West Metro Service System Orientation

Purpose

The intention of this guide is to support a practitioner’s orientation to the Western Metropolitan service system. The guide aims to outline responsibilities to identify and respond to family violence and enable practitioners to locate themselves as part of an integrated and collaborative service system. It is relevant to both new practitioners and practitioners new to the region. It is also designed to support managers and team leaders during new practitioner inductions, and can be revisited to support reflection and collaborative practice.

Through this guide, the WIFVC aims to promote safe and responsive practice, embed an understanding of the gendered nature of family violence, the importance of intersectional analysis to address risk and barriers to safety, and emphasise how each and every practitioner is essential to the strength of the service system.

The client experience of an integrated service system should be of one front line working in collaboration to keep the victim-survivor safe and hold the adult using violence in view and accountable.

As found by the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence and highlighted throughout this guide, multi-agency responses are critical to ensuring family violence is addressed effectively through a system that offers improved support for victim-survivors and holds the adult using violence to account while enabling them to change.

How to use this guide

The first section of this guide establishes the foundation of safe and responsive practice by outlining key considerations and grounding this work in advocating for the rights of all clients. The nuanced nature of this work is further highlighted through a note on the importance of language followed by a brief history of the service system. A picture of decades of family violence reform shows the journey of prevention and response work, now brought together in a holistic, inclusive, and system-wide framework rooted in pursuit of justice, equity, and accountability.

The second half of this guide provides practical information and tools for practitioners, encouraging familiarisation with peak bodies and key organisations, and to make the most of opportunities for professional development, training and networking. Guidance on key aspects of the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management (MARAM) Framework intends to enable practitioners to identify and embrace their responsibility. By promoting a focus on sharing risk through secondary consultation and information sharing, rather than immediate referrals, this guide intends to strengthen multi-agency responses across the Western Metropolitan region.

Acknowledgement

WIFVC would like to thank the Gippsland Family Violence Alliance for sharing its orientation guides for leaders and practitioners from which this guide was adapted. We recognise their work and express gratitude for their collaboration and flexibility.