Making visible podcast

In the first episode of Making Visible, Mim and Lis explore innovative therapeutic practice within child protection. We hear two practitioners share stories of educative approaches in working therapeutically with children who have been removed, and parents of children who have been removed, from their care. Listen to the practitioners as they describe the creativity in taking the practice outside of talking therapy in the counselling room and using trauma-informed narrative exposure therapy.

The second episode of Making Visible highlights the importance of an integrated responses to sexual assault, domestic and family violence and all forms of child abuse and neglect, including children and young people with problematic and harmful sexual behaviours. Mim and Lis reflect on the impact of coercive control and how the dynamic of a violent relationship presents itself in a therapeutic environment. Listen to the first practitioner explain the theory and the framework, as the second practitioner story provides clear examples of working with people over a lifetime with impact of intergenerational violence and complex childhood trauma.

In the third episode of Making Visible, Mim and Lis hear from two practitioners who step through stories that involve sibling sexual assault, abuse and disability family violence neglect. These stories focus on social justice and highlight the importance of person-centred practice and an integrated model of care. Mim and Lis discuss least restrictive practice and reflect on the hidden work that happens behind closed doors.

In the fourth and final episode of Making Visible, Mim and Lis reflect on the holistic integrated care perspective as they listen to two practitioner stories about substance use and pregnancy in the justice health space. These stories show the intersectionality in the justice health context and the importance of creating safety in a relational way within the justice health framework. Mim and Lis wrap up with the importance of engaging in critical reflection, objectivity in the practice and the ability to analyse the work while encouraging formal and informal supervision and self-care strategies.

NSW Health Education Centre Against Violence (ECAV)
ECAV provides worker training, community awareness and development programs, agency and policy consultation, clinical supervision, and resource development in the specialist areas of prevention and response to violence, abuse, and neglect.

Violence, Abuse and Neglect (VAN) Redesign Program
The program aims to enhance the capacity of the public health system to provide integrated psychosocial, medical, and forensic responses to sexual assault, child physical abuse and neglect, and domestic and family violence presentations.

Integrated Prevention and Response to Violence, Abuse and Neglect (IPARVAN) Framework
The framework outlines the vision, guiding principles, objectives and strategic priorities to strengthen NSW Health and interagency responses to all forms of violence, abuse, and neglect.

Integrated Violence, Abuse and Neglect Statistics and Research Project
Infographics and fact sheets to help NSW Health workers understand and communicate relevant violence, abuse and neglect statistics; research accurately and succinctly; and dispel myths, mistakes and misinformation about them.

Australian Institute of Family Studies Research
Informs government policy and family services, includes information on domestic and family violence, gambling, child abuse and neglect and practice resources.

Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Limited (ANROWS)
An independent, not-for-profit research organisation established to produce evidence to support the reduction of violence against women and their children.

Blue Knot Foundation
Analyses evidence from lived experience, current research, and practice, for individuals and organisations.

The Bouverie Centre
An integrated practice-research organisation that promotes healthy relationships in families, organisations, and communities.

Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ)
The Department of Communities and Justice works with children, adults, families, and communities to deliver services with a unified and collaborative approach with the objective of achieving a vibrant, sustainable, and inclusive community. DCJ is the statutory body providing child protection services.

Dulwich Centre
An independent centre in Adelaide involved in narrative approaches to therapy and community work, training, publishing and supporting practitioners.

The Healing Foundation
A national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation that partners with communities to address the ongoing trauma caused by actions like the forced removal of children from their families. Resources include videos, factsheets, and reports.

Health Education and Training Institute: Clinical Supervision
This collection of resources, includes the Clinical Supervision for Allied Health Professionals Training Program. The resources give tips and suggestions on what makes good supervision and based on published evidence and the knowledge of many experienced allied health supervisors in NSW.

National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
“Provides funding to eligible people with disability to gain more time with family and friends, greater independence, access to new skills, jobs, or volunteering in their community, and an improved quality of life. The NDIS also connects anyone with disability to services in their community.”

NSW Ageing and Disability Commission (ADC)
An independent statutory body, which is focused on protecting adults with disability and older adults from abuse, neglect and exploitation, and protecting and promoting their rights.

NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal (NCAT)
Provides specialist tribunal services to help you resolve an issue or dispute fairly and according to the law.

NSW Health Mental Health services and support contact list
A comprehensive list of services and programs in NSW that provide mental health support for people.

Prevention and Response to Violence, Abuse, and Neglect (PARVAN) Unit, NSW Ministry of Health
Aims to ensure NSW Health delivers services to children, young people and adults who are victims of violence, abuse and neglect based on evidence and by providing culturally safe and trauma informed responses.

Trauma-informed care and practice in mental health services
Framework and supporting resources from the ACI’s Mental Health Network.

Aged care assessment team (ACAT)

A multidisciplinary team that includes a range of health-related disciplines such as medical practitioners, registered nurses, social workers, physiotherapists, occupational therapist and psychologists. They assess the physical, medical, psychological, cultural, social and restorative needs of the older person and provide, information and referral to services.

Coercive control or coercion and control

Coercive control is a form of domestic abuse that involves patterns of behaviour that has the cumulative effect of denying victim-survivors their autonomy and independence.

Consumer

The term ‘consumer’ includes people, families, carers, and communities who are current, previous or potential users of health services. Meaningful collaboration with patients, carers and communities is crucial to provide services that meet a variety of individual, community, and cultural needs. See also Working with consumers.

Creating safety in the therapeutic space

It is important to assist clients feel comfortable, secure, and safe within the therapeutic context. Inner safety is enhanced when clients feel a sense of competence about regulating and managing their affective states. A sense of safety strengthens the therapeutic relationship and assists with the processing of trauma in a way that is genuinely healing for the client rather than re-traumatising.

Cutting and self-harm

People who engage in self-harm, deliberately hurt their bodies. The term self-harm (also referred to as deliberate self-injury or parasuicide) refers to a range of behaviours, not a mental disorder or illness. The most common methods of self-harm among young people are cutting and deliberately overdosing on medication (self-poisoning). See also Headspace's Understanding self-harm – for health professionals.

Domestic violence (DV)

The NSW Government’s shared policy definition is: Domestic and family violence is defined to include any behaviour in an intimate or family relationship that is violent, threatening, coercive or controlling, causing a person to live in fear. It is usually manifested as part of a pattern of controlling or coercive behaviour.

An intimate relationship refers to people who are (or have been) in an intimate partnership, whether or not the relationship involves or has involved a sexual relationship — i.e. married or engaged to be married, separated, divorced, de facto partners (whether of the same or different sex), couples promised to each other under cultural or religious tradition, or who are dating.

A family relationship has a broader definition and includes people who are related to one another through blood, marriage or de facto partnerships, adoption and fostering relationships, or sibling and extended family relationships.

It includes the full range of kinship ties in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, extended family relationships, and of family within communities of people with diverse sexualities, gender identities and those with intersex variations.

People living in the same house, people living in the same residential care facility and people reliant on care may also be in a domestic relationship if their relationship exhibits dynamics that may foster coercive and abusive behaviours.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD)

A group of conditions that can occur in a person who was exposed to alcohol before birth. These effects can include behavioural, affective and cognitive difficulties. See also NSW Ministry of Health Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder - Aboriginal awareness videos.

Intensive correction orders (ICOs)

ICOs are an alternative to full time imprisonment. An ICO is a custodial sentence of no more than two years that can be served in the community.

Integrated care

The provision of seamless, effective, and efficient care that reflects the whole of a person's health needs:

• from prevention through to end of life
• across both physical, psychosocial, and mental health
• in partnership with the individual, carers, and family members.

Intergenerational violence

A form of historical trauma transmitted across generations. Survivors of the initial experience who have not healed may pass on their trauma to further generations. In Australia, intergenerational trauma particularly affects the children, grandchildren, and future generations of the Stolen Generations.

Narrative therapy

“Narrative therapy seeks to be a respectful, non-blaming approach to counselling and community work, which centres people as the experts in their own lives. It views problems as separate from people and assumes people have many skills, competencies, beliefs, values, commitments, and abilities that will assist them to reduce the influence of problems in their lives.” - The Dulwich Centre What is Narrative Therapy?

Supervision

Clinical supervision supports workers to provide high-quality care that is safe, confidential, and empowering for people and their families. It encourages workers to reflect on their professional practice and build their skills in working with complex issues of interpersonal violence, while also promoting awareness of the impact of vicarious trauma and strategies that strengthen worker and agency resilience.

Trauma informed care (TIC)

A strengths-based model of care that aims to be patient centred and provide a safe, supportive environment to clients and staff. TIC considers the best methods for supporting clients exposed to trauma, helping to minimise the impact of the trauma and prevent re-traumatisation. An outline of the key elements of trauma-informed care is provided in: The Case for Change: Integrated prevention and response to Violence, Abuse and Neglect in NSW Health. A trauma-informed system uses trauma-informed care as a ‘universal precaution’ or consideration when approaching all clients and families, presuming that every person seeking support in a treatment setting has been exposed to trauma (NSW Ministry of Health IPARVAN Framework).

Violence, abuse and neglect (VAN)

An umbrella term used to describe three primary types of interpersonal violence that are widespread in the Australian community. It refers to domestic and family violence, sexual assault and all forms of child abuse and neglect. It also refers to children and young people displaying problematic sexual behaviour or engaging in harmful sexual behaviour, who often have their own experiences as victims of abuse and neglect (NSW Ministry of Health IPARVAN Framework).

• Dr Mim Fox, Executive Producer and Host
• Lis Murphy, Host
• Dr Ben Joseph, Producer
• Dominique Hopkins, Production Assistant

Working party

• Shannon McMahon, Co-Chair ACI VAN Network and Priority Populations Program Manager, Murrumbidgee LHD
• Lil Vrklevski, Co-Chair ACI VAN Network and Principal Clinical Psychologist, Director Psychology Sydney LHD
• Louise Dever, Manager VAN Network, ACI
• Gemma Evans, Integrated Violence Abuse and Neglect Services Program Manager, Southern NSW LHD
• Jo Fuller, Program Lead Priority Populations, Western Sydney LHD
• Liz Newton, Patient Partner, ACI
• Jo Shipp, District Aboriginal Wellbeing and Violence Prevention Coordinator, Mid North Coast LHD
• Joanne Thomson, Senior Analyst, PARVAN, NSW Ministry of Health