AASW Webinar Recording | Enhancing Perpetrator Accountability to Increase Survivor Safety and Dignity

The first nationally representative study of child maltreatment found that nearly 40% of Australians aged 16-65+ years experienced exposure to domestic violence (Mathews et al, 2023). The justice system together with behaviour change programs are key pathways for people who use domestic violence, and therefore are critical access points for intervention. However, most people who use domestic violence never access a behaviour change program. Yet, most do come into contact with a range of practitioners, including social workers, who may or may not recognize their use of violence and coercive control.

What would it look like if all services operated as part of a coordinated intervention system, working together to prevent and respond to domestic violence? What impact would it have on survivors’ safety, dignity and wellbeing if practitioners worked to disrupt domestic violence within strong multiagency webs of accountability?

Drawing on a reflective practice tool developed with practitioners involved in a participatory action research project, called Safer Children, Safer Communities, this webinar aims to increase the safety and liberty of survivors and to increase the visibility and accountability of people who use domestic violence.

Who should register? This webinar is suitable for all social workers who are keen to discuss innovative approaches and deepen their knowledge of domestic and family violence.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this program, participants will be able to:

• Consider their roles and responsibilities as part of a collective aiming to 1) increase the safety, wellbeing and dignity of survivors and 2) the accountability of people who use domestic violence.
• Identify and apply key ingredients of dignity-based practice with survivors and accountability-based practice with people who use domestic violence.
• Consider and apply an intersectional approach that attends to the diversity and multi-dimensionality of people’s lives.

AASW Credentials: Child Protection; Family Violence; Mental Health

Presenter

Susan Heward-Belle is a Professor of Social Work in the Social Work and Policy Studies Program at the University of Sydney. Her teaching and sustained program of original research focuses on driving change to create socially just, gender-transformative responses to prevent and address domestic and family violence. Her cutting-edge research particularly with men who perpetrate violence against women and children aims to counter dominant paradigms that offer gender biases institutional responses. She contributes to knowledge which informs public policy and professional practices through participatory action research that promotes dignity-based principles and responses.