Harm to Healing: Strength-Based Approaches to Family Violence for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Project Description

This project will improve understanding and strengthen responses to complex family violence-related challenges that are impacting safe families and communities; uncover key challenges that are driving the critical issue of rising out-of-home-care (OOHC) admissions; integrate current and new research findings into a living systematic review and user-friendly evidence map; and develop resources to support community services to identify, implement and evaluate new and existing targeted, strengths-based and sustainable interventions to reduce risk for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Aboriginal) people experiencing family violence.

The multidisciplinary research team has expertise in culturally responsive violence- and trauma-informed action-orientated approaches that contribute to rebuilding social norms. We are working long-standing community partners across four jurisdictions and build on our established program in Indigenous data governance to generate community-driven data, expand the research capacity of community organisations, and strengthen effective responses to deliver sustainable and meaningful impacts for families and communities.

Research questions

  1. What is the prevalence and experience of female survivors of family violence who have had their children removed into OOHC?

    Including women who have been identified as perpetrators, to generate a deep and broad understanding of this complex issue.

  2. What is the available evidence of programs to support Aboriginal survivors and perpetrators of family violence?

    Through developing a living systematic review and evidence map.

  3. What resources and tools do community services need to design, implement and self-evaluate preventive and early intervention programs for survivors and perpetrators of family violence?
    Including for parents experiencing violence to reduce child removal into OOHC, and self-evaluation of men’s behaviour change programs, to co-design a toolkit.
  4. 4. How acceptable and effective is the Baby Coming You Ready tool (26-28) for increasing identification of family violence, development of safety plans during pregnancy and reducing OOHC admissions in Victorian Koori Maternity Services?

Chief Investigators

Melbourne Laureate Professor Marcia Langton AO (lead)

Professor Prof Catherine Chamberlain

Professor Sandra Eades AO

Professor Sean Taylor

Associate Professor Kristen Smith

Professor Rhonda Marriott

Dr Jacynta Krakouer

Dr Kimberley Jones

Dr Amalia Karahalios

Dr Andrea Clarke

Key community partners

Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (VACCHO)

Binarri-binyja yarrawoo (BBY)

Wunan Foundation

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Service (ATSICHS)

Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) (QLD)

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)

Djirra (Vic)

Funding

Funding: $4,999,992.94

Read more about Harm to Healing here.