schedule details

Event Agenda

Join us for a dynamic two-day summit shaping the future of data in the APS. Featuring keynotes, case studies, fireside chats, roundtables, workshops, and peer-to-peer discussions, the program is built to deliver practical takeaways— from actionable frameworks and playbooks to lessons learned from major government transformations.

Placing healing at the centre of care for both victim-survivors and frontline workers

7:00 AM Registration opens

8:40 AM Welcome to Country

Cameron Burgess

Cameron Burgess

Director - Sanctuary
MacKillop Family Services

  • Embedding the core trauma-informed principles in organisations and services
  • Focusing on the importance of emotional, psychological, physical and cultural safety
  • Examining the role as a trauma sensitive frontline worker in empowering healing for those impacted by trauma

Dr Cathy Kezelman AM

President and Managing Director
Blue Knot Foundation

  • How can organisations balance the emotional and mental wellbeing of survivors with the needs of frontline workers? 
  • The role of leadership in fostering a trauma-informed and healing-focused environment for all involved 
  • Developing frameworks to integrate trauma-informed, culturally sensitive practices at every level of service delivery 

Panellists:

Tinashe La

Registered Counsellor,Author
FDV Lived Experience Speaker

Patricia Gault

Chief Executive Officer
Marnin Bowa Dumbara Family Healing Centre

10:20 AM Morning refreshments

  • Incorporating connection, cultural agility and code-switching to support trauma recovery
  • Integrating traditional healing practices with modern therapeutic approaches to create a holistic recovery plan
  • How culturally safe spaces empower both survivors and frontline workers in their healing journey

Dom Passalacqua

Business Continuity, Governance and Advocacy Manager
Carers WA

  • Spotting the early signs of stress and fatigue in yourselves and your teams
  • Building personal and staff-led practices that actually stick
  • Creating a culture of reflection, healing, and growth that supports a strong, sustainable workforce

Hannah George

Chief Executive Officer
Katherine Women’s Information and Legal Service

Margi MacGregor

Organisational Psychologist

12:10 PM Networking luncheon

  • Combatting the root causes of burnout and workforce shortages in the family violence sector
  • Developing strategies to retain and support frontline staff through supervision and wellbeing frameworks
  • Examining recruitment and training pipelines that improve continuity and care quality

Panellists:

Penney Ferguson

Chief Executive Officer
First Nations Women's Legal Services Qld

Hannah George

Chief Executive Officer
Katherine Women’s Information and Legal Service

  • Bringing to light experiences from both victim-survivors and frontline workers about their journeys of healing
  • How shared narratives can inform and inspire best practices in trauma recovery
  • Analysing the power of connection and the importance of safe spaces for sharing experiences and healing

Tinashe La

Registered Counsellor, Author
FDV Lived Experience Speaker

2:30 PM Afternoon refreshments

  • Co-designing effective recovery frameworks with lived experience front and centre
  • Connecting with potential partners to meet current and emerging needs of survivors throughout their recovery journey
  • Setting strong foundations that lead to thriving partnerships and positive outcomes for all stakeholders

Carolyn Robinson

Founder and Managing Director
Beyond DV

“I think I’m just burnt out.” It’s a phrase heard all too often across the family violence and community services sector, but what does burnout really mean, and why does it matter now more than ever?

Those working in family safety are routinely exposed to high emotional demand, trauma, and systemic pressure. This raises a critical question: are we mistaking chronic risk for normalised stress and missing opportunities to intervene early?

This practical mini workshop will support participants to better understand, identify and prevent burnout at both an individual and organisational level and is designed for leaders and practitioners committed to protecting not only the people they serve but also the workforce that holds the system together.

Participants will explore: 

  • The core symptoms of burnout and the key defining feature that distinguishes it from stress and fatigue
  • The intersection between burnout, trauma exposure and emerging psychosocial safety obligations 
  • A practical, prevention-focused framework for building safer, more sustainable workplace cultures 

Facilitated by:

Cameron Burgess

Cameron Burgess

Director, Sanctuary
MacKillop Family Services

The Healing Circle is a restorative, interactive session designed to bring delegates together in a supportive space. Through guided reflection and small group discussions, participants will explore key themes from the day, share personal insights and identify actionable steps to prioritise healing in their work. This session fosters a sense of community, offering a chance for deep connection, shared learning and collective reflection.

Note: Participation is voluntary. If you prefer to listen rather than share, that is completely okay. Support services will be available if needed.

Facilitated by:

5:00 PM Closing remarks from the Chair and end of pre-conference day

7:00 AM Registration opens

8:40 AM Welcome to Country

Josh Hewitt

Josh Hewitt

Manager of Justice Transitions and Violence Prevention Services
EveryMan Australia

New Zealand is aiming to lead the world in devolution of state care from the central government to iwi and community groups. This approach aims to empower local organisations and mana whenua to deliver tailored, community-led solutions and move away from faceless bureaucratic institutions. 

Hon Karen Chhour

Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence and for Children
New Zealand Government

  • Recognising how victim-survivors, children and young people, and people who use violence experience systems differently and why each requires distinct, evidence-informed responses 
  • Exposing how siloed policy and service design creates gaps, weakens coordination and delays intervention across the family safety system 
  • Designing coordinated pathways using early recognition as the connecting thread to strengthen victim-survivor safety, support children as victim-survivors, and improve accountability for people who use violence 

Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine

Chief Executive Officer
ANROWS

  • Sharing the State Government’s priorities and current initiatives to prevent domestic and family violence and safeguard children
  • Analysing successes and lessons learned from recent reforms and cross-agency collaborations in Western Australia
  • Showcasing future policy directions and opportunities for community partnerships to drive lasting change

Hon Jessica Stojkovski

Minister for Child Protection; Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence
Government of Western Australia

  • How to meaningfully embed lived experience into policy design and service delivery
  • Implementing frameworks for what true cultural safety looks like in delivery
  • Developing practical tools for organisations to transform their internal culture and external impact

Panellists:

Simone O’Brien

Domestic Violence Survivor and Speaker

Dr Sophie Davison

Chief Psychiatrist
Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Jessica Warren

Jessica Warren

Assistant Director
NSW Department of Communities and Justice

Eve Cordeiro

Branch Manager, National Programs - Family Safety
Department of Social Services

10:50 AM Morning refreshments

Chair:

Kristel Krella

Social Worker and PhD Candidate
La Trobe University

  • How universal and targeted prevention strategies can be embedded into everyday practice across health, justice and child protection sectors
  • Identifying risk factors early and intervene upstream to disrupt the cycle of intergenerational violence
  • Strengthening referral pathways between services to ensure seamless early intervention

Michelle Dillon

Chief Executive Officer and Director of Nursing
Ngala

  • How community-led, culturally grounded approaches are preventing violence in First Nations communities
  • Developing models to amplify First Nations voices and embed cultural safety in prevention policy and practice
  • Identifying enablers of self-determined, place-based prevention initiatives

Stephen Morrison

Aboriginal Cultural Practice and Capability Manager
Hope Community Services

12:50 PM Networking luncheon

  • Strengthening community trust in policing to prevent violence and harm before it occurs
  • Implementing collaborative prevention initiatives that empower women, protect children and engage the broader community  
  •  Developing practical strategies to create safer environments through early intervention, education and proactive policing 

Simone O’Brien

Domestic Violence Survivor and Speaker

  • Examining how coercive control manifests in migrant and ref comm
  • How to identify and respond when coercive control is disclosed in a trauma informed and cultural responsive way
  • Looking at the role of service providers to support clients dealing with coercive control

Ajsela Siskovic

Executive Manager- Legal Services and Principal Lawyer
inTouch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence

3:10 PM Afternoon refreshments

  • Developing cross-sector partnerships to prevent FDV
  • Preventing financial abuse by empowering victims and strengthening systems to detect, intervene and protect economic independence
  • Preventing FDV in rural and remote communities by strengthening service continuity and local support networks
  • Examining ow in setting out to reduce suicide, Parents Beyond Breakup ‘accidentally’ also significantly reduced FDV
  • Discussing key learnings from 26 years of working with mums and dads in distress
  • Demonstrating how person-centered therapy and peer support can drive inclusive, community-led change

Pete Nicholls

Chief Executive Officer
Parents Beyond Breakup

4:50 PM Closing remarks from the Chair and end of day one

Chair:

Jess Barnes

PhD Candidate/ Graduate Researcher, Academic Lecturer and Mental Health Clinical Nurse Educator
La Trobe University

  • Building frameworks for long-term needs of survivors and how services can remain involved after the crisis phase
  • Examining outreach, peer-support and trauma-informed check-ins post-intervention
  • How wraparound care contributes to lasting safety and recovery

Patricia Gault

Chief Executive Officer
Marnin Bowa Dumbara Family Healing Centre

  • How place-based and community-led approaches can overcome fragmented service systems
  • Implementing targeted cross-sector collaboration to improve outcomes for families affected by violence
  • Developing pathways to improve inclusivity for culturally diverse, regional and underrepresented communities

Moderator:

Helen Mitchell

Deputy CEO
Communicare

Panellists:

Michelle Dillon

Chief Executive Officer and Director of Nursing
Ngala

Regan Mitchell

Director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Strategy
Our Watch

Stephanie Monck

Principal Legal Officer
Women's Legal Service WA

12:50 PM Networking luncheon

  • Developing strategies to restore the bond and rebuild trust and attachment between mothers and children after trauma
  • Building safety beyond crisis that empower women and children to create stable, violence‑free futures
  • How to incorporate trauma‑informed approaches to strengthen relationships and foster emotional security

Michelle Fairweather

Operations Manager
The Family Co

Melissa Keane

Team Leader
The Family Co

  • Identifying and responding to legal issues before crisis point
  • Establishing integrated and collaborative practice to resolve legal and non-legal issues and support victim survivor recovery
  • Working in partnership through the Emerging Lawyer and Family Law Capacity Building Programs to increase access to high quality place-based family violence and family law legal help

Claudia Fatone

Chief Executive Officer
Women's Legal Service Victoria

3:10 PM Afternoon refreshments

  • Bridging the gap between family violence response and mental health, maternal health and addiction recovery systems
  • Building lasting recovery pathways for children and young people beyond crisis through integrated care and school engagement
  • Designing intersectional and inclusive recovery pathways that meet the unique needs of LGBTQIA+ people, people with disability, older women and male survivors
  • Exploring healing-focused services for victim-survivors of all genders across the lifespan
  • Clarifying intersections and distinctions between sexual violence and family violence responses
  • Tackling rising rates, complex policy settings, and tech-facilitated harm
  • Elevating advocacy to drive systems change and bring sexual violence out of the shadows

Nicole Lambert

Chair
National Association of Services against Sexual Violence
Chief Executive Officer
Allambee

4:50 PM Closing remarks from the Chair and end of day one

Chair:

Josh Hewitt

Josh Hewitt

Manager of Justice Transitions and Violence Prevention Services
EveryMan Australia

  • Implementing large scale change as a government department underpinned by best practice research 
  • Understanding the importance of prioritising Aboriginal ways of Knowing Being and Doing  
  • Harnessing an aboriginal designed, led and evaluated program to align with APAC standards to deepen SEWB awareness and understanding to embed in clinical delivery specific to NSW OOHC

Dr Jessica Warren

Senior Psychologist & Assistant Director, Psychological & Specialist Services Office of the Senior Practitioner
NSW Department of Communities and Justice

Debbie Haynes

Aboriginal Clinical Psychologist/PhD Candidate
NSW Department of Communities and Justice

  • Examining how coercive control laws reflect colonial ideologies and marginalise Indigenous perspectives
  • Unpacking the role of structural racism in shaping legal, medical and social responses to Indigenous communities
  • Advocating for decolonising justice through community-led solutions and truth-telling about colonial violence

Devon Cuimara

Chief Executive Officer
Aboriginal Males Healing Centre (AMHC)

12:50 PM Networking luncheon

  • Examining how an increased understanding and conversation about coercive control and its relationship to high risk and lethality is playing out in recent amendments to the Family Law Act and in family law decisions about children and property
  • Considering what impact the criminalisation of coercive control is having in the family law system
  • Discussing the ways lawyers and non-lawyers working with victim survivors and perpetrators can best ensure safety

Angela Lynch

Sector Engagement Manager - DV-Alert
Lifeline Australia

Pip Davis

Principal Solicitor
Women's Legal Service NSW

Ajsela Siskovic

Executive Manager- Legal Services and Principal Lawyer
inTouch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence

  • Examine the increasing trend in the use of defamation proceedings and non-disclosure terms in deeds as weapons to silence victim survivors of gender-based violence and preference the protection of perpetrators 
  • Discuss the impacts for individuals as well as for community, institutions and systems 
  • Outline the need for urgent law reform

Panellists:

Pip Davis

Principal Solicitor
Women's Legal Service NSW

3:10 PM Afternoon refreshments

  • Safely including children’s voices in legal and court proceedings to empower children while protecting their wellbeing  
  • Building safety through police-community collaboration and co-response models  
  • Facilitating perpetrator accountability through evidence-based behaviour change programs 
  • Strengthening culturally safe methods of accountability that respect First Nations protocols, kinship and healing processes
  • Examining examples of community-led programs addressing harm while restoring relationships and cultural safety
  • Identifying how mainstream systems can support First Nations-led justice responses

Penney Ferguson

Chief Executive Officer
First Nations Women's Legal Services Qld

4:50 PM Closing remarks from the Chair and end of day one

Step away from the intensity of conference discussions and reconnect with yourself through guided breathwork and gentle movement practices. This session offers trauma-aware techniques through breathing and movement intelligence tools that can support nervous system regulation, reduce stress, enhance overall wellbeing and augment personal resilience. Suitable for all bodies and experience levels, delegates can expect a calming space to ground, release tension and return to the program feeling re-centred and restored.

Session Facilitator:

Dom Passalacqua is an accredited clinical exercise physiologist (AEP) and internationally endorsed master of eastern movement systems.

8:00 AM Registration opens

Kristel Krella

Kristel Krella

Social Worker and PhD Candidate
La Trobe University

  • How shifting from reactive to proactive approaches can disrupt the cycle of violence
  • Developing innovative prevention frameworks that span early intervention, education and whole-of-community
  • How systemic change can better serve the needs of families before crisis escalates

Antoinette Braybrook AM

Chief Executive Officer
Djirra

  • Outlining the Family Violence Restraining Order process and where a mediation-style pathway may occur  
  • Explaining what a Shuttle Conference is and how it operates in a family violence context  
  • Demonstrating the benefits of Shuttle Conferencing in reducing risk, minimising re-traumatisation and supporting safer outcomes  

Registrar Barbara Watroba

Department of Justice WA

Registrar Caroline Brookes

Department of Justice WA

Registrar Rebecca Lockwood

Department of Justice WA

  • Centring survivor voice to reveal how funding gaps directly impact safety, dignity and recovery  
  • Exposing how short-term, fragmented funding undermines accountability and long-term outcomes and what must change to support survivors beyond crisis  
  • Demonstrating how coordinated, community-led funding models can align prevention, response and recovery at a system level

Simone O’Brien

Domestic Violence Survivor and Speaker

Carolyn Robinson

Founder and Managing Director,
Beyond DV

Jaye Wainui

Chief Executive Officer
Kirikiriroa Family Services NZ

11:00 AM Morning refreshments

Chair:

Kristel Krella

Social Worker and PhD Candidate
La Trobe University

  • How FDV manifests in children’s lives and the importance of recognising them as victim-survivors in their own right
  • Exploring the role of trauma-informed, developmentally appropriate engagement in supporting disclosure and recovery
  • Equipping frontline practitioners with tools and frameworks to identify and respond to FDV, even when it’s not ostensibly the presenting issue

Kim Brooklyn

Chief Executive Officer
Parkerville Children and Youth Care

  • Developing strategies to overcome stigma as a barrier to early detection and intervention in domestic abuse
  • How to create safe environments for disclosure and early access to help
  • Reframing public narratives to reduce shame and foster prevention culture

Panellists:

Michelle Fairweather

Operations Manager
The Family Co

Stephen Morrison

Aboriginal Cultural Practice and Capability Manager
Hope Community Services

Pushpa Siroley

Manager - Mental Health and FDV Services
Ishar Multicultural Women’s Health Services 

  • Identifying trends and emerging forms of FDV impacting CALD communities
  • Addressing the unique challenges and barriers service providers face in responding effectively
  • Developing strategies for managing cultural conflict and delivering safe, respectful, and culturally informed interventions

Sanna Pervez

Family and Domestic Violence Social Worker
Ishar Multicultural Women’s Health Services

1:30 PM Networking luncheon

  • Examining why the rates of violence are so much higher for our women  
  • Understanding the link between colonial impacts and violence today  
  • Unpacking what needs to happen to reduce this violence so all women have the same opportunities to be safe and to thrive 

Regan Mitchell

Director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Strategy
Our Watch

  • Identifyingdefining and understanding technology-facilitated abuse 
  • Establishing a multi-pronged, multi-stakeholder response 
  • Developing proactive strategies to educate, reduce harm and stay ahead in an ever-evolving fast-moving space 

Claire Hurst

Director
White Ribbon Australia

Chris Majid

Senior Program Facilitator
White Ribbon Australia

Deborah Murray

Senior Manager, Women's & Family Safety Services
Communicare

3:50 PM Afternoon refreshments

  • Responding to gendered violence shaped by the voices of First Nations women and informed by the lived experiences of culturally and racially marginalised people, women with disability and LGBTQIA+ communities
  • Shifting away from placing burden on victim survivors of sexual abuse to report and moving towards a culture of prevention
  • Addressing inequality, housing stress and job insecurity as foundations for successful DFV outcomes

Dr Anna Cody

Sex Discrimination Commissioner
Australian Human Rights Commission

To close the Family Safety Summit, all delegates are invited to gather for a powerful Healing Circle. This session is a space for reflection, connection, and collective grounding. This interactive session offers the opportunity to pause, process, and share key learnings from the past two days in a culturally respectful and supportive environment. Guided by experienced facilitators, the circle will honour the voices in the room, promote personal insight and encourage delegates to return to their work with renewed clarity, purpose and care.

Note: This session will be facilitated in a way that is culturally safe, inclusive, and sensitive to trauma. Participation is entirely voluntary, and delegates are welcome to engage at their own comfort level. Quiet spaces and emotional support will be available throughout the session to ensure that everyone feels safe and supported.

5:00 PM Closing remarks from the Chair and end of Summit

Chair:

Jess Barnes

PhD Candidate/ Graduate Researcher, Academic Lecturer and Mental Health Clinical Nurse Educator
La Trobe University

  • Moving beyond victimisation and exploring pathways that center lived experience, resilience, and agency to shift from a narrative of harm to one of strength and restoration
  • How trauma-informed justice responses can empower individuals, communities, and systems to support long-term recovery
  • Building trauma-informed services that embed practices to recognise the impact of trauma while fostering safety, choice, and collaboration in every step of the support journey

Jackie Mead

Chief Executive Officer
Knowmore Legal Service

  • Leveraging research partnerships to strengthen community-led solutions
  • Embedding deep listening to shape meaningful strategies for change
  • Mobilising collective action to build a movement where young people can flourish

Panellists:

Aunty June Mills

Larrakia Elder and Board Member
In Our Hands

Jacqueline Dysart

Manager – Social Support
Northern Territory Legal Aid Commission

Kay Villaflor

Coordinator of Palmerston Family and Cultural Centre
Larrakia Nation 

Serena Dalton

Chief Executive Officer
Grassroots Action Palmerston

  • Demonstrating how Karlup was co-designed to contribute to the National Plan’s fourth pillar healing and recovery, including the lessons learned from lived-experience-led design and award-winning architecture 
  • Showcasing how integrated service delivery at Karlup honours women’s feedback by reducing re-traumatisation and ensuring they tell their story only once 
  • Evaluating the first year of operations by sharing outcomes, what has worked, what has changed, and the priorities shaping the next phase of healing and recovery 

Debra Zanella

Chief Executive Officer
Ruah Community Services

1:30 PM Networking luncheon

  • Understanding critical reforms in the family law system 
  • Responding to systems abuse in the family law and child support system
  • Enablers to post-separation economic recovery

Dr Rachel Carson

Executive Manager-Family Law, Family Violence and Elder Abuse Research
Australian Institute of Family Studies

Kira Duggan

Research Director, Systems and Services
Australian Institute of Family Studies

  • Examining how safety from domestic and family violence can be strengthened during and beyond family court proceedings through evidence generated by the Stories of Family Safety study 
  • Learning from litigating families in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, including those involved in Lighthouse: an innovate approach taken by the Courts to screen for and manage risk 
  • Advancing family law policy and practice by generating new insights to reduce the interpersonal, economic and social impacts of post-separation violence for families navigating the family court system 
Kristel Krella

Kristel Krella

Social Worker and PhD Candidate
La Trobe University

Jess Barnes

PhD Candidate/ Graduate Researcher, Academic Lecturer and Mental Health Clinical Nurse Educator
La Trobe University

3:50 PM Afternoon refreshments

  • Responding to gendered violence shaped by the voices of First Nations women and informed by the lived experiences of culturally and racially marginalised people, women with disability and LGBTQIA+ communities
  • Shifting away from placing burden on victim survivors of sexual abuse to report and moving towards a culture of prevention
  • Addressing inequality, housing stress and job insecurity as foundations for successful DFV outcomes

Dr Anna Cody

Sex Discrimination Commissioner,
Australian Human Rights Commission

To close the Family Safety Summit, all delegates are invited to gather for a powerful Healing Circle. This session is a space for reflection, connection, and collective grounding. This interactive session offers the opportunity to pause, process, and share key learnings from the past two days in a culturally respectful and supportive environment. Guided by experienced facilitators, the circle will honour the voices in the room, promote personal insight and encourage delegates to return to their work with renewed clarity, purpose and care.

Note: This session will be facilitated in a way that is culturally safe, inclusive, and sensitive to trauma. Participation is entirely voluntary, and delegates are welcome to engage at their own comfort level. Quiet spaces and emotional support will be available throughout the session to ensure that everyone feels safe and supported.

5:00 PM Closing remarks from the Chair and end of Summit

Chair:

Alison Dalziel

Director
Localise

  • Overcoming the limitations of the current family law system in meeting the cultural, linguistic and community needs of First Nations families
  • Identifying barriers such as the cost and burden of proving kinship, lack of judicial training and restricted participation models in legal proceedings
  • Advocating for systemic reform to ensure culturally safe, accessible and equitable family law processes that prevent unnecessary child removals

Keda Ley

Senior Family Lawyer
Central Australian Women’s Legal Service Inc and Domestic Violence Legal Service (South)

Verity Loria

Deputy Principal Legal Officer
Central Australian Women's Legal Service

  • Examining how Family violence is a major factor in Aboriginal over-representation in the justice system, affecting Aboriginal people who experience family violence and those who use family violence 
  • Understanding how current responses too often do not match Aboriginal realities and how experiences of colonisation, systemic racism and discriminatory treatment continue to influence how Aboriginal people view and experience mainstream services 
  • Exploring how these experiences have created a legacy of distrust that persists today and affect how comfortable people feel approaching services  
  • Outlining the methods used in developing the Aboriginal Family Safety Strategy and the outcomes that embed cultural integrity and cultural safety, to inform Justice systems transformation 

Dr Victoria Hovane

Adjunct Professor, Law School
The University of Western Australia

  • Protecting women and children fleeing immediate danger by delivering a culturally grounded, rapid-response safe haven for the Dampier Peninsula communities of DjarindjinArdyaloon and Beagle Bay 
  • Strengthening community wellbeing through integrated support, including partnerships with health services and education programs focused on fitness, health and nutrition for women 
  • Empowering women’s economic independence and healing by embedding financial wellbeing initiatives and creative enterprise, including participation in the Money Story program 

Desarae Sibosado

Chief Operations Officer
Djarindjin Aboriginal Corporation

1:30 PM Networking luncheon

  • Reimagining and challenging the unspoken rules of masculinity
  • Shifting the ecosystem to ensure that systems shape behaviour, not just the individual
  • Creating space for men to change from silence to accountability
Josh Hewitt

Josh Hewitt

Manager of Justice Transitions and Violence
EveryMan Australia

  • Identifying barriers that prevent victim-survivors from reporting violence and abuse
  • Examining community-led and trauma-informed approaches to build trust with police and support services
  • Developing strategies to create safer pathways for disclosure across justice, housing and health sector

Stephanie Monck

Principal Legal Officer
Women's Legal Service WA

3:50 PM Afternoon refreshments

  • Responding to gendered violence shaped by the voices of First Nations women and informed by the lived experiences of culturally and racially marginalised people, women with disability and LGBTQIA+ communities
  • Shifting away from placing burden on victim survivors of sexual abuse to report and moving towards a culture of prevention
  • Addressing inequality, housing stress and job insecurity as foundations for successful DFV outcomes

Dr Anna Cody

Sex Discrimination Commissioner,
Australian Human Rights Commission

To close the Family Safety Summit, all delegates are invited to gather for a powerful Healing Circle. This session is a space for reflection, connection, and collective grounding. This interactive session offers the opportunity to pause, process, and share key learnings from the past two days in a culturally respectful and supportive environment. Guided by experienced facilitators, the circle will honour the voices in the room, promote personal insight and encourage delegates to return to their work with renewed clarity, purpose and care.

Note: This session will be facilitated in a way that is culturally safe, inclusive, and sensitive to trauma. Participation is entirely voluntary, and delegates are welcome to engage at their own comfort level. Quiet spaces and emotional support will be available throughout the session to ensure that everyone feels safe and supported.

5:00 PM Closing remarks from the Chair and end of Summit

Chair:

3:50 PM Afternoon refreshments

  • Responding to gendered violence shaped by the voices of First Nations women and informed by the lived experiences of culturally and racially marginalised people, women with disability and LGBTQIA+ communities
  • Shifting away from placing burden on victim survivors of sexual abuse to report and moving towards a culture of prevention
  • Addressing inequality, housing stress and job insecurity as foundations for successful DFV outcomes

Dr Anna Cody

Sex Discrimination Commissioner,
Australian Human Rights Commission

To close the Family Safety Summit, all delegates are invited to gather for a powerful Healing Circle. This session is a space for reflection, connection, and collective grounding. This interactive session offers the opportunity to pause, process, and share key learnings from the past two days in a culturally respectful and supportive environment. Guided by experienced facilitators, the circle will honour the voices in the room, promote personal insight and encourage delegates to return to their work with renewed clarity, purpose and care.

Note: This session will be facilitated in a way that is culturally safe, inclusive, and sensitive to trauma. Participation is entirely voluntary, and delegates are welcome to engage at their own comfort level. Quiet spaces and emotional support will be available throughout the session to ensure that everyone feels safe and supported.

5:00 PM Closing remarks from the Chair and end of Summit

Creating and sustaining psychologically safe environments is essential for family violence and community services. When staff feel safe to speak up, admit mistakes, and share concerns without fear of blame, both workers and clients benefit. A culture of trust improves retention, reduces burnout and enhances the quality of care for victim-survivors. 

This workshop will equip delegates with the knowledge and tools to foster psychological safety within their organisations. Through reflection, practical examples and applied exercises, participants will explore how to build resilient teams and embed psychological safety as a foundation for effective family safety responses.

Attend this practical workshop and learn how to:

  • Recognise the barriers to psychological safety across frontline, leadership and organisational levels 
  • Apply micro-strategies such as safe disclosure protocols, team check-ins and feedback loops to strengthen workplace culture 
  • Identify risks of silence, blame and burnout that undermine effective service delivery 
  • Draft a practical psychological safety mini plan tailored to your team or organisation 
  • Foster environments where staff wellbeing and survivor safety are mutually reinforced

Facilitated by: 

Tara Hunter

Director Clinical and Client Services
Full Stop Australia

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Networking luncheon

Children are often the silent victims of family and domestic violence, yet their voices are critical in shaping effective responses. Despite recognition that children are victim-survivors in their own right, organisations frequently struggle with practical ways to hear, respect and embed children’s perspectives in policy and service design. 

This workshop will equip delegates with safe, child-inclusive tools to elevate children’s voices. Through hands-on activities and examples, participants will build confidence in adapting language, using consultation methods and integrating children’s experiences into organisational practice.

Attend this practical workshop and learn how to:

  • Understand why centring children’s voices is vital for both practice and systemic change 
  • Adapt adult-focused questions into child-safe, trauma-informed language 
  • Use practical consultation tools such as story cards, visual prompts and child-friendly safety plans 
  • Design a mini child consultation approach for your own service or program 
  • Co-create a set of guiding principles for embedding children’s perspectives in FDV responses

Facilitated by: 

Tina Dacombe Luke

Grad. Dip. Tch/LN & Grad
Dip Pascha Therapy

The 2027 agenda is currently being built, register your interest below and be the first to know of what’s coming up for the 4th National Family Safety Summit 2027!