Better practice in responding to family violence

Industry and business responses to family violence are an area of work that is somewhat new. As the field grows, businesses have the opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences and build a shared understanding of better practice responses.

In developing family violence policies, we encourage organisations to draw on the experiences of those who have gone through similar work, as well as resources from experts. We would also encourage businesses to share their own experiences to support continued learning and development of better practice. Thriving Communities Partnership is a central network to advance organisational contributions to combatting customer vulnerability and hardship, including family violence. Thriving Communities Partnership provides a knowledge hub for organisations to access resources and insight from the experiences of others.

Central Highlands Water hosts an annual forum to support knowledge sharing and collaboration amongst local welfare agencies, government and industry. Coliban Water improved the quality of the support it provides customers by hosting a workshop to share the knowledge it had gained through working with a local family violence provider. Yarra Valley Water contributed to improved support across the sector by sharing its policies in the commission’s initial better practice guide as it was one of the first businesses to have them available.

Through sharing resources and experiences, organisations can see family violence work as a point of cooperation and collaboration, rather than an area of competition. This collective approach to capability development improves outcomes for vulnerable customers and helps build the community’s confidence in essential service sectors.

Case study – Central Highlands Water

Since 2017, Central Highlands Water has been hosting its annual Care Flow Forum. This forum brings local welfare agency, government and industry representatives together to develop strategies for strengthening inter-agency collaboration.

The forum focuses on linking organisations working with vulnerable and hardship customers in the local area. Representatives from community services come together to share information and form working relationships. At the forum, Central Highlands Water presents on the support it provides and the current programs available to its customers.

The forum has led to the formation of a local community network group which Central Highlands Water attends. This group works actively toward a better community referral process between organisations and includes attendees from St Vincent De Paul, Anglicare and The Salvation Army.

Case study – Coliban Water

While drafting its family violence policy and procedure, Coliban Water held a workshop with external stakeholders including water industry peers to invite feedback and comment on its planned approach. The Centre for Non Violence presented at the workshop, and attendees were provided with examples of how to deliver and source family violence training. This helped other water retailers identify support agencies in their own districts.

Coliban Water found the workshop to be a great opportunity for everyone to share knowledge and discuss common problem areas. In addition the feedback it received helped Coliban Water to ensure its family violence policy and procedure was relevant and met the needs of victim-survivors.