Early intervention
ANROWS commissions two new projects supported by funds from the Luke Batty Foundation
ANROWS is delighted to announce two new projects on early intervention programs for mothers and children who have experienced domestic and family violence: the Safe Nest Group program for mothers and infants, and the RECOVER program for mothers and pre-schoolers. These projects build on previous ANROWS work led by Dr Rae Kaspiew on domestic and family violence and parenting, which identified repairing the mother-child relationship as a high priority.
These projects are funded with monies distributed from the Luke Batty Foundation, which closed its doors last year. Rosie Batty, founder and former CEO of the Luke Batty Foundation, said: “It is so vital to have this focus on early intervention. Trauma-informed support for both mothers and children can make a huge difference. But we need to make sure programs are feasible and effective before we roll them out. These research projects will help inform good practice models in the future.”
The Safe Nest Group study will be led by Dr Katie Wood from Swinburne University of Technology, supported by the research expertise of Associate Professor Rebecca Giallo from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the practice expertise of Ms Emma Hodges from not-for-profit organisation Emerge: Women and Children’s Support Network. Dr Wood said: “There are few infant-led models of intervention for women and children leaving family violence. This project will evaluate the impact of the Safe Nest Group program on maternal wellbeing, trauma symptoms and the quality of the mother-child relationship, as well as examining mothers’ satisfaction with the program”.
The RECOVER project will be led by Dr Leesa Hooker of La Trobe University, in partnership with Professors Angela Taft (La Trobe University), Cathy Humphreys (University of Melbourne) and Sarah Wendt (Flinders University), and with the clinical expertise of Emma Toone of Berry Street Childhood Institute. The RECOVER study will test the feasibility of delivering the Child Parent Psychotherapy model of care (originally developed in the US) in the Australian context. Dr Hooker said: “This project will run in rural and regional areas of Victoria and South Australia. We are running a similar pilot in metropolitan Melbourne with funding from the Safer Families Centre for Research Excellence. We intend that the findings of these two Child Parent Psychotherapy studies together will inform the design of a national, multisite randomised controlled trial.”
Find out more
The ‘Safe Nest Group’ pilot project –
early intervention for mothers and infants leaving family violence
RECOVER – Reconnecting mothers and children after violence:
The Child Parent Psychotherapy pilot