SWIRLS research provides tools, resources and information for social work practitioners and industry, for use in practice and policy development. Browse SWIRLS resources below.
Reports and publications
Responding to domestic violence: difficult conversations - by Kate Seymour, Sarah Wendt and Kristin Natalier
This book reflects on the problem of domestic violence by thinking critically about policy and practice responses. Moving beyond accounts of men’s violence embedded in metaphors of ‘good’ and ‘bad men’, or as the expressions of particular structures and practices, it initiates challenging conversations concerning the ways in which our embeddedness in gendered discourses shapes the responses we imagine are possible and desirable. It will be of interest to scholars and students of gender studies, sociology, health, and social care.
Report on the Round Table Consultation Event : Understanding domestic violence and religion
A Roundtable Event titled Understanding domestic violence and religion was held on 28 October 2022 to explore the question of how faith-based organisations could be part of the solution to domestic violence in Australia. The Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence (State of Victoria 2016) recommended that faith leaders and communities establish processes for examining responses and recovery to domestic violence. Many FBOs have embarked on this recommendation to raise awareness in congregations, schools, and other institutions of the church, as well as training, identifying and developing resources, and searching for best practice to support and respond to both victims-survivors and perpetrators of domestic violence.
The Roundtable Event was created to bring interested stakeholders together to talk; share ideas about domestic violence policies, services, and other relevant resources; and enable the possibilities of further work with faith communities. Eighty-one people attended. The key messages and recommendations elicited from the research presentations, panel discussions and roundtable are detailed in the report.
To order a hard copy of the report please e-mail swirls@flinders.edu.au with your name, organisation and postal address.
Learn more about the project Religion and domestic violence: exporting men's perpetration on our partnership and projects page
View the presentations and resources from the round table consultation event in the forums, webinars and podcasts section below.
Emerging Minds practice papers - Child-focused practice approaches to complex problems
Emerging Minds and SWIRLS, January 2023
The compounding effects of disadvantage can mean that children and families present to services with multiple intersecting issues. Trauma, intergenerational disadvantage, alcohol and drug use, mental illness and family and domestic violence (FDV) can all impact one another, making them more challenging for children and families to overcome. Child-focused practice approaches are key to supporting children and families facing complex, coexisting problems.
So, how can practitioners provide the support that is required when working with children and families affected by complex issues? What are the specialist skills that all practitioners need to work effectively with children and families, and how can these be developed in busy professional roles?
The following resources use a structural approach to consider the needs of children and understand the context of parent and family adversity. They support a focus on the environments that affect family life, a curiosity in the parent’s story, and non-shaming conversations that support child safety and wellbeing.
Read practice paper - Child-focused practice competencies: Structural approaches to complex problems
This interactive practice paper provides practical advice on how to have conversations with parents and children who are experiencing co-existing issues of intergenerational disadvantage, alcohol and drug use, mental illness, trauma, and family violence. It examines context in the lives of disadvantaged families, the effects of intersecting disadvantages, and how practitioners can create alliances which increase children’s safety and wellbeing.
This paper will help you to:
There is growing recognition of the links between knowledge translation, policy and practice, particularly in the family and domestic violence (FDV) field (Cameron, 2020). Bridging the gap between research and practice is critical for the future of social and human service work (Cabassa, 2017). Practitioner knowledge provides an essential context for successful knowledge translation.
This literature review was written to inform the development and delivery of the practice paper Child-focused practice competencies: Structural approaches to complex problems. It reviews implications and skills for practice across five distinct yet intersecting topics:
When a parent is affected by family and domestic violence, they may describe this violence in different ways to a practitioner. These descriptions can minimise the effects of the violence on children and mean that they don’t receive the support they need for their safety or wellbeing.
This paper helps generalist practitioners to support parents to name their experiences of violence and consider its effects on their children. It will support you to:
When parents are able to name their experiences of violence, their children are much more likely to receive the early intervention and prevention support they need for their mental health, safety and wellbeing.
You may also be interested in listening to the Emerging Minds podcast series which complements these resources. Click here to access.
Connecting the dots: Understanding the DFV experiences of children and young people with disability within and across sectors
Project Lead : Professor Sally Robinson
Research Team: Associate Professor Melissa O'Donnell, Professor Kylie Valentine, Associate Professor Tim Moore, Dr Amy Marshall
RESEARCH AIMS:
This project aimed to:
SIGNIFICANCE:
This project develops a picture of the prevalence and extent of children and young people with disability exposed to domestic and family violence in Australia, with additional focus on intersecting forms of difference and marginalisation. It centres the experiences and priorities of children and young people with disability who have experienced domestic and family violence and ensures any policy and practice recommendations are child-focused.
This project highlights implications for improving policy and practice across intersecting disability, child and violence domains. It begins to address one of the evidence gaps identified in the 2020 interim report of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. The report concluded that there is an omission of people with disability from national data collections and a lack of analysis of data on violence and disability, and therefore limited evidence to inform government.
Please consult the ANROWS website for more information on this project.
Nurturing social connection and addressing loneliness in Community Centres in South Australia
Chief Investigator : Ben Lohmeyer
Research Assistant: Ros Wong
This project set out to investigate which programs in Community Centres in South Australia build social connection, and by doing so address the issues of social isolation and loneliness in their communities. The findings outlined in this report demonstrate that a much of the existing practice and service delivery by staff and volunteers in community centres reflects the recent literature in this area.
The project invited community centres to participate in the project through Community Centres SA networks.15 community centres responded to the EOI and participated in a focus group. 123 people participated across the 15 focus groups. Participating community centres included a spread of socio-economic areas across the greater Adelaide region, the Adelaide Hills and regional South Australia.
ANROWS Research Report – “It depends on what the definition of domestic violence is”: How young Australians conceptualise domestic violence and abuse
The 2017 National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS) found that although young people have a good overall understanding of domestic violence, particularly its physical forms, there were also some “areas of concern” within young people’s understandings. The NCAS raised concerns about young people’s understandings of:
To further explore these findings, the current study unpacked how young people define and make sense of domestic violence. In particular, the study examined how young people distinguish domestic violence from other unhealthy relationship behaviours, how common they perceive domestic violence to be and their understanding of the gendered nature of domestic violence.
The mixed-method study involved a short online survey and focus groups with young women (41) and men (39) aged 16 to 18 from across Australia from a range of backgrounds. Fourteen online focus groups, each with four to six participants, were conducted. Seven of the focus groups were with young men and seven were with young women.
This report addresses work covered in ANROWS’s National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS) Research Program. This work is part of the ANROWS Research reports series. ANROWS Research reports (Horizons) are in-depth reports on empirical research produced under ANROWS’s research program.
DR ERIN CARLISLE
Senior Research Officer (NCAS), ANROWS
DR CHRISTINE COUMARELOS
Director, Research Program (NCAS), ANROWS
KATE MINTER
Senior Research Officer (NCAS), ANROWS
DR BEN LOHMEYER
Lecturer in Social Work, Flinders University
This report addresses work covered in ANROWS’s National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS) Research Program.
This work is part of the ANROWS Research reports series. ANROWS Research reports (Horizons) are in-depth reports on empirical research produced under ANROWS’s research program.
For additional information, please consult ANROWS website.
Research report - Changing community attitudes to improve inclusion of people with disability
The Royal Commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability wants to know what could be done to change attitudes towards people with disability so that they are better included in society. UNSW Sydney and Flinders University researched effective policies to change attitudes, using an evidence review and national interviews. The research found evidence about interventions to change attitudes, behaviours and outcomes.
ANROWS Project – Engaging men who use violence: Invitational narrative approaches
This qualitative study explored how invitational narrative ways of working successfully engage men and enable behavioural and attitudinal change. The study explored the historical and philosophical foundations of invitational narrative practice, and the principles and skills that practitioners use in their work.
Project outcomes provided greater understanding of the therapeutic and service delivery practices that lead men to engage with or disengage from programs. Specifically, the findings contributed to the growing understanding of key values and principles of invitational narrative ways of working that support engagement and enable change when working with men who use violence in their intimate partner relationships.
As an outcome of this project, ANROWS, in partnership with Flinders University and Uniting Communities, hosted a symposium for policy-makers and practitioners on invitational narrative approaches to engaging men who use violence. The symposium explored the key findings of the research project, ‘Engaging men who use violence: Invitational narrative approaches’, led by Professor Sarah Wendt.
This report addresses work covered in the ANROWS research project PI.17.12 Engaging men: Invitational-narrative approaches. ANROWS research contributes to the six National Outcomes of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022. This research addresses National Plan Outcome 6 – Perpetrators stop their violence and are held to account.
ANROWS Research to policy and practice papers are concise papers that summarise key findings of research on violence against women and their children, including research produced under ANROWS’s research program, and provide advice on the implications for policy and practice. This is an edited summary of key findings from the ANROWS research project Engaging men: Invitational-narrative approaches.
As an outcome of this project, ANROWS, in partnership with Flinders University and Uniting Communities, hosted a symposium for policy-makers and practitioners on invitational narrative approaches to engaging men who use violence. The symposium explored the key findings of the research project, ‘Engaging men who use violence: Invitational narrative approaches’, led by Professor Sarah Wendt.
View the symposium in our public lecture resources here.
Listen to the ANROWS Insights podcast episode in our podcast and webinar resources here.
For additional information, please consult ANROWS website.
ANROWS Project – Seeking help for domestic violence: Exploring rural women’s coping experiences
This work is part of the ANROWS Landscapes series. ANROWS Landscapes (State of knowledge papers) are medium length papers that scope current knowledge on an issue related to violence against women and their children. Papers will draw on empirical research, including research produced under ANROWS’s research program, and/or practice knowledge.
The state of knowledge paper examines research and literature on the effects of social and geographical isolation and remoteness on the ability of women to disclose, report, seek help, and receive appropriate interventions following domestic and family violence and/or sexual assault.
The paper outlines:
ANROWS Compass (Research to policy and practice papers) are concise papers that summarise key findings of research on violence against women and their children, including research produced under ANROWS’s research program, and provide advice on the implications for policy and practice.
This report summarises the key findings of a qualitative case study design on this topic that engaged with five different locations: Mount Gambier, Murray Bridge, the Riverland, and Whyalla in South Australia, and Derby in Western Australia. Each region had a specialist domestic and family violence agency based on the hub-and-spoke service model. The agency was located in the greatest population density (hub) and provided outreach services to cover large geographical distance (spokes) (Roufeil & Battye, 2008).
This report presents the results of a qualitative study examining the experiences of women seeking help for domestic and family violence who live in regional, rural, and remote areas in Australia. The study contributes to the limited evidence on how geographical and social isolation shapes women’s coping with and decisions to seek assistance for domestic and family violence, and their efforts to live safely.
This report addresses work covered in the ANROWS research project 1.3 “Seeking help for domestic violence: exploring rural women’s coping experiences”.
Please consult the ANROWS website for more information on this project.
As an outcome of this project, ANROWS, in partnership with Flinders University and Uniting Communities, hosted a public lecture on Seeking help for domestic violence: exploring rural women’s coping experiences. The symposium explored the key findings of the research project, led by Professor Sarah Wendt.
View the symposium in our public lecture resources here.
Young people’s experiences of bullying and violence in secondary schooling: Phase 1, Preliminary findings
This qualitative research project explored young people’s ideas and experiences of bullying and violence in secondary schooling. Students were asked to discuss the difference between violence and bullying, where they see it happening in their school, community and society, and how it might be prevented. The purpose of the study was to learn from young people, rather than to capture data about them or identify the victims or perpetrators of bullying and violence.
This report provides a preliminary insight into the findings of Phase 1 of the study.
Young people’s experiences of bullying and violence in secondary schooling: Phase 2, Preliminary findings
In the second phase of this project, young people involved in flexible learning programs (FLO) talked about their understandings and experiences of bullying and violence. The purpose of this phase was to learn from young people about their experiences of violence and bullying in school, and better understand the contemporary social dynamics that enable and justify bullying.
This report provides a preliminary insight into the findings of Phase 2 of the study.
Housing SA project - Young women’s experiences of violence and homelessness
This report presents the results of a qualitative study exploring young women’s experiences of domestic and family violence, sexual abuse and homelessness and housing insecurity. The study contributes to an evidence base that supports a gender-sensitive, trauma-informed approach to creating housing stability for young women who have experienced violence. The findings are presented to inform the South Australian Housing Authority as it deliberates on reform to improve the state’s homelessness system, with the aim of reducing homelessness across South Australia. The reforms are focused on providing services to prevent people from falling into homelessness; to ensure people get the right support they need, when they need it; and to rapidly rehouse people into safe, stable and long-term housing so they don’t cycle in and out of homelessness. These aims are particularly pertinent to the experiences of young women who have endured and survived violence and abuse.
Forums, webinars and podcasts
Emerging Minds podcast series - Child-focused practice approaches to complex problems
Emerging Minds and SWIRLS, January 2023
The compounding effects of disadvantage can mean that children and families present to services with multiple intersecting issues. Trauma, intergenerational disadvantage, alcohol and drug use, mental illness and family and domestic violence (FDV) can all impact one another, making them more challenging for children and families to overcome. Child-focused practice approaches are key to supporting children and families facing complex, coexisting problems.
So, how can practitioners provide the support that is required when working with children and families affected by complex issues? What are the specialist skills that all practitioners need to work effectively with children and families, and how can these be developed in busy professional roles?
In this two-part podcast series, Professor Sarah Wendt and the SWIRLS team share structural approaches to conversations with parents who are facing intersectional disadvantage. They describe the important competencies in non-blaming conversations with parents, creating opportunities to make change in the lives of children.
Throughout these episodes, Sarah and the team examine three key practice questions:
Child-focused approaches to complex problems – part one is available now. Part two will be released on Tuesday 7 February 2023.
Emerging Minds has partnered with SWIRLS to develop a suite of resources, including these podcasts and practice papers. These resources provide practical examples of structural approaches to holding child-focused conversations with children and parents who are experiencing adversity, using a structural approach to consider the needs of children and understand the context of parent and family adversity. They support a focus on the environments that affect family life, a curiosity in the parent’s story, and non-shaming conversations that support child safety and wellbeing.
Round Table Consultation Event – Understanding domestic violence and religion: Exploring how faith-based organisations can be part of the solution. Held Friday 28th October, in-person at
St Athanasius College, Melbourne and online via livestream.
PURPOSE ... THE OPPORTUNITY
Presented by the Social Work Innovation Research Living Space (SWIRLS) at Flinders University, University of Divinity, Lutheran Church Australia, and Christian Research Association This event was a national gathering to share information about initiatives and research demonstrating how churches and faith communities in Australia are working to prevent and respond to domestic and family violence. This purpose and opportunity of this gathering was to promote inter-faith awareness of how religious organisations and communities are raising awareness about domestic and family violence, and how they understand their role in responding and providing support to congregations and affected individuals – victim/survivors and perpetrators of violence.
The gathering also invited government and service provider representatives to share information about their work with faith communities on this issue. The event supported sharing ideas about how domestic and family violence policies, services, and other relevant resources, can further work with faith communities.
In this space there are difficult conversations and reflections in the call for renewed knowledges, practices and initiatives that will promote safety and reduce the risk of spiritual abuse and domestic and family violence. As religious institutions commit to addressing domestic and family violence, this gathering sought to acknowledge the work being done to transform church and faith-community responses, and ensure churches and faith settings are safe spaces, and support accountability and healing.
RATIONALE
It is timely to bring together church and faith communities to share information about their initiatives because:
PRESENTERS
PANNELISTS
Resources, including recordings of the research presentations, panel discussion and presentation slide decks are available below.
Responses from the consultation will be collated and a report will be produced and distributed as an outcome of this event.
Please note, due to technical difficulties the slide deck did not present in full during the live presentation. The slide deck provided here is the full presentation and, as such, may not exactly match the order delivered in the live presentation.
The Teaching/Research Nexus
While many of us espouse the value of the teaching-research nexus in university education and in social work, research has shown it is often unclear what the nexus is and how it expresses itself in an academic’s work. The nexus can be explicit or subtle and can be achieved in many ways. For this SWIRLS PhD and Honours Research Seminar Professor Sarah Wendt poses questions and leads a discussion about:
SWIRLS Research Seminar - Child Protection
SWIRLS researchers and PhD students have the drive to make a difference in the lives of children and young people. This ‘in conversation’ panel, facilitated by Professor Sarah Wendt, provided an opportunity to hear about current research exploring child protection lived experiences, practices, and systems. Furthermore, the panellists provided their reflections on how their research contributes to continue improvement for children, young people and their families.
Panellists:
Dr Carmela Bastian – who has 20 years experience practicing in child protection and now researches child-centred practices and collaboration across systems
Dr Ben Lohmeyer – who has ten years’ experience in the non-government youth services sector and now researches young people’s experiences of structural and systemic violence
Luke Cantley – Research Fellow who has gained extensive experience working as an Aboriginal Health Worker and seeks to understand the role Aboriginal culture plays as a protective factor within the child protection system
Amy Bromley – PhD student who has ten years of experience in the child protection sector and is researching how child protection systems reform through empowering practitioners
Isabelle Hermes – PhD student who is researching the service engagement of parents who are at risk of, or who have experienced, child removal by statutory child protection agencies
Making and breaking social policy podcast
Featuring a range of guests who are involved in the making and breaking of social policy, this podcast is about how we all live together and if we can make that work.
This podcast was created as a key piece of content for two social policy topics in Social Work at Flinders University. It is hosted by Dr Ben Lohmeyer, Lecturer in Social Work at Flinders Uni and SWIRLS Member.
Emerging Themes Video Series : Collaboration
In the second instalment of the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare 'Emerging Themes' video series, Professor Sarah Wendt (Matthew Flinders Fellow and Professor in Social Work, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University) & Dr Carmela Bastian (Senior Lecturer, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University), speak on the importance of how effective system collaboration and coordination can keep children and families safe.
Uncertainty in Social Work
Hear from Flinders University's Social Work Innovation Research Living Space (SWIRLS) PhD candidate and Associate Lecturer in Social Work, Chris Reynolds, as he discusses the topic of 'uncertainty in social work' in a cross Centre conversation as a special guest for the Centre for Social Work Innovation and Research's (CSWIR) 2022 podcast series.
Focusing on the invisible - The unseen impacts of youth violence
When we think of youth violence, we might think of school bullying or youth ‘gangs’. But SWIRLS researcher Dr Ben Lohmeyer steps back from these eye-catching behaviours to uncover where violence is an invisible and accepted part of Australian society.
Hear from Dr Ben Lohmeyer who explores the concept of invisible violence and its impact on the lives of our young people. Are violent movies and video games really corrupting young people's minds? What are other less visible ways that young people are being exposed to power inequalities and violence? Is being a young person harder today than it was 20 years ago?
Diversity considerations for older Australians receiving aged care and palliative care
Dr Georgia Rowley, RePaDD Member and Research Fellow, Social Work Innovation Research Living Space (SWIRLS), discusses the needs for diversity considerations in Australia’s aged care and end-of-life care workforce, and the creation and use of informational web pages attaining to diverse population groups for the RePaDD seminar series where members and guest speakers present their research and its implications for palliative care, death and dying across the community, and health and social systems.
Decolonising Social Work
Aboriginal social work academics Sue Green and Bindi Bennett posed the challenge: ‘Decolonising requires the individual and in turn the profession to undergo a journey of self-discovery and a personal process of decolonising themselves’ in their article for Australian Social Work journal. In this forum, SWIRLS Members respond to this challenge and also talk about what decolonisation means to them. These resources formed part of the Nordic Circles Study Group conference - decolonising social work, held on Monday 9th May, 2022.
Nordic Circles Study Group Conference - Welcome to Country and decolonising social work forum
For the Nordic Circles Study Group Conference 2022, a live Welcome to Country by Kaurna Elder, Uncle Mickey O’Brien was broadcast from Australia, followed by SWIRLS members engaging in a group conversation, about the importance of an Acknowledgement of Country and Australia’s historical context, colonial legacies and continuing impacts. The circle creates a space for regular collaboration over an extended period of time, durable networks in the Nordic-Baltic region and beyond and provides a cross-disciplinary forum for debating topics that are not already established in universities, thereby contributing to the initiation of new research agendas and alternative perspectives.
Social work routes podcast - health inequities and decolonisation
Luke Cantley has family connections to the Gunditjmara nation of Victoria (Australia) and is a Research Associate located within the Social Work Innovation Research Living Space (SWIRLS) at Flinders University. Through his research Luke seeks to understand the role Indigenous culture plays as a protective factor within the child protection system, whilst also exploring the nuances between child safety and cultural safety. Luke has gained extensive experience working as an Aboriginal Health Worker using a strengths-based approach across diverse sectors including Prison Health, Primary Health Care, Public Housing and Mental Health Services.
This podcast is part of the The Social Work Routes podcast, dedicated to exploring the pathways to social justice work. The podcast is hosted by Kris Clarke, an Associate Professor at the University of Helsinki.
Emerging minds podcasts – Family violence and child-aware practice
This episode is the first in a two-part series on family and domestic violence and child-aware practice. Tune in to hear experienced family violence practitioners and other leaders in the field discuss the impact of family and domestic violence on children and the mother-child relationship, and some of the practice dilemmas that accompany conversations with mothers about their children’s wellbeing in a context of family violence, and some ways of having conversations with mothers that respond to these dilemmas.
Tune in to hear experienced family violence practitioners and other leaders in the field discuss some of the possible entry points into conversations about children’s wellbeing with mothers experiencing family violence and fathers who are using violence. They’ll also address themes of safety, complexity, and organisational support. This episode is the second in a two-part series on family and domestic violence and child-aware practice.
ANROWS insights podcast - How do we engage men who use violence?
Engaging men who use violence in conversations about change is a critical first step to sustainable attitudinal and behaviour change.
Engaging men who use violence: Invitational narrative approaches, a research report from ANROWS, explores how invitational narrative approaches use stories to challenge minimisation, denial or apathy towards the use of violence against women and children. Invitational narrative practice engages perpetrators in an emotional journey, supporting them to take responsibility for their behaviours by discovering their core values and relationship ideals.
In this episode, members of the research team Professor Sarah Wendt (Flinders University), Dr Kate Seymour (Flinders University), and Chris Dolman (Emerging Minds and Uniting Communities) sit down with Michele Robinson, Director, Evidence to Action (ANROWS) to discuss what invitational narrative practice is, how shame and “ethical preferences” play an important role in this technique and discuss how to evaluate the effectiveness of this work.
As an outcome of this project, ANROWS, in partnership with Flinders University and Uniting Communities, hosted a symposium for policy-makers and practitioners, led by Professor Sarah Wendt, on invitational narrative approaches to engaging men who use violence. The symposium explores the key findings of the research project.
View the symposium in our public lecture resources here.
Read the research reports in our reports publications resources here.
For additional information, please consult ANROWS website.
Public lectures
12th South Australian Women’s and Gender Studies Annual Public Lecture – Working in Challenging Environments: What is the Work?
This public event was a panel conversation with Professor Donna Baines, University of British Columbia, and leading experts from SWIRLS and Flinders University discussing the ways in which people navigate work environments where risk is seemingly inherent in the role. Specifically, we explore what it means to work in a role where managing verbal violence and intimidation, witnessing violence and/or its victims is considered simply a part of the job. By focusing on workplaces where workers are required to manage their own and other people’s safety - both physically and psychologically - the panel explored how we define work, the narratives that workers use to manage challenging work environments and how organisations support or diminish workers ability to manage these environments.
Hosts:
Panellists
SWIRLS AND CSWIR international public lecture – Uncertainty and child protection
This public lecture, presented by the Centre for Social Work Innovation and Research (CSWIR) at the University of Sussex in the UK and the Social Work Innovation Research Living Space (SWIRLS) at Flinders University in South Australia, is an ‘in conversation with’ presentation, where academics, and practitioners discuss how practice has adapted to the heightened sense of uncertainty engendered by the pandemic in everyday child protection social work. The unique perspectives of social work practitioners and managers from Australian and UK practice contexts are brought together in conversation with academic colleagues from SWIRLS and CSWIR.
Hosts:
Panellists
SWIRLS and CSWIR lecture - Social Work Registration: Changes, Challenges and Opportunities
On World Social Work Day (Tuesday, 15 March 2022) SWIRLS and the University of Sussex's Centre for Social Work Innovation and Research (CSWIR) hosted an online event to discuss what the registration of Social Work means for values, principles and identity.
Investigator lecture - Challenging structures and changing policies to drive inclusion, diversity, equal rights and a voice for all
In this public lecture a discussion with industry leaders examines how innovation can drive diversity and equal rights for all.
Professor Sally Robinson, Professor in Disability and Community Inclusion at Flinders University (SWIRLS) is joined by Professor Richard Bruggemann, disability advocate and SA Senior Australian of the Year 2021; Tanya Hosch, Executive General Manager Inclusion & Social Policy with the AFL, and Helen Connolly, South Australian Commissioner for Children and Young People.
SWIRLS lecture - Hands upraised: can social work activism help reduce violence against women?
Hosted by Professor Sarah Wendt, this public lecture aligned with the annual global 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. The lecture explores the relationship between activism and social work, recognising the critical role of activism in naming and responding to violence.
The event is presented as an in conversation with panellists Dr Kate Seymour, Senior Lecturer, Flinders University, Kimberley Wanganeen, Principle Aboriginal Consultant, Anglicare, and Maria Hagias, CEO, Women’s Safety Services South Australia.
BRAVE Flinders Research & Innovation Series - No where to call home
Watch Professor Sarah Wendt and Associate Professor Kristin Natalier discuss the social issues that lead women and children to experience homelessness and disadvantage.
You’ll hear more about their research conducted in partnership with Housing SA (Department of Human Services, South Australia), and their evidence-informed safety-first, housing-first approach for service system response.
Social transformation lecture - Service chaos amplifies family chaos
Every year South Australia welcomes about 20,000 newborn children into the world and around 3,700 of these children are in and out of home care, experiencing prolonged stress, neglect and trauma, and need service responses from multiple agencies and professions.
In this public lecture, Hosted by Professor Sarah Wendt, CEO of Relationships Australia Dr Claire Ralfs explores how family services may be professionally organised and clinically coherent, but vulnerable families still find family services chaotic, confusing, unresponsive and not integrated. Dr Ralfs presents on the need to identify and remove roadblocks to improve collaboration between services. She discusses how more holistic and standardised screening processes need to map strengths and vulnerabilities. Examples of restorative practices introduced in the UK are explored, including how ‘high challenge – high support’ strategies can shape services in the future.
She is joined by a panel of leaders from the sector to discuss ways to build a more integrated family service system in South Australia including Ms Ann-Marie Hayes, Executive Director, Early Years and Child Development at the Department of Human Services, Mr Craig Rigney, Chief Executive Officer, KWY and Ms Cathy Taylor, Chief Executive of the Department for Child Protection.
Social transformation lecture - Service chaos amplifies family chaos
World renowned social work expert Emeritus Professor Eileen Munro of the London School of Economics visited the SWIRLS Research Centre to lead informative discussions about the changing context of social work and increasing demands of accountability and professional excellence experienced in the UK.
Professor Munro has written extensively on how best to combine intuitive and analytic reasoning in child protection risk assessment and decision-making, and the importance of understanding how systems’ factors influence workers’ actions. In 2011, she completed the Munro Review of the English Child Protection System.
In this public lecture, hosted by SWIRLS, Professor Munro, in partnership with the Department for Child Protection and Uniting Communities, presents on “Social Work with Children and Families”, explaining how complexity can be managed but not controlled. She explores the implications for social work in relation to its practice, and the limited predictability of human behaviour, along with outlining research into developing knowledge of universal applicability.
Symposium - Engaging men who use violence: invitational narrative approaches
The ANROWS qualitative study engaging men who use violence: invitational narrative practice explored how invitational narrative ways of working successfully engage men and enable behavioural and attitudinal change. The study explored the historical and philosophical foundations of invitational narrative practice, and the principles and skills that practitioners use in their work.
As an outcome of this project, ANROWS, in partnership with Flinders University and Uniting Communities, hosted a symposium for policy-makers and practitioners on invitational narrative approaches to engaging men who use violence. The symposium, led by Professor Sarah Wendt, explores the key findings of the research project.
To read the research report visit our Reports and publications section here.
To listen to the ANROWS Insights podcast episode - How do we engage men who use violence? - visit our Podcasts and webinars section here.
BRAVE - Flinders Research & Innovation Series - Beyond the Bruise
Little is known about how social and geographical isolation shape women’s coping abilities and domestic violence service provision.
Domestic and family violence is more than just a headline; the actual work involved in responding to this complex issue is largely invisible and unknown. How can we best support the sector and workforce to tackle domestic and family violence to ensure the best outcomes for families as well as maintain a sustainable workforce?
In this lecture, Professor Sarah Wendt explores domestic and family violence, raising questions about the future of the domestic and family violence workforce and what we expect, as part of the BRAVE Flinders Research & Innovation Series.
ANROWS lecture – Seeking help for domestic violence: exploring rural women’s coping experiences
Little is known about how social and geographical isolation shape women’s coping abilities and domestic violence service provision.
This study engaged with five different types of social and geographical locations at sites in South Australia and Western Australia to explore how isolation impacts on different women’s abilities to seek assistance and cope with experiences of domestic violence.
Principle Chief Investigator, Professor Sarah Wendt presents at the ANROWS Inaugural National Research Conference.
Read the research report by visiting out Reports and publications section here.
For further information on this study please consult ANROWS website.
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