Pathways to Safety - The Readiness Program

The Readiness program 2020-2024
The Safer Families Centre was funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care in a consortium with RACGP, Blue Knot Foundation and Phoenix Australia to build capacity of GPs and primary care workers to better support patients experiencing family and domestic violence nationally. Through this funding we developed, delivered and led national domestic and family violence training program for GPs, primary care nurses, Aboriginal Health Practitioners/ Workers and Community health services.  This includes:

• Online advanced workshops: trauma-informed care; pivoting to the perpetrator; motivational interviewing;

• ‘Pathways to Safety’: an intensive training and capacity-building program for whole-of-practice staff;

• E-learning modules spanning seven topics* allowing practitioners to self-direct their learning; and

• Webinars based on RACGP Abuse & Violence White Book. 

Read the 2020 - 2024 evaluation of this program here.

Evaluation Report of The Readiness Program 2020-2024

Executive Summary of the Report

Family Violence and Child Information Sharing - Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Framework 2021-2022

The Safer Families Centre was funded by the Victorian Government in 2021-22 to adapt and implement the Pathways to Safety model in Victoria to include principles of Family Violence and Child Information Sharing under the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Framework to support its implementation in primary care.  Funding also enabled development of an e-learning module on Info Sharing principles for GPs as part of The Readiness program series and a new Vic-specific chapter dedicated to Info Sharing Principles in the RACGP Abuse and Violence White Book.

Read the evaluation report from our Pathways to Safety and Information Sharing program here

PHN pilot programs 2020 - 2026:

Alongside this, the Australian Government also funds Primary Health Networks to build capacity of GPs and primary care workers to better support patients experiencing family and domestic violence within their catchments. Initially funding 6 pilots 2020-2023, this expanded in 2023 to include other states and territories that did not have an existing pilot, also expanding to include an emphasis on sexual violence and child sexual abuse, resulting in 11 pilots currently. Six of these also include development of a new model of trauma-informed care in 2024 to support victim-survivors.

Read the SAX institute report on PHN pilots 2020-2023 here.

Where PHNs intersect with Safer Families:

North Western Melbourne (NWMPHN) has worked with Safer Families Centre (University of Melbourne) since 2012 as part of the realisation of our sustainable primary care model for addressing family violence. NWMPHN has continued to commission Safer Families during 2020-2023 and again in 2023-2026. Hunter New England and Central Coast (HNECCPHN), and Western Victoria (WVPHN) have also partnered with Safer Families in 2021-2022 commissioning us to design and deliver part of their DFV training.

Read the evaluation report from our program with North Western Melbourne PHN here

There are 31 PHNs in total. Safer Families aims to work collaboratively with all PHNs across their funded programs to complement and not duplicate work with a particular focus on delivering training and building relationships with PHNs not already funded to deliver DFSV programs. We also lead a National Advisory group for DFSV Training in Primary Care which advises on The Readiness Program, its curriculum, standards and relationship with the PHN pilots, contributing to strategies for strengthening collaboration and reducing duplication across the similar pilots and programs.

For more information please contact Safer Families Manager, Simone Gleeson at s.gleeson@unimelb.edu.au