Authors: Melissa Petrakis, Meg Buck, Loren Urzia, Sara Cantwell
Year: 2017
Event: 2017 TheMHS Conference
Subject: Change, Innovation, Reform,Trauma-informed care,Workforce
Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers
Abstract: Background/reason for the presentation: Women are five times more likely than men to require medical attention or hospitalisation as a result of intimate partner violence, and five times more likely to report fearing for their lives (Mouzos 1999). Of women who experience family violence 76% in fact do reach out for help or support (ANROWS 2016). Despite the myriad health issues women present with, the family violence might go unidentified. This is a terrible missed opportunity where skilled mental health staff could intervene to assist. A receptive and skilled response from mental health staff – though training, resourcing and skill development – is likely to positively impact consequences of family violence.
Project aims: To determine and implement the best evidence-based practice tool for family violence identification and response in public mental health service contexts.
Method: To create a staff training/briefing package and identification and response resource – a “prompt card”, wearable on the staff lanyard, alongside the ID card, for ready reference.
Results: We will report on trialling this training/briefing package and identification and response resource in a clinical service setting.
Discussion: We will seek input from the audience regarding transferability and utility to various urban and regional contexts.
Learning Objectives
Learning Objective 1: What people in the audience will gain or learn from attending this presentation is how evidence-based practice can inform the creation of a user-friendly 10 minute training presentation and a prompt card to increase knowledge and confidence in staff, and through this increase responsiveness to family violence in staff.
Learning Objective 2: This topic/issue is relevant to mental health services and mental health issues since services across Australia are currently aiming to respond to recommendations from the Royal Commission into Family Violence in terms of hospital and community responses.
References
ANROWS (2016). Violence against women: key statistics. The Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and their Children & Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety.
Mouzos, J. (1999). Femicide: An overview of major findings, No. 124. Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra, 1-6.
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