Therapeutic interventions pilot projects
The Victorian Government is trialling new ways to provide intensive therapeutic support to women, children and their families experiencing family violence.
The new pilot projects support recommendations from the Royal Commission into Family Violence to improve accessibility, transform the way the system responds to family violence, and support family violence servicesto strengthen and enhance its therapeutic response to adults and children impacted by family violence.
A total of 26 projects across Victoria – including four that specifically target Aboriginal families – will be funded until June 2018. Information about each project is included below:
Aboriginal Families
Organisation / Demonstration Project / Location / WebsiteVictorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) / VACCA’s demonstration projects locate Culture, Connection and Healing as central to working with Aboriginal men, women, children and families impacted by family violence.
VACCA’s multi-site, multi-intervention approach includesone-on-one counselling for women, children and men impacted by family violence, therapeutic cultural healing groups with women, children and men, group behaviour change programs with adolescent offenders, and therapeutic interventions with women in prison.
Through the projects and in partnership with La Trobe University, MDAS, Elizabeth Morgan House, Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) and in collaboration with Quantum, VACCA is further developing an evidence-informed basis for localised, culturally therapeutic responses while developing Aboriginal-informed approaches, resources and models. / Bayside Peninsula and Inner Gippsland, Western Melbourne, North Eastern Melbourne /
Boorndawan Willam Aboriginal Healing Service / Boorndawan’s demonstration project, working in partnership with the Australian Childhood Foundation (ACF), incorporates comprehensive needs assessment and planning for children and families impacted by family violence.
It also includes intensive group programs, ‘Bringing Up Great Kids for Aboriginal Parents’, ‘Bringing Up Great Kids for Aboriginal Grandparents’ and ‘Growing Up Strong with Stories’, aimed at supporting and strengthening Aboriginal families.
This work is further supported by one-on-one counselling offered to children and adolescents who have experienced family violence. Boorndawan has also incorporated a strong emphasis on marrying culturally healing activities with evidence informed practice in their therapeutic interventions. / Outer East Melbourne /
Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-Operative (BADAC) / BADAC’s demonstration project focuses on the whole family, incorporating a wrap-around model of support for women, men and children impacted by family violence.
Intensive engagement and case management methods will be incorporated with a strong focus on culture as a strength and opportunity to protect all Aboriginal families from the impacts of family violence.
Underpinning all elements of the demonstration project is a Social Emotional Wellbeing approach to each therapeutic intervention. / Central Highlands /
Centre for Non-Violence (CNV), Njernda Aboriginal Corporation and Bendigo District Aboriginal Co-Operative / CNV, Njernda and BDAC’s demonstration project incorporates a multi-intervention, community specific approach, with therapeutic interventions tailored primarily to the communities in Bendigo and Echuca.
CNV will provide workforce development and specialist family violence advice and support for both Njernda and BDAC.
The therapeutic interventions offered by Njernda and BDAC include healing and wellbeing activities and support for adolescents, children and women and a focus on strengthening communities through programs including ‘Men as Advocates for Change’ and Community events.
Training resources will be shared across both Njernda and BDAC. / Loddon /
Victim/Survivors
Organisation / Demonstration Project / Location / WebsiteAnglicare Victoria in partnership with Emerge and Stepping Up / In partnership with Emerge and Stepping Up, Anglicare will deliver the Family Therapeutic Recovery Program which will incorporate three programs, Beyond The Violence, Peek-A-Boo and Dolphin - into an integrated continuum of services for mothers and children who have experienced family violence.
The Family Therapeutic Recovery Program will target adult and children victim-survivors, providing them with both joint and separate interventions.
Through the program, women and children will have access to a therapeutic recovery worker, therapeutic safety focussed pre-work, evidence based group work, one-to-one coaching (in home or in refuge), and access to ongoing peer support. / Bayside Peninsula & Southern Melbourne /
Australian Childhood Foundation (ACF) / ACF's demonstration project will deliver counselling services for children and young people and their families. The project will incorporate specialist assessment and planning to match the needs of the child or young person with targeted intervention strategies. This will be done in consultation with the parent and child to address the critical needs during the assessment.
The therapeutic interventions will include cognitive behaviour, family systems and psychodynamic approaches and promote the participation of children and young people in planning and decision-making. / Mitcham, Shepparton and Wodonga /
ACF / EDVOS / ACF will deliver group programs in recognition of the fact that family violence is a significant concern for women prior to, during and after pregnancy and childbirth.
Through the project, ACF will deliver group programs for mothers, infants and young children (0-six years)in collaboration with the EDVOS Intensive Case Management Program and their Universal Services Team. This project seeks to enhance and extend therapeutic responses to mothers, infants and young children who have been impacted by family violence. / Outer East Melbourne /
Baptcare / The Reaching Children through Universal Service (RCUS) is a therapeutic recovery project for children and young people and their families, from 0-18 years.
Baptcare will focus on engagement with refugees, CALD families and families living on low incomes to deliver a holistic, therapeutic case management model.
A key focus will be the delivery therapeutic children's groups (co-facilitated by school staff), in concert with parenting programs and a comprehensive intake and assessment that will allocate a primary Children’s Therapeutic Case Manager who will provide continuity for the child/young person for the duration of their participation in RCUS.
RCUS is supported by these partner agencies: Maternal and Child Health programs at Brimbank City Council and Melton City Council, St Albans Primary School and its Community Hub, Kurunjang Secondary College. / Brimbank and Melton /
Barwon Centre Against Sexual Assault (CASA) in partnership with Minerva Community Services and Bethany / Barwon CASA in partnership with Minerva Community Services and Bethany Community Support Inc. will deliver two programs aimed at addressing the trauma of family violence for women and children.
The Trauma-focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Program is a 10 week structure intake, assessment and trauma group model that will incorporate didactic learning, body based exercises, writing, music art and movement therapy supported by pre and post case management and counselling support where required.
The Connect Group will utilise psycho-education and creative activities to enable women to reconnect with their children and understand the impacts of trauma on themselves and their children.
Both programs will have a strong focus on the impact of trauma. / City of Greater Geelong, Surf coast Shire, Borough of Queenscliffe and Colac Otway Shire /
Berry Street / Restoring Childhood is a child focused trauma informed service designed to intervene early to redress the impacts of family violence on children and young people (0-17 years).
Restoring Childhood will comprise of the following components:
- Specialist Intake and Triage – face-to-face parent consultation focussed on the needs of their children, supported referrals and secondary consultations
- Brief Relational Intervention and Screening (three to four weeks) – three parent/child therapeutic sessions, supported referrals and secondary consultations
- Medium term counselling (up to six months) – the delivery of evidence based therapeutic interventions for children and young people, specifically designed to minimise the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress.
Child Protection Society (CPS) in partnership with Merri Outreach Support Services, Caroline Chisholm Society, McAuley Community Services for Women, VincentCare, Anglicare Gippsland, Quantum Support Services, Barwon Casa and Minerva Community Services / CPS in partnership with Merri Outreach Support Services, Caroline Chisholm Society, McAuley Community Services for Women, VincentCare, Anglicare Gippsland, Quantum Support Services, Barwon Casa and Minerva Community Services will deliver 'Children and Mothers in Mind' programs for women with a child or children under the age of four who are no longer living with the abusive partner.
This will incorporate eight weeks of intensive therapeutic support for the mothers and children, 10 weeks participation in Mothers in Mind programs, four weeks of dyadic work to prepare for the family to exit the program and ongoing refresher sessions offered on a monthly basis. / Western Melbourne (incl. Brimbank/Melton), Goulburn Valley, Gippsland and Barwon /
Colac Area Health / Colac Area Health's demonstration project will deliver a therapeutic response for children (aged five-12 years) who have been affected by family violence. The program will be run in collaboration with local schools (primary and secondary), allied health professionals and therapeutic clinicians.
The model will offer a key worker for each child to collaborate with services to deliver a holistic therapeutic plan with an emphasis on Theraplay. / Colac and surrounds /
Drummond Street in partnership with Merri Health, Victorian Aids Council, Transgender Victoria, Switchboard and Blue Knot Foundation / Drummond Street Service's iHeal program will be delivered in partnership with Merri Health, Victorian Aids Council, Transgender Victoria, Switchboard and Blue Knot Foundation.
iHeal will provide victim survivors of family violence with case coordination, individual and group peer support and peer recovery. The program will offer a strong focus on lived experience peer support and peer learning, utilising the experience and knowledge that survivor's lived experience brings to the recovery process. / Cities of Melbourne, Yarra, Darebin, Moreland, Hume, Whittlesea, Brimbank, Stonnington and Port Phillip /
EDVOS / EDVOS' demonstration project 'Women Supporting Women' offers women who have experienced family violence a range of therapeutic interventions including a structured monthly therapeutic group, an online closed group for peer to peer support and ongoing individual therapeutic service of choice using financial support (such as Flexible Support Packages) to access therapeutic support in the form of art therapy, play therapy, mentoring, coaching, massage, aromatherapy and sporting activities among others. / Eastern Metro region /
Family Life in partnership with Salvation Army, Good Shepherd, SECASA and Peninsula Health / The integrated Bayside Peninsula Therapeutic Demonstration model will provide children and their mothers who have experienced family violence with thorough assessments, brief therapeutic interventions and long-term intensive therapeutic interventions to relieve trauma symptoms.
The partnership model proposes that engagement, treatment and outcomes will be enhanced by supporting clients through a readiness for therapy component. Clients will then receive brief therapeutic intervention where a case plan is developed and readiness for therapy is assessed before clients are referred to the partnership's suite of wrap around services and/or the second model component, Family Life's Clinical Therapeutic Services team. / Bayside Peninsula /
Good Samaritan Innin partnership with AdventureWorks / This demonstration project will be a partnership between Good Samaritan Inn and Adventure Works, who are qualified and accredited Bush Adventure Therapy (BAT) practitioners.
Through this project, Good Samaritan Inn will deliver a combination of wilderness programs, recreational programs, and therapeutic adventure based camps for women and children who have experienced the trauma of family violence and are on the pathway of recovery.
BAT provides opportunity for improved communication, increased teamwork, building trust and developing a new family system. Benefits for individuals include enhancing emotional wellbeing, developing resilience, and strengthening family bonds.
Good Samaritan Inn will also be establishing the first annual family violence service forum for the sector that will enable services to showcase their service, come together for training and networking and build up relationships within the sector. / North Eastern Melbourne /
Kildonan in partnership with Sunbury Community Health, In Touch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence and Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture / Kildonan in partnership with Sunbury Community Health, In Touch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence and Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture.
The demonstration project includes four key components including:
- the provision of therapeutic family violence counselling to Arabic speaking women
- three therapeutic group programs across including one specifically targeting Arabic speaking partners attending Kildonan's Men's Behavioural Change Program
- building sector capacity to respond to women from Arabic speaking backgrounds who are newly arrived and/or have experienced torture and trauma in their country of origin and
- a community development activity/celebration which celebrate Arabic speaking women's strengths and resilience.
MacKillop in partnership with Queen Elizabeth Centre and VACCA / MacKillop in partnership with Queen Elizabeth Centre and VACCA will deliver therapeutic interventions for family violence victim survivors using a flexible approach to engage young women and their preschool children escaping from violence.
The demonstration project will incorporate home based and group interventions and engage with victim survivors to help them understand their trauma strengthen the relationship between mother and child.
Where appropriate the program will be father inclusive with a focus on safe parenting after violence. / Bayside Peninsula and Southern Metro /
Mallee Sexual Assault Unit Inc. / Mallee Sexual Assault Unit and Mallee Domestic Violence Service in partnership with Local Logic Place and Mallee Family Care will deliver a Mental, Emotional and Social Health (MESH) program for children and young people who are victims of family violence the same program will also be delivered with their parents/carers.
The demonstration project will deliver to children between the ages of seven -17 years and their parents/carers. / Swan Hill and Mildura /
Melbourne City Mission / Melbourne City Mission's demonstration project will deliver therapeutic interventions, family support and psycho-education for young women aged 16-25 years who have experience family violence as well as for their parents and babies/children.
The interventions will be delivered as both individual and group sessions and work to disrupt the cycle of family violence and prevent future violent relationships. / Melbourne CBD, Fitzroy, Braybrook /
Nexus / Nexus is undertaking a demonstration project for a model of integrated therapeutic care for children and women victim survivors of family violence. The therapeutic component of the model is comprised of three interventions:
- Evidence- based allied health interventions (primarily speech pathology and occupational therapy) for children with developmental delays,
- Theraplay, a trauma-informed attachment-based therapy for children and women
- Horses Assisting You (HAY) equine therapy for children and women
Astepped-up approach will assist children and women to move as required from short-term counselling to longer-term more intensive therapeutic services to address significant trauma. / Lower Hume sub-region (Mitchell and Murrindindi Shires) /
South Western CASA in partnership with Australian Childhood Foundation, Brophy Family and Youth Services, Emma House and Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation / Staff from the partner agencies, working in teams of two and utilising client centred practice principles, will negotiate with clients the range of evidence informed interventions on offer. Core interventions to be offered will focus on restoring and strengthening the parent-child relationship through approaches that foster attachment and parental emotional attunement.
Therapeutic interventions will include the Safe and Together Model, the Circle of Security Program, family based interventions and family preservation approaches. Additionally, a group approach will also be offered with some aspects such as the Circle of Security.
ACF will provide assessment and individual counselling for children and young people in addition to the clinical governance of work with children across the consortium. / South West catchment area /
The Salvation Army Crossroads Network and Westcare / The Repair program will provide children and young people with experiences of family violence with a range of therapeutic interventions tailored to their individual recovery needs. Creative Art Therapies, Family Therapies and Animal Assisted Therapies will provide opportunities for children and young people to self-determine their therapeutic journey, integrating their experiences of trauma and beginning the process of recovery.
Children and young people targeted by the program include:
- young people in continuing care/leaving care
- children and young people who are first timers in Out of Home Care
- children and young people who accompany women in family violence refuge