NOTEPAD
Building connected services:
Why women experiencing domestic and family violence need interagency collaboration
ANROWS Notepad | 27 August 2020
NEW RESEARCH SYNTHESIS
Interagency collaboration: What the evidence tells us
Women and children experiencing domestic and family violence (DFV) often have complex and diverse needs that cannot be met by a single service. Integrated approaches bring services together in formal and informal ways to work collaboratively to meet the needs of clients.
Our latest research synthesis paper, Working across sectors to meet the needs of clients experiencing domestic and family violence, summarises the evidence on interagency collaboration, and offers recommendations and resources for policy-makers and practitioners seeking to implement an integrated approach.
The overwhelming consensus emerging from the literature is in favour of integrated approaches. Cross-sector work has the potential to improve outcomes for victims/survivors, cost-effectively reduce risk—including the risk of secondary victimisation caused by inappropriate service responses—and improve access for different service users.
It can also upskill service providers, enabling them to meet the needs of a broader range of clients, including women who face additional barriers to accessing services, such as those from rural and regional areas, women with disability, women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.
However, there are also many lessons to be learned about the risks and barriers associated with integrated approaches, such as risks to client safety, privacy and confidentiality.
This paper synthesises what we know about what works, and what doesn’t. It collates existing recommendations into a handy resource for anyone interested in establishing an integrated response, and provides links to useful, proven resources.
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MORE SYNTHESES
Bringing together our research findings and recommendations
Are you looking for information that summarises what we know across a particular topic? ANROWS has a small and growing library of papers that synthesise different bodies of evidence.
These papers bring together evidence on topics addressed by ANROWS research published in the past several years. Some of our recent syntheses cover:
Violence against women and mental health
Women’s imprisonment and domestic, family and sexual violence
Intimate partner sexual violence
Domestic and family violence, housing insecurity and homelessness
Access more of our syntheses, factsheets, special collections and resources here:
RESOURCES
Your Questions Answered
Working with women who have experienced complex trauma
We’ve had some wonderful feedback on our June webinar, “Working with women who have experienced complex trauma in mental health and refugee services”.
The panel discussed how more connected and integrated services, coupled with shared understandings of complex trauma, can improve trauma-informed care. As part of this discussion, the panellists explored findings from ANROWS research showing that survivors’ understandings of complex trauma often differ from those of the professionals who provide them with services.
Our excellent panellists were peppered with interesting questions. We didn’t have time for all of them during the webinar, but the panellists have now provided a useful Q&A resource answering a selection of your additional questions.
You can still catch up on the whole webinar and access the Q&A resource here.
The panel includes Michael Salter, Associate Professor at UNSW Sydney and lead investigator on the research project; clinical psychologist Amy Burkett; complex trauma survivor and researcher Scarlett Franks; and psychiatrist Dr Karen Williams.
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WEBINAR SERIES
All of our webinars now in one place
Did you miss out on today’s great webinar on “Strengthening accountability across perpetrator intervention systems”?
All our webinars are recorded and you’ll soon be able to find it in one easy, central place on our website. All our other recent webinars—and details on what’s coming up next—are now available here.
Why not catch up on a webinar now?
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New resources and reports
Resources
Approaches to addressing violence against women—Partners in Prevention
Books and reports
Protecting voices at risk online—eSafety Commissioner
Now you have heard us, what will you do? Young people’s experiences of domestic and family violence—ACT Human Rights Commission
New research
You can access all the articles in Notepad in the ANROWS Library.
Articles
Abbott, K., Weckesser, A., & Egan, H. (2020). “Everyone knows someone in an unhealthy relationship”: Young people’s talk about intimate heterosexual relationships in England. Sex Education. Advance online publication.
Boadle, A., Gierer, C., & Buzwell, S. (2020). Young women subjected to nonconsensual condom removal: Prevalence, risk factors, and sexual self-perceptions. Violence Against Women. Advance online publication.
Bosco, S. C., Robles, G., Stephenson, R., & Starks, T. J. (2020). Relationship power and intimate partner violence in sexual minority male couples. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Advance online publication.
Domoney, J., & Trevillion, K. (2020). Breaking the cycle of intergenerational abuse: A qualitative interview study of men participating in a perinatal program to reduce violence. Infant Mental Health Journal. Advance online publication.
Farrington, D. P., & Ttofi, M. M. (2020). Advancing knowledge about youth violence: Child maltreatment, bullying, dating violence, and intimate partner violence. Journal of Family Violence. Advance online publication.
Goodmark, L. (2020). Reimagining VAWA: Why criminalization is a failed policy and what a non-carceral VAWA could look like. Violence Against Women. Advance online publication.
Grimani, A., Gavine, A., & Moncur, W. (in press). An evidence synthesis of covert online strategies regarding intimate partner violence. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse.
Meyer, S., & Stambe, R.-M. (2020). Indigenous women’s experiences of domestic and family violence, help-seeking and recovery in regional Queensland. Australian Journal of Social Issues. Advance online publication.
Ridsdale, B., Usmani, A., & Hanson, K. (2020). Specialist support for survivors of domestic abuse during COVID-19. Journal of Health Visiting, 8(8), 334–337.
Shakoor, S., Theobald, D., & Farrington, D. P. (in press). Intergenerational continuity of intimate partner violence perpetration: An investigation of possible mechanisms. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
Smye, V., Varcoe, C., Browne, A. J., Dion Stout, M., Josewski, V., Ford-Gilboe, M., & Keith, B. (2020). Violence at the intersections of women’s lives in an urban context: Indigenous women’s experiences of leaving and/or staying with an abusive partner. Violence Against Women. Advance online publication.
Walter, B., & Chung, D. (2020). How practitioners respond to men’s use of intimate partner violence in rural areas. Rural Society. Advance online publication.
Watch
Study uncovers Canberra teens’ experiences with violence—MSN
Read
Coronavirus has made financial abuse more common, experts say. Here’s what to do about it—ABC
Natasha Stott Despoja urges Coalition to apply “gender lens” to pandemic recovery—The Guardian
Poverty is trapping women in abusive relationships—Pursuit (University of Melbourne)
Disclosing and sharing domestic violence information begins to pay off—Monash Lens
Survey gives voice to young Canberrans dealing with family violence amid calls for increased services—Canberra Times
ACT Human Rights Commission report documents the “gut-wrenching” abuse of Canberra teenagers—ABC
Australia’s coronavirus recovery must focus on inequalities driving domestic violence, advocates say—SBS
Hannah Clarke’s parents call for stronger domestic violence laws six months after horrific murders—ABC
Children taken, lives lost: WA courts struggle with “overwhelming demand” of family violence cases—The Age
Calls for female-focused budget as women face financial “gender disaster”—The Age
Conferences & events
27 August 2020—Addressing domestic violence: The hidden issue behind mental health issues
3 September 2020: Connections and supports during Covid-19: New findings from the AIFS Families in Australia Survey—Australian Institute of Family Studies
9 September 2020: Responding to family violence in First Nations families to support children’s social and emotional wellbeing—Australian Institute of Family Studies
14 September 2020—Parramatta Region Family Law Interagency webinar: Cross-sector collaboration in the domestic violence landscape
15 September 2020—AIFS: Why is it important to hear the voices of children and young people in research?
7–28 October 2020—Coercive control and social entrapment: Addressing the violations of family violence by examining systems of power
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