Publication – Page 2 – Violence Against Women and Children

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

Posted by: Rhys Lawry Posted on: June 16, 2022 2022 , Publication

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

Posted by: Rhys Lawry Posted on: June 16, 2022 2022 , Publication

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

Posted by: Rhys Lawry Posted on: June 16, 2022 2022 , Publication

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.

ESTIE Research Report (2022)

Posted by: Rhys Lawry Posted on: May 26, 2022 2022 , Publication

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

Posted by: Esther Gallois Posted on: May 3, 2022 2022 , Publication

Abstract:

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.

Practice-led research engaged practitioners in the development of guidelines to promote an integrated response to working with families experiencing domestic violence, substance use and mental health issues. The integrated approach drew from the Safe & Together model, emphasising partnering with women survivors, pivoting to the perpetrator, focusing on children’s safety and well-being, promoting worker safety, collaborating across agencies and influencing organisational change. The process demonstrated the usefulness of this integrated approach, using practitioner-based examples.

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Researchers:

A/Prof Susan Lynn Heward-Belle, Dr Margaret Kertesz, Prof Cathy Humphreys, A/Prof Menka Tsantefski, Jasmin Isobe

Year:

2022

Citation:

Heward-Belle, S., Kertesz, M., Humphreys, C., Tsantefeski, 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, 15, 51-65 https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/ADD-12-2021-0017/full/html

Briefing on Substance Use Coercion – Response to the National Consultation on Coercive Control (2022)

Posted by: Rhys Lawry Posted on: April 21, 2022 2022 , Publication

To follow up the National Consultation on Coercive Control held 7th November 2022, Professor Cathy Humphreys wrote this short briefing on substance use coercion, an issue she raised at the consultation. Prof Humphreys discussed her concerns regarding the lack of identification of substance use coercion amongst the elements identified in the Consultation Paper that contribute to coercive controlling tactics.

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DAHLIA-19 Australian Case Study

Posted by: Esther Gallois Posted on: April 5, 2022 2022 , Publication

Abstract:

Situated against this background of changes to the family law context is the National Covid-19 List. The Australian mapping report for the DAHLIA-19 study found that a major innovative change that took place in response to the Covid-19 pandemic was a rapid shift from face-to-face practice to tele-practice and online/working-from-home models (McKibbin et al., 2021). The National Covid-19 List, established on 29 April 2020 by the then Family Court of Australia and Federal Circuit Court of Australia, represents a landmark shift in how urgent family law matters are addressed and progressed, with the transition to an online model giving rise to a new possibility of managing these matters centrally. This critical shift allowed the Courts, for the first time, to allocate resources where they were required nationally, and not be beholden to allocations per state and territory.

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Researchers: Sijnja, J., Robinson, M., Humphreys, C., McKibbin, G.

Year: 2022

Citation: Sijnja, J., Robinson, M., Humphreys, C., & McKibbin, G. (2022). The National Covid-19 List: An Australian case study. Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety.

ESTIE Quick Reference Guide: A worker’s guide to support practice at the intersections (2022)

Posted by: Rhys Lawry Posted on: March 8, 2022 2022 , Publication

The ESTIE Quick Reference Guide is a desktop prompt for workers practising at the intersections of domestic and family violence (DFV), mental health, alcohol and other drug use, and child protection. It is a quick reference companion document to the ESTIE Practice Resource and should not be used without reference to the fuller explanations contained in the ESTIE Practice Resource.

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

Year: 2022

Citation: Toivonen, C., Kertesz, M., Lauw, M., Humphreys, C., Isobe, J., Links, E., & Laing, L. (2022). ESTIE Quick Reference Guide: A worker’s guide to support practice at the intersections. University of Melbourne, Melbourne and Ministry of Health, NSW.

ESTIE Practice Resource: Evidence based guidelines to support the implementation of the Safe & Together approach (2022)

Posted by: Rhys Lawry Posted on: March 8, 2022 2022 , Publication

This Practice Resource is designed for any worker practising at the intersections of domestic and family violence, mental health, and alcohol and other drug use, with families who are challenged by any or all of these issues. It provides detailed guidance, examples, and tips, and can be used, for example, in training and supporting staff, as a foundational reference for practice development, and continuous improvement.

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Authors: Toivonen, C., Lauw, M., Isobe, J., Links, E., Kertesz, M., Mandel, D., Laing, L. & Humphreys, C.

Year: 2022

Citation: Toivonen, C., Lauw, M., Isobe, J., Links, E., Kertesz, M., Mandel, D., Laing, L. & Humphreys, C. (2022) ESTIE Practice Resource: Evidence based guidelines to support the implementation of the Safe & Together approach. Ministry of Health, NSW and University of Melbourne, Melbourne.

KODY. An all-of-family response to co-occurring substance use and domestic violence: protocol for a quasi-experimental intervention trial.

Posted by: Rhys Lawry Posted on: March 8, 2022 2022 , Publication

Abstract:

This study aims to build on the existing evidence by trialling the KODY program which addresses harmful substance use by men who also perpetrate domestic violence; the safety and wellbeing of women and children; the needs of children in their own right, as well as in relationship with their mothers; and the development of an ‘all-of-family’ service response. The evaluation of these innovations, and the ramifications for policy development to support less fragmented service system responses, provide the rationale for the study.

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