Listen: A resource for practitioners

This resource is for professionals who are supporting a child or young person who lost a parent due to intimate partner violence.

You may be an educator, a mental health professional, a youth services worker, a policy maker or involved in any other capacity.

Many of the topics and reflective questions in this resource are also relevant if you are working with children exposed to other types of (complex) trauma and grief.

Our resource is an invitation to reflect and start conversations. It is called ‘Listen’ because young people in our research and collaborations have repeatedly expressed this wish, need and right.

‘Listen’ includes six sections with audio, video, text and reflective questions. To watch the videos on your mobile phone, we recommend zooming out and placing your device in landscape orientation.

Supporting a child, young person or family after domestic homicide can be rewarding in many ways, as well as confronting and sometimes lonely. We hope that self-care, peer-support and peer-supervision are part of your practice.

We are always keen for feedback and to connect. See ‘more about this resource’ below for our contact details.

We also offer professional development sessions. See this flyer for more information.

  • More about this resource

    Our team is mainly based on the lands of the Kulin Nation. We acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia's First People and Traditional Custodians. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

    How to cite this resource: Alisic, E., Joy, K., Lamberti, V. & Marinkovic, K. (2021). Listen: A resource for practitioners supporting children and young people bereaved by domestic homicide. The University of Melbourne. http://go.unimelb.edu.au/dp4i.

    The videos in this resource are a collaboration with Fringe Dweller Films, who are turning Kathryn’s story into a full documentary. All the video clips in LISTEN repurpose copyrighted footage from JOY, a feature documentary. Please visit the documentary website https://documentaryaustralia.com.au/project/joy-the-documentary/ for information and ways to support the making of the film.

    The audio and transcript of Kathryn’s Roundtable speech are courtesy of Kathryn Joy.

    The tile images are courtesy of Danni McDougall, Kati Marinkovic and Eva Alisic.

    The creation and publication of this resource was funded by a one-year grant from The Myer Foundation. We would also like to thank the following collaborators who made key contributions to the development and revision of this resource (in alphabetical order): Alana Pirrone, Anna Barret, Ashwini Sakthiakumaran, John Frederick, Mira Vasileva and Rowena Conroy. We also thank everyone who has provided feedback on this resource.

    This resource is still in development. We are keen to hear your thoughts on how we can improve it. Please contact  Associate Professor Eva Alisic or Dr Katitza Marinkovic.

  • Are you looking for help?

    Beyond Blue – 1300 22 4636 Information and support to help everyone in Australia achieve their best possible mental health. https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

    Headspace – provides mental health information and support for young people, as well as family and friends who want to help a young person going through difficult times. https://headspace.org.au/

    Kids Helpline – 1800 551 800 provides information and support for kids, teens and young adults for, available 24 hours. https://kidshelpline.com.au/

    Lifeline – 13 11 14 is a free crisis support and suicide prevention service, available 24 hours. https://www.lifeline.org.au/

    Relationships Australia – Online counselling with a professional counsellor using a confidential, text-based chat message service. https://onlinecounselling.relationshipsvictoria.com.au/

    A general practitioner (GP) can provide you with a mental health treatment plan to get a Medicare rebate and refer you to a mental health professional in your area. You can also search for mental health professionals yourself via Find a Psychologist and Find a Social Worker. Many employers also have independent Employee Assistance Programs.

Back to main project page:  Children and Young People Bereaved by Domestic Homicide