of practice implications. The research found that ‘domestic violence blind’ practice has become entrenched at the intersections of child protection, substance misuse and mental health problems, but a shared framework could bring practitioners from diverse sectors together to generate new ways of working with these complex problems.

Access Document

Read more about the STACY Project

Researchers: Humphreys, C., Heward‐Belle, S., Tsantefski, M., Isobe, J., & Healey, L.

Year: 2022

Citation: Humphreys, C., Heward‐Belle, S., Tsantefski, M., Isobe, J., & Healey, L. (2022). Beyond co‐occurrence: addressing the intersections of domestic violence, mental health and substance misuse. Child & Family Social Work27(2), 299-310.

Participatory practice guideline development at the intersections of domestic and family violence, mental distress and/or parental substance use (2022)

It is well established that the service system has a poor history of responding holistically to address the needs of children and families living with co-occurring complexities such as domestic violence, parental mental health and/or substance use. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to primarily describe the developmental process used to create guidelines to inform practice at the intersections of domestic violence, mental health and alcohol and other drug services, ensuring that the tactics of coercive control are visible in contexts of complexity.

Access Document

Read more about the STACY Project

Researchers: Heward-Belle, S. L., Kertesz, M., Humphreys, C., Tsantefski, M., & Isobe, J.

Year: 2022

Citation: Heward-Belle, S. L., Kertesz, M., Humphreys, C., Tsantefski, M., & Isobe, J. (2022). Participatory practice guideline development at the intersections of domestic and family violence, mental distress and/or parental substance use. Advances in Dual Diagnosis, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 51-65. https://doi.org/10.1108/ADD-12-2021-0017

Response to the Draft National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children (2022)

In this response to the 2022 Draft National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children, Professor Cathy Humphreys highlighted the lack of attention to the issue of substance use as an integral part of coercive control and the tactics of abuse.

Access Document

Researchers: Humphreys, C.

Year: 2022

Citation: Humphreys, C. (2022). Response to the Draft National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children.

ESTIE Research Report (2022)

The ESTIE Research Report provides comprehensive details on the background, methodology, practice findings and implications of the ESTIE action research study that both investigated and developed practitioner and organisational capacity to drive improvements in collaborative and holistic service provision for children and families living with DFV where parental issues of mental health and/or alcohol and other drug use co-occur. The report is designed for policy makers, researchers and those interested in the research processes and findings from ESTIE, and includes discussion of capacity-building and practice change components of the project.

Access Document

Read more about the ESTIE project

Researchers: Kertesz, M., Isobe, J., Humphreys, C., Toivonen, C, Links, E. & Laing, L.

Year: 2022

Citation: Kertesz, M., Isobe, J., Humphreys, C., Toivonen, C, Links, E. & Laing, L. (2022). Evidence to support Safe & Together Implementation and Evaluation: Final Research Report of the ESTIE Project. Melbourne: University of Melbourne.