September 8, 2026
2pm
Online via Teams

The event was an opportunity to celebrate the Family Violence and Sexual Violence Knowledge Project and reflect on what has been achieved through this unique cross-peak collaboration.

Celebrating Collaboration and Impact

The Family Violence, Sexual Violence Knowledge Project has brought together the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, No to Violence, Safe and Equal, Sexual Assault Services Victoria and Family Safety Victoria to strengthen how evidence, practice knowledge and lived experience are shared across the sector.

This final knowledge-sharing event celebrated the achievements of the project and highlighted emerging evidence, innovative practice and lived-experience-led approaches that are strengthening responses for children, young people and families affected by family and sexual violence.

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Key messages from the day

  • Multidisciplinary practice is essential to supporting children, young people and families affected by violence.
  • Research, lived experience and frontline expertise each play a critical role in informing better policy and practice.
  • Children and young people must be recognised as clients in their own right and supported through child-centred approaches.
  • Cross-sector collaboration is critical to addressing service gaps and creating more coordinated responses.
  • The project has demonstrated the value of knowledge translation, turning evidence into practical resources, conversations and action.

Child-Centred Responses to Family Violence Homicide

The University of Melbourne’s Homicide at Home research partnership shared findings from Australia’s first study to directly centre the experiences of children and young people bereaved by family violence homicide.

A key focus of the presentation was the partnership between the research team and the Centre’s OPEN (Outcomes, Practice and Evidence Network) team. Together, they have worked to translate research findings into practical resources, professional learning opportunities and policy conversations that can improve outcomes for children, young people and families.

Key insights

  • Children and young people affected by family violence homicide often experience long-term impacts, including grief, stigma, disrupted relationships and gaps in support.
  • Lived experience voices were central to both the research and the development of practical responses.
  • The partnership with OPEN has helped move the work beyond traditional research outputs and into the hands of practitioners, policymakers and decision-makers.
  • Events, resources and knowledge translation activities have created opportunities for lived-experience advocates, researchers and practitioners to learn from one another and shape future responses.
  • Resources such as What Ally Needs Now demonstrate how evidence and lived experience can be translated into practical tools that support children, families and professionals.
  • Ongoing advocacy is helping build momentum for more tailored and coordinated supports for children and young people bereaved by family violence homicide.

Download ‘What Ally Needs Now’

This book was created with people who have lived experience of losing a loved one to intimate partner violence, as well as researchers and professionals who work to improve support for them and their families.

Digital copies of this book are now available for immediate download.

Read more about this work over at the Spotlight on: Child-centred practice after fatal family violence

Understanding and Responding to Youth Intimate Partner Violence

No to Violence shared findings from its Youth Intimate Partner Violence Evidence and Practice Project, highlighting the unique challenges faced by young people who use or experience violence in their intimate relationships.

The presentation focused on the gaps that exist between child, youth, adult and legal service systems, and the need for responses that reflect young people’s developmental needs and circumstances.

Key insights

  • Young people experiencing or using intimate partner violence often fall between service systems designed for either children or adults.
  • Effective responses require collaboration between youth services, family violence services, therapeutic supports and justice systems.
  • Violence in the home, gender inequality, social influences and disrupted development can all contribute to youth intimate partner violence.
  • The Meli Young Men’s Group demonstrated the impact of flexible, relationship-based approaches that combine accountability with trauma-informed support.
  • Strong practitioner relationships and rapid, flexible responses can significantly improve engagement and outcomes.
  • Continued investment is needed in workforce capability, evaluation, referral pathways and tailored responses for young people.

Early Intervention for Children and Young People

Safe and Equal and Sexual Assault Services Victoria shared emerging evidence on early intervention for children and young people aged 10 to 14 affected by family violence, sexual violence and harmful sexual behaviours.

The presentation highlighted opportunities to strengthen support before harm escalates and explored the practice approaches most likely to promote safety, wellbeing and recovery.

Key insights

  • Early intervention should be understood as a continuum that spans prevention, early response and recovery.
  • Children and young people should be recognised as victim survivors and supported as clients in their own right.
  • Effective approaches are flexible, strengths-based, trauma-informed and developmentally appropriate.
  • Positive relationships, family and community connections, resilience and agency are central to children’s recovery and wellbeing.
  • Greater investment is needed in workforce development, particularly in areas such as child development, trauma, cultural safety and inclusion.
  • Stronger coordination across specialist and mainstream services can help ensure children and young people receive timely and appropriate support.

Emerging Outcomes

An important part of the project was measuring its impact over time. Dr Mandy Charman, from the Centre’s evidence and evaluation team OPEN (Outcomes, Practice and Evidence Network), shared emerging outcomes drawn from the project impact survey and aggregated event feedback surveys.

Strong reach and engagement

The project reached a broad cross-sector audience through events, the Knowledge Hub and monthly newsletter.

  • 2,407 event registrations and at least 1,257 attendees across four events
  • 92% of event survey respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with project events
  • The Knowledge Hub and newsletter provided valued and accessible entry points to evidence, resources and learning

Knowledge translated into emerging capability and practice

The findings suggest the project is strengthening workforce knowledge and supporting evidence-informed practice.

  • 81% of respondents reported the project introduced or reinforced knowledge and skills
  • 93% reported that learning from project events had influenced, or was likely to influence, their practice

Stronger knowledge sharing and cross-sector connection

The project helped build shared understanding across disciplines and sectors.

  • 72% reported gaining new perspectives relevant to their work
  • 70% reported improved understanding of how family and sexual violence impacts children and young people
  • 70% reported improved understanding of the roles and expertise of organisations across sectors

Together, these findings demonstrate the project’s contribution to increased access to knowledge, emerging practice capability and stronger cross-sector knowledge sharing.

Looking Ahead

While the current funded phase of the Family Violence, Sexual Violence Knowledge Project is drawing to a close, the event highlighted the lasting value of the work.

Beyond the resources, publications and events, the project has strengthened relationships across sectors, created shared understandings and demonstrated effective approaches to translating research, practice expertise and lived experience into meaningful change.

The Knowledge Hub will continue to provide access to evidence and resources, while the partnerships and connections developed through the project create a strong foundation for future collaboration.

Most importantly, the event reinforced a shared commitment to ensuring children, young people and families affected by family and sexual violence receive more connected, evidence-informed and child-centred support.

Speakers

Hannah Morrice

Bio

Hannah Morrice is a Research Fellow at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne.

Dr Katitiza Chavez

Bio

Dr Katitiza Chavez is a psychologist and Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne.

Kathryn Joy

Bio

Kathryn Joy is a co-researcher with the university of Melbourne, dedicated child’s rights advocate within the family violence space.

Beverley Attard

Bio

Beverley Attard is a social worker and passionate lived experience advocate working alongside others in both the research and lived experience peer network to support service system change.

Sarah Ryan

Bio

Sarah Ryan is the Senior Advisor, evaluation, with the Centre’s OPEN team. Along with evaluation expertise, Sarah brings many years of practice experience to the OPEN team, supporting this project and other knowledge translation exercises with that practice lens.  

Jacqui Costello
AIM 3 Project Manager, South East Centre Against Sexual Assault & Family Violence

Bio

Jacqui Costello is the Project Lead for the Harmful Sexual Behaviour Project within Monash Health’s SECASA (South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault) program, bringing four years of specialist experience to the organization. With a prior 15-year career in the Victorian child protection system, Jacqui has spent nearly two decades specialising in supporting young people and families affected by sexual harm.

Jacqui holds a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies (Australian National University), a Bachelor of Social Work (University of Melbourne), and a Master of Clinical Family Therapy (La Trobe University). Her extensive clinical practice is backed by professional memberships with the AASW, ANZATSA, AAFT (Clinical Family Therapist Member of the Australian association of Family Therapy), and EMDRAA (Full Member). Alongside her professional roles, Jacqui has maintained a strong commitment to community service, contributing her time as a volunteer for OzChild, the Brotherhood of St Laurence, and local primary school programs.

Informed by her own lived experience of intergenerational trauma, Jacqui brings deep empathy, nuance, and insight to her clinical and project work. She is deeply passionate about championing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, dedicating her career to driving best-practice outcomes, safeguarding vulnerable youth, and delivering critical support frameworks that foster systemic healing and safety for Victorian families.

Sara Northrop
Team Leader (Therapeutic Team)

Bio

Sara Nothrop is an Art Therapist and therapeutic practitioner with a background in teaching and over eight years’ experience supporting children, young people and families affected by family violence.

She has worked across a range of therapeutic and family violence services, including Pathways to Resilience and VACCA’s family violence therapeutic team, providing individual counselling and group programs to children, including those who have experienced family violence and are living in out-of-home care.

Her work has since moved into program leadership, including at FVREE, where she led the Re-Imaging pilot, exploring a model that combined concurrent case management and therapeutic support for victim survivors. She currently leads the Free to Grow program in partnership with ACF, building on the learnings from this work. The partnership emphasises intentional collaboration between therapists and case managers to ensure holistic risk management and family violence recovery needs are effectively addressed. As part of this work, Sara is also contributing to staff development FVREE, which aims to strengthen collaboration and ensure more client-centred outcomes for victim-survivors.

She is passionate about the recovery journey for victim survivors and believes in creating better futures where children and their protective parents can experience safety, peace and the opportunity to create happy memories together. She draws heavily from her practice experience and aims to cultivate a leadership style that prioritizes intersectional feminism, collaboration, inclusion, and a culture of continuous learning and growth.

Amy Tapsell
Policy and Advocacy Advisor

Bio

Amy Tapsell is a Policy and Advocacy Advisor at Safe and Equal. She holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Psychology and a Master of Public Health (Health Promotion). Amy brings seven years of experience in research, project management and policy, with expertise spanning gender equality, health, mental health and the social sciences. She is a skilled mixed-methods researcher and committed to centering lived experience in her work. Prior to joining Safe and Equal, Amy was a Research Officer at the Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion @ Work at the University of Sydney. She has also worked in the health sector, working within epidemiology and public health teams to support planning for population health responses.

Amy Webster
Advocacy, Evidence & Impact

Bio

Starting out as a refuge worker and counsellor-advocate, and moving into research and advocacy over time, Dr Amy Webster bas been working in the feminist anti violence sector in Victoria for almost 20 years. She has been a manager at Sexual Assault Services Victoria (the peak body for specialist sexual assault and harmful sexual behaviour services in Victoria) for almost 5 years.

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