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KODY Policy Stakeholder Group: Leverage Points for policy development across sectors: a systems approach. Report of Workshop 1, November 2022 (2023)

This report presents the findings from the first KODY Policy Stakeholder Group workshop held at the University of Melbourne on the 29th of November 2022. The KODY Policy Stakeholder Group (PSG) brings together professionals from across Australia who are interested in improving the policy environment and services for families experiencing issues with substance use and family violence. Stakeholders came from a range of sectors including alcohol and other drugs (AOD), domestic and family violence (DFV), child protection, child and family welfare and government policymakers. This report contains a summary of key topic areas discussed in the PSG Workshop:

  • A synthesis of current knowledge on the relationship between AOD and DFV. 
  • A snapshot of the systems targeted by the PSG.
  • A summary of presentations adhering to the knowledge diamond heuristic. 
  • An action plan with key priorities identified to guide the PSG’s future work.

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Researchers: Callaly, V. Kertesz, M., & Humphreys, C.

Year: 2023

Citation: Callaly, V., Kertesz, M., & Humphreys, C. (2023). KODY Policy Stakeholder Group: Leverage Points for policy development across sectors: a systems approach. Report of Workshop 1, November 2022.

Beyond the Victim-offender Binary: Legal and Anti-violence Intervention Considerations With Women Who Have Used Force in the U.S. and Australia (2021)

In the United States (U.S.) and Australian contexts, the fight to achieve legal and societal recognition of cisgender men’s violence against cisgender women operated according to an incident-based victim-offender binary. Those held accountable for the violence were seen as offenders, those who survived the violence were seen as victims. This binary persists across police, court, corrections, intervention, and child protection settings. However, work with cisgender heterosexual women with offenses of abuse and violence demonstrates that the binary does not capture their complex experiences. Instead, they have “offended” in the context of often surviving long-term harm in their families of origin and from their intimate partners. Because their experiences do not align with the binary, they are caught in ineffective and retraumatizing responses.

The authors use an intersectional theoretical framework to explore how heterosexual cisgender women’s use of force complicates the victim-offender binary. By understanding women who have used force as having both survived and caused harm, rather than “victims” or “offenders,” the authors call attention to the limitations of, and harm caused by, binary approaches. The authors also call for a reconceptualization beyond the binary—challenging established legal and intervention frameworks. To demonstrate the need for this reconceptualization, the authors report on U.S. and Australian legal cases, intervention approaches, and discuss socio-legal systems implications.

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Researchers: Larance, L. Y., Kertesz, M., Humphreys, C., Goodmark, L., & Douglas, H.

Year: 2021

Citation: Larance, L. Y., Kertesz, M., Humphreys, C., Goodmark, L., & Douglas, H. (2021). Beyond the Victim-offender Binary: Legal and Anti-violence Intervention Considerations With Women Who Have Used Force in the U.S. and Australia.  Affilia, 37(3).  https://doi.org/10.1177/08861099211060549

Domestic violence and the impact on young children (2021)

This chapter outlines the impact of domestic violence (DV) on young children. Exposure to DV has detrimental effects on the emotional and behavioural adjustment of significant numbers of children. Impacts on children vary greatly, depending on developmental stage, the longevity, severity and extent of the violence and abuse, the quality of their relationships with caregivers, and the intersection of adversities experienced. While many children living with DV have protective factors that mean that they do as well as those in the general community, outcomes are worst for those children where the violence is chronic and severe and there are few mediating influences.

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Researchers: Kertesz, M., Fogden, L., & Humphreys, C.

Year: 2021

Citation: Kertesz, M., Fogden, L., & Humphreys, C. (2021). Domestic violence and the impact on young children. In Devaney, J., Bradbury-Jones, C., Macy, R., Øverlien, C. and Holt, S. (Eds), The Routledge Handbook of Domestic Violence and Abuse (pp. 128 – 140) London: Routledge.

Shifting practice in domestic violence: child protection workers partnering with mothers (2019)

This chapter will draw on recent research (a national case reading of child protection files in Australia) to highlight the gaps in understanding the impacts of DV on parenting skills, and the gaps in recognising and documenting mothers’ strengths and efforts to keep their children safe. Sometimes this has involved mothers being deemed as ‘non-compliant’ with child protection instructions. An intersectional lens will be taken to explore a feminist perspective on child protection practice.

The framework developed by Safe & Together™ will be used to inform the chapter and bring a feminist lens which is inclusive of the needs of children for agency, safety and protection. There is evidence that supporting the mother–child relationship is the most effective way of keeping children safe where there is domestic violence. Strategies required at an organisational and a practitioner level will be explored, including the need for a differential response to children exposed to DFV. This response recognises that not all children are significantly affected by DFV and not all mothers find their parenting significantly compromised. While partnering with mothers, it should be recognised that children may have different perspectives on violence and have their own views about what keeps them safe.

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Researchers: Humphreys C., Kertesz M., Healey L., Mandel D.

Year: 2019

Citation: Humphreys C., Kertesz M., Healey L., Mandel D. (2019) Shifting practice in domestic violence: child protection workers partnering with mothers. In C. Zufferey & F. Buchanan (eds.), Intersections of Mothering: Feminist Accounts (1st ed., pp. 194-205). United Kingdom: Routledge.

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.

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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.

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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

Practice-led research: Developing communities of practice to drive research and practice change in the domestic and family violence arena (2020)

Conducting practice research with migrants and refugees is a complex exercise, involving multiple agendas, diverse actors and varied intercultural relationships. Methodological challenges should not be underestimated, even when the research is conducted by an experienced practice researcher with prior knowledge of the cultural context. Before undertaking cross-cultural research, the practice researcher should consider both backstage and frontstage performativity. Backstage considerations refer to the political and cultural context and implications for trust and reciprocity with migrant and refugee communities. The frontstage performance refers to ethical considerations such as benefice, fidelity and the avoidance of harm by ensuring informed consent, guaranteeing anonymity and privacy, respecting subjects’ rights and applying findings for improved outcomes for clients.

The last consideration is a priority for practice researchers who are genuinely committed to improving the well-being of migrants and the effectiveness of social interventions in achieving improved social justice outcomes. Frontstage performance also involves the selection of methods that are culturally sensitive and safe, negotiating languages and translation and the recruitment of difficult-to-reach participants. Good intentions alone will not guarantee ethical anti-oppressive research.

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Researchers: Heward-Belle, S., Humphreys, C., Healey, L., Tsantefski, M., Isobe, J., Toivonen, C., … & Wilde, T.

Year: 2020

Citation: Heward-Belle, S., Humphreys, C., Healey, L., Tsantefski, M., Isobe, J., Toivonen, C., … & Wilde, T. (2020). Practice-led research: Developing communities of practice to drive research and practice change in the domestic and family violence arena. In The Routledge Handbook of Social Work Practice Research (pp. 418-429). Routledge.

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.

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Researchers: Humphreys, C.

Year: 2022

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

KODY Practitioner Workshop: Practitioner-led Knowledge Building – Report (2023)

On March 16th, 2023, the KODY Program’s first Practitioner Workshop was held in Richmond, 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 three-hour workshop. The first half of the workshop consisted of a case study presented by KODY Caring Dads (CD) facilitators to illustrate the work, and an overview of program referral data, client numbers and profile, presented by the research team. Interested professionals from outside the program attended this half of the workshop. The second part involved a conversation mapping exercise.

There was considerable discussion about the development of various aspects of the KODY program since it started in 2021. A wider conception of KODY than a groupwork program for men emerged – towards a program not only working with all members of the family, but also actively engaging with the services surrounding the family and working collaboratively and holistically with them. This paper presents the Case Study, and a summary of participants’ thoughts, fears, and hopes about the KODY program.

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Researchers: Guillou, M., Nguyen, H. T. D., Kertesz, M., & Humphreys, C.

Year: 2023

Citation: Guillou, M., Nguyen, H. T. D., Kertesz, M., & Humphreys, C. (2023). KODY Practitioner Workshop: Practitioner-led Knowledge Building. Report of Practitioner Workshop, 16 March 2023. University of Melbourne.

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.

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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.