Practitioners embrace research on families experiencing adolescent violence at home

Practitioners embrace research on families experiencing adolescent violence at home

RMIT’s Centre for Innovative Justice (CIJ) continues to publish much needed research into adolescent violence in the home, with its most recent report released in April 2023 exploring the need for a whole-of-family, wrap-around service response to this complex issue.

Funded by Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS), the WRAP around families experiencing Adolescent Violence in the Home (AVITH) research built on recommendations from the CIJ’s Positive Interventions for Perpetrators of AVITH PIPA project research, published in 2020.

The WRAP Around Families research involved a case study of an innovative program working with young people and families in this context, including case file reviews and client interviews, as well as a series of focus groups and workshops with 75 practitioners who support families and young people across a range of disciplines.

The findings from the research highlighted the prevalence of past and present adult-perpetrated harm in the lives of young people who use violence, as well as how prior negative service interactions were preventing effective intervention.

The research resulted in an AVITH Collaborative Practice Framework, designed to support a more consistent system and service response from policymakers, organisations and individual practitioners.

Lead researcher Elena Campbell, Associate Director, Research, Advocacy and Policy, has presented the research and framework in multiple forums, including a national webinar run by ANROWS, which was attended by over 850 people with a further 2,000 watching the recording.

Campbell said the positive response highlighted a significant practice and policy appetite for deeper understanding and more effective responses to this complex issue.

“Since the report’s release, we’re also holding a series of practitioner workshops to unpack the framework and to explore next steps, with the framework already being adopted in practice contexts around Australia,” Campbell said.

“We look forward to continuing to share the results of this research in policy and practice contexts – another example of the CIJ’s continuing real world impact,” she said.

Elena Campbell standing behind a lectern speaking to a seated audience with a slideshow playing behind her Elena Campbell presenting at a WRAP Around Families workshop in August.

Read the full report here.

Story: Thomas Odell

07 September 2023

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07 September 2023

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