VARU Participates in the Australasian Working Together to End Men’s Family Violence Conference

Dr Romy Winter, leader of TILES Violence and Abuse Research Unit (VARU), attended the Australasian Working Together to End Men’s Family Violence conference in Melbourne in late May 2019, organised by No to Violence. The conference was invaluable for gaining an understanding of how perpetrator behaviour change is being addressed in Australia and across the Pacific at the current time.

Speakers from police, courts, government and frontline services discussed what is currently being done around Australia and across the world to improve the safety of families by focusing on the violence of men. This area is of particular interest to researchers in VARU, in conjunction with The Salvation Army who have been developing resources (Start Today Again) for educating fathers on the impact of violence on their children. Start Today Again is currently in action research phase with a group of men at Bethlehem House and discussion is underway for further groupwork with a number of local and national organisations. The conference showcased a number of educational programs for working with Aboriginal, CALD, men with an intellectual disability and also women who used violence.

A variety of presenters talked about the overt strategies their jurisdictions used to keep perpetrators ‘in view’ when responding to family violence. Of particular interest was the presentation by Rory Macrae on the Scottish Integrated Response to Domestic Abuse. As part of a whole of government response to family violence, a program for men has been operating since 2010 and now covers 75 per cent of Scotland. Like Start Today Again, the Caledonian program is strengths-based, gender-based, trauma-sensitive and challenges belief systems. Participants undergo fourteen individual sessions before attending groups (5 modules, each 3-5 weeks). Evaluation has found the men’s partners and families report improvement in respectful communication, safety and freedom from violence (women who felt very safe improved from 8% to 51%), improvements in safe and positive parenting and healthier childhoods. There was some improvement in men’s awareness of self although 71% still tried to justify their behaviour, although this was down from 91%. Other useful presentations for ongoing TILES and VARU projects included Dr Debra Parkinson on family violence associated with bushfire events and Ken McMaster and Mike Cagney on the difficulty of engaging men in behaviour change work.

Dr Winter with Dr Ron Frey (VARU) have arranged to meet with Rory Macrae in Edinburgh and visit the Glasgow hub of the Caledonian system in Scotland in September, following their presentation at the International Social Innovation Research Conference.

If you would like more information on any of these programs, please contact Dr Romy Winter at: romy.winter@utas.edu.au