Register: High-Risk Indicators of Family Violence

We warmly invite you to an in-person morning tea and Community of Practice event to help us launch a new family violence resource

Thursday 2 June

Catholic Leadership Centre

• 10am – Morning tea
• 10:30am – 12pm – Presentations

Registration essential

Known across the family violence sector as the “Red Flags” of family violence, these are the fourteen evidence based high-risk indicators that clinicians are trained to look out for when meeting with their clients. Why? Because if victim survivors are experiencing any of these factors, they are at an increased risk of being killed or almost killed.

VAADA has therefore worked with the AOD sector and the Specialist Family Violence Advisers to redesign the “Red Flags,” both aligning it to MARAM and situating the high-risk indicators to an AOD context. The two-page resource also holds information for secondary consultations and safety planning, allowing clinicians to immediately think about risk management if their client is identified as high-risk.

We warmly invite you to an in-person morning tea and Community of Practice event on Thursday 2 June, 10am-12pm, at the Catholic Leadership Centre (576 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne VIC 3002), to help us launch this new resource.

Jacky Tucker, from Safe+Equal, will be speaking to the high-risk indicator evidence base, alongside VAADA’s Sheridon Byrne, who will give practice advice and explain how the resource came into development.

Place are limited, so please RSVP as soon as possible and let us know your dietary requirements via the registration form. We will have print-outs of the resource in high-quality, poster paper available for you to take home/to your offices.

Recording: Technology-facilitated abuse

Research published by the eSafety Commission maintains that “more than 99% of Australian victims of domestic and family violence have also experienced technology-facilitated abuse (also known as tech abuse).” Exhibited by four main forms - harassment, stalking, impersonation and threats - this form of abuse can vary in both scope and severity, from sending abusive messages to tracking where you are via cameras or phone spyware. 

Speakers included: A/Prof Bridget Harris (Monash University), Ellen Bishop (PSI, Berry Street) and Leonie Burnham (eSafety Commission). Watch the recording here.

Leonie Burnham, from the eSafety Commission, will be holding a longer session on tech-facilitated abuse for the AOD sector on 29 June. Register here. 

Updated monthly, the MARAM Training Calendar lists all upcoming training for AOD clinicians, practitioners, team leaders, managers and CEOs. It also included foundational training in the dynamics of family violence and Information Sharing Schemes.

You can view and download it here.

Elevate! 

The Victorian Government has provided support to VAADA to administer a fully-funded, centralised workforce development program for the AOD sector until December 2022. This training and professional development program - Elevate! - is available to all AOD workforce currently employed within funded AOD services across Victoria. 

Upcoming training you may be interested in:

Trauma and Harm Reduction in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples - May 11

Working with Older People and Substance Use - May 18

Introduction to Aboriginal Cultural Safety Training - May 19

AOD within LGBTI+ Communities: Cultural Sensitivity Training - May 20 

Click here to view all other training

MARAM Training

eLearn: MARAM Brief and Intermediate eLearn course for practitioners working with victim survivors

• Provider: Department of Health

• Delivery mode: eLearning self-paced (three modules, each module 20-25 minutes)

• The modules cover: a shared understanding of family violence, an introduction to MARAM and the assessment tools, the Structured Professional Judgement model, risk assessment, risk management including working with specialist family violence services and safety planning.

• Register here

Unsure which MARAM training is right for you? Consult the MARAM training decision tree.

Family violence groups call for Victoria’s first culturally specific refuge

"Unlike Queensland and New South Wales, Victoria has no culturally specific family violence refuges." Read more on The Guardian.

Victoria police failing to take stalking victims seriously, report finds

"In wake of Celeste Manno’s death, law reform body says stalking ‘often minimised or trivialised’ and victims are being left to manage alone." Read more on The Guardian. 

Victoria’s Family Violence Memorial opens

"The Victorian government has unveiled a new memorial for victims and survivors of family violence in Melbourne’s St Andrews Place." Read more on Architecture AU. 

Victorian government calls for paid family violence leave for all workers

"The Victorian government has called for at least 10 days of paid family violence leave to be offered to all workers, telling the Fair Work Commission a program for the state’s public servants saw about 64 people access the leave in the past year alone." Read more on The Guardian. 

Supporting Local Councils To Prevent Family Violence

"The Andrews Labor Government is working with local councils across Victoria to change attitudes and behaviours to stop family violence before it starts." Read more on MirageNews.

MARAM Person Using Violence Guides: What Now? Web Series

No To Violence's webinar series -  "What Now?" - aims to help workforces familiarise themselves with the newly released MARAM Practice Guides. These webinars do not replacing any MARAM training in 2022.

Recordings

Responsibility 1: Respectful,
sensitive and safe engagement AND Responsibility 2: Identification of
family violence risk - Recording

Responsibility 3: Intermediate Risk Assessment - Recordings - Part 1 - Part 2

Responsibility 4: Intermediate Risk Management - Tuesday 1 March - Recording

Responsibility 5: Secondary
consultation and referral, including
for comprehensive family violence
assessment and management
response AND Responsibility 6: Contribute to Information Sharing with other
services (as authorised by
legislation) - Tuesday 5 April - Recording

(video pw: NTVWHATNOW)

Upcoming registrations

Responsibility 7: Comprehensive
Risk Assessment - Tuesday 3 May - Register

Responsibility 8: Comprehensive
Risk Management - Tuesday 31 May - Register

Responsibility 9: Contribute to
Coordinated Risk Management AND Responsibility 10: Collaborate for
Ongoing Risk Assessment and Risk
Management - Tuesday 28 June - Register

Safety Planning resource - via EACH

Karla Reardon (Specialist Family Violence Adviser AOD at EACH) has kindly shared slides and accompanying notes from a Safety Planning workshop she organised for her agency. If interested, you can view them here.

Specialist Family Violence Advisers Capacity Building Program Fact Sheet

No to Violence has created a helpful fact sheet to explain and promote the roles and responsibilities of the Victorian Specialist Family Violence Advisors. You can view/download here. 

MARAM and Information Sharing

Contact the Information Sharing and MARAM Enquiry Line for practice and policy guidance.

• 1800 549 646 (10am-2pm, Mon-Fri)

Contact the Specialist Family Violence Adviser in your area

• See the VAADA website for contact details

Contact us if you're unsure and we'll help refer you; familyviolence@vaada.org.au