Central Coast Domestic Violence Committee

It is our pleasure to invite you to join us for the Central Coast ConneXions Conference 2014. ConneXions 2014 promises to be an occasion for Central Coast workers and service managers to connect and network, to access valuable information and renew their inspiration for working towards a violence free society.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER - Morning
Educating in Healing Generational trauma: Children – families –community
Emeritus Professor Judy Atkinson

Emeritus Professor Judy Atkinson identifies as a Jiman / Bundjalung woman. With a PhD from QUT, her primary academic and research focus has been in the area of violence and relational trauma, and healing for Indigenous, and indeed all peoples. She is also a graduate of the Harvard University - Program for RefugeeTrauma - Global Mental Health Trauma and Recovery certificate course. In 2011 she received the FritzRedlich Award for Human Rights and Mental Health from Harvard University. She developed the We Al-li program which was used as a foundation stone for the Masters in Indigenous Studies (wellbeing); the undergraduate degree Trauma and Healing, and the Diploma of Community Recovery.

This is a story about education as healing (educating) across generations, while working with Aboriginal children, their families and community. It provides a case study of a ‘special school’ where children thrived in the learning environment as it was applied to their trauma specific needs, but where we discovered that there were major gaps in the services children require to be safe and well within community in which they live. Hence we ask questions: how can we work together to provide better services for children and their families / carers in need ?

KEYNOTE SPEAKER - Afternoon
Trauma-informed practice: transforming service delivery and the benefits for all stake-holders
Pam Stavropoulos, PhD Head of Research and Clinical Practice, Adults Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA)
The majority of people who access mental health and community sector services have undergone
overwhelming life experiences, interpersonal violence and adversity. Research shows that most have trauma histories (Bloom, 2011; Jennings, 2004). This has led to calls for implementation of a new paradigm – that of trauma informed practice – not only in the health and mental health sectors but across the full spectrum of human service delivery.

Trauma informed practice affects all aspects of service provision. It applies to all staff, paid and unpaid, from front-line reception and administration to senior management. It also represents a shift in policy and service culture. This address will introduce the foundational principles of trauma informed practice, and the diverse range of areas in which they need to be implemented. The multiple benefits of `buy in’ for all parties (i.e. staff at all levels as well as clients) will be elaborated. While recognising that the application of trauma informed practice will differ according to the particular service and organisation, specific recommendations as to how this might occur will also be suggested.

Seminars - Morning
1a. ‘Just Say Goodbye’: Parents who kill their children in the context of separation, Dr Deborah Kirkwood, Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria (DVRCV) and Adjunct Research Fellow at Monash University. The presentation will review the research into international studies on filicide, national data and illustrative case studies of parents who kill their children, focusing on the deliberate killings of children that occur during or after separation. It will highlight the links between separation, family violence and risks to children’s safety.

1b. ‘Trauma, social justice and child protection; how far have we come?’ Pam Swinfield Community Services, Department of Community Services.
Working with the traumatic effects of violence is a key capability for child protection workers yet it is an area of work that can invite uncertainty and unhelpful service responses. The workshop will explore :societal cycles of belief and denial ,common responses to trauma at practitioner, service and societal levels, the relationship between power and approaches to trauma. This workshop examines how perspectives on trauma and our capacity to acknowledge our clients’ experiences powerfully influence service responses and whether we feel able to provide support

1c. ‘Identifying & Responding to Modern Slavery in Australia’

Laura Vidal, The Freedom Partnership, The Salvation Army’s national initiative to End Modern Slavery. This presentation seeks to raise awareness about the prevalence of modern slavery in Australia including a practitioner’s guide to identify and respond to modern slavery, and the importance of working in a trauma informed way with survivors of slavery and more broadly people from a culturally and linguistically diverse background.

Seminars - Afternoon
2b. `Early life trauma in children and adolescents: sources, impacts and approaches to healing’
Pam Stavropoulos, Adults Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA)
This seminar addresses the relationship between early life trauma and its multiple effects on children and adolescents. Childhood trauma, which comes in many forms, is `complex’ trauma which remains unrecognised by many health professionals. Focus will be on key research insights into complex trauma and their implications for working with children and adolescents. Particular attention will be paid to the relationship between coping mechanisms and problematic behaviours and to the important and insufficiently understood role of dissociation as a response to overwhelming experience and the forms it can take in children and adolescents.

2a. ‘Domestic Violence and Technology: navigating the law & practical tips for helping clients’
Alex Davis and Charissa Sun, Women’s Legal Services NSW

This seminar is based on Alex and Charissa’s work with clients experiencing technology-facilitated domestic violence and on their current research in technology-facilitated stalking and abuse. The first part of this seminar will discuss the legal implications of using technology to perpetrate domestic violence, the protections that the existing legal framework offers clients experiencing such abuse, and the effectiveness of these protections. In the second part of the seminar, Alex and Charissa will share some practical tips that workers can use to help clients experiencing technology-facilitated domestic violence.

2c. ‘The Risky Rainbow’: creating a risk profile and strategies for mitigating risks
Clinton Voss, provisional psychologist

The spectrum of diversity is a phenomenon to be celebrated and embraced. However, what should not be celebrated for those with sexuality and gender differences is their overrepresentation in mental health services and in statistics pertaining to suicide. Key findings in current data has suggested that domestic violence. abuse and substance abuse feature strongly in the predictive factors relating to wellbeing outcomes for LGBlTQ identifying people. A suicide risk assessment and mitigation tool has been developed named “The Rainbow 20”. The semi structured interview identifies 20 evidence based domains which in turn generates a risk profile and a suggested mitigation strategy for each of the identified domains relevant to the subject. Although in its early stages, the tool is a step in the direction of understanding diversity, identifying the risks associated with being part of a diverse group and mitigating the potentially negative wellbeing outcomes which all too often claim the lives of LGBTIQ people.

The Conference Working Group looks forward to joining you there. Estelle Alsop,Caron Hewett, Sue Prosser,  Chris Smith, Maree Sykes and Leeanne Livens.

This conference for workers is brought to you by: Central Coast DV Committee, Children and Violence Prevention Services and Mental Health CCLHD, CC ADVICE ( Area Domestic Violence Integrated Case Management & Education, NSW Police and Family and Community Services , Communities Division

Who should attend: Anyone working with children, young people, families and communities: social workers, psychologists, nurses, doctors, G.Ps, youth workers, mental health workers, drug and alcohol workers, police, education, family workers, community workers and managers and policy makers.

This is a Central Coast Initiative for the International 16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women And Children, Nov 25th – Dec 1st 2012