Change is brought about by people; individuals with heart, will, passion and courage. This Lived Experience Strategy has evolved out of the decades of work and dedication of individuals who stood up against violence and advocated for systemic and cultural change. Many of those who called for reform were themselves victims of abuse.

Over time we have realised the critical importance of listening to the voices of those who have lived with violence and abuse and who are best placed to shape the change and reform that is needed. As part of Victoria’s Royal Commission into Family Violence, the Victim Survivors’ Advisory Council was established in 2016 to ensure victim survivors have a formal mechanism to advise the government on policy design and service delivery.

The voice of lived experience places itself at the intersection of policy and pain. Victim survivors stand at that point testifying and identifying what is required for them to be safe, to survive and to thrive.

Whilst the lessons of this Lived Experience Strategy are birthed from pain, trauma and tragedy, there is also hope that changes in perception, understanding, response and respect have resulted from hearing these voices. The voices of lived experience are the foundation for every piece of work, every policy, every program and connects every person involved to the complexity and reality of family violence.

This strategy calls for both government and the sector to not just look for approval from lived experience, but to embed and infuse every piece of work that they produce with the experience and the expertise of those who live with and have survived family and sexual violence.

This Lived Experience Strategy calls on government and the sector to embed lived experience across the full spectrum of family and sexual violence reform.

We will not forget the price that has been paid by so many who have courageously brought their voices, their stories and their expertise to this reform. We honour and remember those who have paid the ultimate price and lost their lives to family violence. We honour the work of individuals in government, in the sector, in communities and all those advocates who have laboured to bring about change and put an end to family violence.

Language used to describe experiences of family violence, and personal identities across communities, is complex and evolving. The language in this document will not apply to everyone and some people or professionals may identify with or use different terms.

Family violence is gendered – overwhelmingly most perpetrators are men and victim survivors are women, children and young people. While gender inequality is the root cause of violence against women, family violence can, and does, occur within a range of relationships.

Definitions used in this strategy are outlined below.

Family violence

A pattern of behaviour exercised by perpetrators to exert power and control over a current or former intimate partner or family member, with the aim of ensuring dominance of the perpetrator and compliance of the victim. That behaviour may be physically, sexually, emotionally or psychologically abusive, economically exploitative, threatening, coercive, involve deprivation of liberty or seek to cause fear.

Impact of family violence on Aboriginal people

The disproportionate impact of family violence on Aboriginal people is rooted in the intergenerational impacts of colonisation and violent dispossession of land and culture, and the wrongful removal of children from their parents.

The Dhelk Dja: Safe Our Way definition of family violence acknowledges the impact of violence by non-Aboriginal people against Aboriginal partners, children, young people and extended family on spiritual and cultural rights, which manifests as exclusion or isolation from Aboriginal culture and/or community.

The Dhelk Dja definition includes Elder abuse and the use of lateral violence within Aboriginal communities. It also emphasises the impact of family violence on children. The definition also recognises that the cycle of family violence brings people into contact with many different parts of the service system, and efforts to reduce violence and improve outcomes for Aboriginal people and children must work across family violence services; police, the justice system and the courts; housing and homelessness services; children and family services; child protection and out-of-home care; and health, mental health, and substance abuse.

Diversity and intersectionality

Government acknowledges and understands the ways in which intersecting factors contribute to disproportionate rates and different experiences of family violence, as well as greater barriers to safety, support and justice seeking. These factors include: sex, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, language, religion, class, socioeconomic status, gender identity, ability or age. We respect, embrace and seek out diversity in identity, experience, opinion, and perspective.

This includes acknowledging that family violence can take many forms and can occur within extended families, kinship networks, intergenerational relationships and through family-like or carer relationships such as:

• women and girls from diverse cultural, linguistic and faith backgrounds experience distinct forms of family violence including migration-related abuse
• intimate partners, family members and non-family carers can perpetrate violence against people they are caring for, including people with a disability
• lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or gender diverse, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people may experience violence in their relationships or from family members
• elder abuse can be perpetrated by adult children of an older person or non-family carers
• children and young people are also victims of family violence – whether they experience violence directly, or witness violence, the resulting trauma can affect their emotional and psychological wellbeing. Young people can use violence or be victims of violence within their family.

Lived experience

This document uses the term ‘people with lived experience’ to describe:

• people who have experienced family violence
• people with an experience of using the family violence system
• the families, carers and other people directly impacted by family violence via the aforementioned experiences.

Trauma-aware

In the context of this strategy, ‘trauma-aware’ refers to understanding and accommodating the ongoing effects of deliberate interpersonal violence when working alongside people with lived experience.

Government will adapt to support safe working relationships through trauma-aware processes and guidance, as well as embedding trauma-aware practice into policies and procedures. This means promoting healing by recognising people’s skills and abilities and supporting victim survivors to make change.

Victim survivor

Victim survivor is used throughout this document as a term to describe people – including adults, children and young people who have direct first-hand experience of family violence, as well as immediate family members of those who have lost their lives to family violence.

This term acknowledges the ongoing effects and harm caused by abuse and violence as well as honouring the strength and resilience of people with lived experience of family violence.

Critical reflection

Critical reflection is an ongoing commitment for people to challenge themselves by examining beliefs, biases, values and thinking.

This commitment enables people to be open to learning from all perspectives, releasing unexamined assumptions, and acknowledging their own power and privilege.

Power dynamics

At the centre of all instances of family violence are individual and structural power imbalances.

The way that power is most commonly recognised and understood in the context of family violence is the type of power that is built on force, coercion, domination and control. Victim survivors of family violence have lived experience of the abuse of power and control in relationships.

This strategy acknowledges that power is not distributed equally, including between victim survivors, professionals, and services.

Perpetrator and person who uses violence

A perpetrator is someone who uses family violence. This strategy acknowledges that not all communities use the term ‘perpetrator’, including Aboriginal communities who may prefer to use the term ‘adults who use family violence.’

"I see the voice of lived experience located where policy intersects with pain. What is the point of policies, programs, processes if they do not intersect with what people need? If they do not help where people hurt? If today, in your work, you do not know where that intersection is, then ask a victim survivor. They will tell you."

VSAC member

Partnering with people with lived experience has been a new approach for the Victorian Government in delivering the family and sexual violence reforms. Family Safety Victoria (FSV) acknowledges the collective of voices who have shifted perspectives, raised awareness and built a responsive service system over time. See: Journey.

There is a clear and growing movement to support the inclusion of lived experience in the design, implementation and evaluation of family violence services and for communities to participate in decision making on the issues that affect their lives^[1][2][3][4]. The Victorian Government’s formal journey to incorporate lived experience into service design, policy development and law reform began in response to Australia’s first Royal Commission into Family Violence held in Victoria in 2016. This followed the courage and wisdom of Rosie Batty and others in sharing their lived experience to create social change. The landmark Royal Commission offered people with lived experience of family violence a public platform to share their experiences of family violence and the Victorian family violence system.

In implementing all 227 recommendations, the Victorian Government committed to engage with people with lived experience to design and develop policy and programs and inform legislative change. As people shared these stories, a cultural shift was occurring in the media and in public discourse, where family violence, and violence against women more broadly, was no longer a secret. Advocates took on the burden of sharing their pain to help others understand the complexity of this issue and the state’s response to it. It was these voices and stories which shaped the Commission’s final report and 227 recommendations. These recommendations highlighted the ways that Victoria can prevent and respond to family and sexual violence. This included creating a more responsive family violence system that meets the needs of the Victorian community. It also included the creation of FSV, an agency dedicated to drive key elements of the reform, including engagement with people with lived experience.

The Royal Commission recommended that lived experience must remain at the heart of the family violence reforms to achieve meaningful change. This recommendation has been a critical part of the lived experience work to-date, creating an expectation that as the reforms are designed and delivered, they must also seek to establish the channels and structures which make space for lived experience.

In the first phase of the family violence reform, the ways that lived experience was reflected in government’s work was predominantly through the expression of individual victim survivors’ sharing their stories and experiences and their desire to advocate for social and systemic change.

The Victims’ Survivors Advisory Council (VSAC), a formal advisory body, was established in 2016 to provide formal advice to the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, to share victim survivor perspectives on family violence reform governance groups. This was an important step in challenging traditional government thinking in its approach to service delivery and design. The first Council was critical to disrupting the status quo, and VSAC remains vital in ensuring that government continues to focus on working together with people most impacted by its policy and service design.

Through the establishment, evaluation and continuous improvement of the VSAC model over the past five years, a clear connection has been established between the improved design of policies and services and engagement with people with lived experience. Despite its success, the VSAC model was never intended or designed to be the sole channel for government’s engagement with people with lived experience. Evaluation of the model, alongside insights from past and current members of the advisory council, have highlighted that this work cannot be driven solely by individuals pushing for social and systemic change. Government must also have built-in structures promoting engagement with a broader range of individuals and communities and for people with lived experience to take up leadership opportunities.

Government is now in the next phase of its work engaging with lived experience. This involves expanding channels for a greater number of people with lived experience to participate in the reforms and creating the conditions required for partnership and leadership of victim survivors in the co-production of policies, programs and services. FSV recognises that it must create the structures and culture for this leadership to bring the lens of lived experience into our work.

This strategy is aligned with and has adopted similar principles of other significant approaches of engagement as developed by Dhelk Dja:Safe Our Way, Everybody Matters: Inclusion & Equity Statement, The Family Violence Experts by Experience Framework^[5] and Department of Families, Fairness and Housing Client Voice Framework for community services.

References

^[1] State of Victoria 2016, Royal Commission into Family Violence: Summary and recommendations, Parl Paper No 132 (2014–16).

^[2] Department of Health and Human Services 2019, Client voice framework for community services, State Government of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.

^[3] Lamb K, Hegarty K, Amanda, Cina, Fiona, and the University of Melbourne WEAVERs lived experience group, Parker R. 2020, The Family Violence Experts by Experience Framework: Domestic Violence Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.

^[4] Wheildon, L J, True, J, Flynn, A & Wild, A 2021, ‘The Batty Effect: Victim-Survivors and Domestic and Family Violence Policy Change’, Violence Against Women, vol.0(0), p.1-24.

^[5] Lamb K, Hegarty K, Amanda, Cina, Fiona, and the University of Melbourne WEAVERs lived experience group, Parker R. (2020) The Family Violence Experts by Experience Framework: Domestic Violence Victoria. Melbourne, Australia. https://safeandequal.org.au/resources/family-violence-experts-by-experience-framework/

This process was rich and complex, and led to a depth of discussion and insight that has been critical to the strategy’s direction and content. VSAC members’ experience and expertise have been invaluable in shaping the strategy, formulating key commitments and developing priorities for this joint work. Members helped FSV to clarify that the strategy is a way to be intentional about how to work together in the future, as well as supporting FSV to be courageous with the joint visions and aspirations.

A key component of the partnership between FSV and VSAC members was adopting the strengths-based perspective that VSAC identified at their 2021 planning day of ‘With us – Not for us,’ and translating this into FSV’s practice. VSAC members continue to challenge and strengthen government’s thinking to become more focused on achieving outcomes for people who seek support from the family violence service system. In particular, VSAC developed key components of the strategy including the vision, principles and workforce guidance.

FSV extends its gratitude to each member of the Victim Survivors’ Advisory Council who has contributed to ensuring this strategy aligns with the needs of people with a lived experience of family and sexual violence.

Vision

The Victorian Government values the expertise and perspectives of people with a lived experience of family violence and trusts their leadership. Together we will transform a system to meet the needs of the people who use it.

Purpose

The purpose of this strategy is to guide the Victorian Government into the next phase of its work, where it provides opportunities and pathways for increased leadership and influence by people with lived experience of family violence.

In order to articulate the priorities and actions that will help achieve this, Family Safety Victoria (FSV) has identified 3 phases that aim to clarify the journey towards our vision.

These phases acknowledge the complexity of partnering with lived experience as part of the family and sexual violence reforms and reflect the cultural change required to evolve this work. They demonstrate the evolution of this work within FSV across a period of time, the lessons learned and how those lessons have informed the next phase. The phases are not mutually exclusive and do not represent a fixed beginning or a final destination. Rather, the phases build on each other – the work outlined in earlier phases remains important to achieving our vision and is not intended to be discarded.

The first 2 phases are a reflection on practice and lessons. The third phase outlines aspirations for the future of this work.

The first phase includes those innovative steps which are needed to introduce lived experience of family violence into government.

The second phase involves learning from practice and testing new approaches to support government to arrive at the third phase.

The third phase provides opportunities and pathways for increased leadership and influence for people with lived experience.

The lessons and priorities outlined in this strategy can support other public and community sector organisations to design new initiatives to engage with people with lived experience. The next step towards achieving the priorities outlined in this strategy will be the co-design of an implementation plan with people with lived experience.

Family violence intersects with many reform agendas within government and the community services system. FSV encourages that this strategy can be used together with other intersecting and complementary resources, including the Family Violence Experts by Experience Framework^[6], the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing Client Voice Framework for community services, Young Voices, the Victorian Family Violence Research Agenda and the Client Partnership Strategy for the Orange Door.

References

^[6] Lamb K, Hegarty K, Amanda, Cina, Fiona, and the University of Melbourne WEAVERs lived experience group, Parker R. (2020) The Family Violence Experts by Experience Framework: Domestic Violence Victoria. Melbourne, Australia. https://safeandequal.org.au/resources/family-violence-experts-by-experience-framework

The lessons for this strategy have been collated by and for Family Safety Victoria. However, the cultural change envisioned in this strategy is broader, and the principles, priorities, guidance and actions can support others within the Victorian Public Service. This is particularly relevant to those within social policy portfolios – in growing pathways and channels for lived experience leadership and engagement.

This strategy may be useful for family violence, sexual assault and associated sector organisations to gain an understanding of the vision, priorities and actions the Victorian Government is taking with this work and how it may compliment and align with their own.

The Victorian Government was the first jurisdiction to formally adopt lived experience of family violence to advise the Minister and government on policy and service design. This strategy details the narrative of this work and may be useful to other governments, jurisdictions, organisations, individuals or people with lived experience seeking to understand, replicate, adapt and learn from these lessons and approaches.

This strategy makes recommendations for the Victorian Government (referred to as ‘government’ throughout the document). This includes ministers, as decision-makers. It also includes departments in their role of designing policy, implementing services and funding service providers.

The headings below outline the phases of change to achieve our collective vision of transforming the family violence and sexual assault system.

Note: FSV is currently in Phase Two of this work. The phases are not mutually exclusive, and we are building on phases One and Two to arrive at Phase Three.

Phase One

Introducing lived experience of family violence into government

Key elements which contributed to Phase One included:

• individual storytelling
• advocacy
• establishment of Victim Survivors’ Advisory Council
• changing perceptions about family violence
• gathering evidence
• understanding the value of lived experience.

Phase Two

Learning from practice and testing new approaches

Phase Two has focused on the following elements:

• a focus on expanding government’s engagement with people with lived experience
• learning from and strengthening the Victim Survivors’ Advisory Council model
• continuous improvement
• creating principles for best practice
• identifying and implementing cultural change enablers (including strengthening workforce capacity and processes to support trauma-aware practice)
• increasing and broadening the reach of lived experience
• trialling and evaluating models to increase influence and decision making for people with lived experience within government
• learning and development opportunities for people with lived experience.

Phase Three

Shared decision making, leadership and influence

The third phase of our work together will be defined by the following elements:

• lived experience is part of standard operations across FSV
• sharing FSV’s lessons with government
• increased leadership of people with lived experience
• channels for shared influence and decision-making for people with lived experience
• develop guidance to ethically and safely incorporate lived experience of family violence within research
• develop sustainable ways of resourcing lived experience expertise in government and the community sector
• increased opportunities for people with lived experience to enter the professional workforce – in government and the community sector.

To guide the Victorian Government’s evolving work with lived experience, FSV and VSAC members co-designed principles that will support the transition into the next phase of our work together. These principles were developed to respond to the rapidly changing context of the family violence reforms. They highlight the values that will anchor and sustain the relationship between government and people with lived experience.

Dignity

We listen, acknowledge and learn from the expertise of people with lived experience.

“You shouldn’t ask a victim survivor to speak unless you are willing to radically listen.”

Value

Both government and people with lived experience benefit from the work they do together.

“Stepping into the more strategic work, has been such a healing time for me. Having come through years of being squashed and pushed down, not being appreciated for who I was. To come into a situation where people showed interest in what you had to say and were willing to engage… this has been hugely healing for me.”

Inclusion

We include voices that reflect the diversity of people that are impacted by family violence in our work.

"Diverse and marginalised communities are often not thought about at the start of processes. It’s almost like an afterthought. We need to keep asking, who are we forgetting and why are we forgetting them?."

Accountability

We ensure our work with people with lived experience leads to action and outcomes.

"It is easy to feel you’re failing. Why do I bother? Where is change happening? It is important for people with lived experience to have the feedback of the work they are doing. This is what we contributed to. This is how it helped to improve that service, that program."

Trust

We are transparent, honest and reliable in our interactions with people with lived experience.

"I had a very clear understanding of what was required of me and was given preparation time and materials ahead of engagement. It was helpful to know what I was engaging on, to feel supported, to build positive beginnings with people I’m working with."

Trauma-aware

We have processes and guidance to support safe working relationships.

"It is a tough gig to dip into your trauma. People don’t always appreciate what they are asking of you."

Journey

The Victorian family violence sector was built by a movement of women, many of whom had lived experience of family violence and gender inequality. These women worked tirelessly over many decades for services, policies, and laws to meet the needs of victim survivors and elevate the status of women.

Family Safety Victoria (FSV) acknowledges that this strategy has been created from the foundations of a collective of voices who have shifted perspectives, raised awareness and built a responsive service system over time. FSV pays respect to Aboriginal communities who have paved the way for lived experience expertise to be recognised through elevating self-determining approaches.

In 1974, Victoria’s first women’s refuge was established following the advocacy of victim survivors^[7]. In subsequent decades as more refuges, local outreach and state-wide services were established, individual organisations evolved from collectives of victim survivor advocates to the diverse service system that we know today. From 2007 – 2014, a variety of initiatives were established to support victim survivors to share their stories with the media to raise awareness of family violence. This includes Safe Steps’ survivor advocate program (commenced in 2007), Women’s Health East ‘Speaking Out Program’ (commenced 2011) and the Loddon Campaspe Media Advocacy Project (commenced 2014). In addition, in 2012, Y-Change commenced to support young people to affect social change. These initiatives demonstrated how an organisation like government could work directly with lived experience.

In 2015, the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence called for submissions, receiving many from people with lived experience of family violence and experience of the legal and community-based service system: these contributions helped to shape the 227 recommendations of the Royal Commission. The powerful perspectives from victim survivors, and strength of earlier community-led programs, made a strong case for the Royal Commission’s recommendation 201, that the Victorian Government and agencies that respond to family violence identify and develop safe and constructive ways to ensure that the voices of victims are heard and inform policy development and service delivery.

Following the Royal Commission, in 2016, the Victorian Government established the Victim Survivors’ Advisory Council to ensure that the voices of victim survivors inform policy development and service delivery. The Council is comprised of 15 people from a range of diverse communities. The Council was created to provide a formal mechanism for victim survivors to advise the government on family violence reform. VSAC was founded as an innovative way to put the lived experience of family violence at the heart of the government reforms, with the aim of driving positive change for the family violence system.

The inaugural members concluded their terms in 2019 and a second Council commenced in 2020.

Also in 2016, WEAVERS was launched to ‘weave’ lived experience into research and training at the University of Melbourne.

In 2020, Safe and Equal and the WEAVERS group at the University of Melbourne released the Family Violence Experts by Experience Framework^[8] to enhance the ability of specialist family violence services to provide opportunities for survivor advocates to influence policy development, service planning and practice.

As part of the first phase, government and people with lived experience worked together on a range of initiatives:

• People with lived experience have consistently provided advice to Ministers and decision makers across multiple government portfolios to build awareness of their challenges in navigating the family violence and other social services systems
• Government and people with lived experience developed a Client Partnership strategy for The Orange Door, including processes to collect client voice data and options for providing feedback in languages other than English.
• Government engaged with Aboriginal communities across Victoria to develop a holistic healng framework, Nargneit Birrang
• FSV engaged with Aboriginal communities to develop a Concept Model for the Aboriginal Access Points, a model that provides service choice for Aboriginal families to access family violence services within The Orange Door network
• Government held multiple co-design workshops with victim survivors to set a vision for Victoria’s family violence system
• VSAC contributed to the development of foundational strategies including Ending Family Violence: Victoria’s Plan for Change, as well as strategies for inclusion and equity, gender equality and primary prevention
• ‘Voices of Hope’, was developed which outlined victim survivors’ hopes for the family violence system in future
• Department of Families, Fairness and Housing developed a Client Voice Framework to assist individuals at every level of a community service to critically assess their current practice in relation to seeking, hearing and responding to the client voice.

Understanding the value of lived experience expertise

Given the innovative nature of this Council, the Victim Survivors’ Advisory Council (VSAC) model has undergone two reviews to understand the impact on FSV’s workforce, tangible outcomes on reform, and how to strengthen the work for the next phase. Both reviews utilised participatory interviewing methods to understand this impact. Participatory interviews were also undertaken with government staff who had worked closely with members of the Council.

Government employees spoke about the changes they had experienced because of working closely with VSAC. The interviews demonstrated how members helped government to design improved policies and services to meet the needs of people with experience of the system. Their advice not only impacted the immediate policy issue but was often carried through a persons’ career to ensure a client-centred way of designing policy.

“Once you’ve had the conversations with members, and you get to know them a bit, you almost carry them with you in the work – you can think ‘What would she say?’ ‘What would they say?’ They continue to be an internal test and voice and I find that valuable beyond the conversation itself.”

“When you’re thinking about the experience of victim survivors – when you have a person to put to the experience, you see the connected system. Engaging with VSAC helps clarify why we have to think of the system as a whole.”

"One member talked about their diverse community and how it could drive prevention activity, which I thought was fascinating and she was reflecting on her own experiences, and I noticed that’s something not included in the plan.”

The interviews demonstrated that engagement with VSAC had created cultural change, and an increased willingness to share power in decision making. By engaging with VSAC, government staff changed their attitudes to engaging with stakeholders overall.

"Since engaging with VSAC, the issue of family violence, and reports of harm, it resonates with me now. That’s become more front of mind for me."

"The engagement with VSAC really changed the way I work with stakeholders in general and how I engage victim survivors and the way I listen."

Government staff spoke of how they viewed VSAC members as professionals who demonstrate the value of lived experience expertise when engaging on reform issues. They talked about the strength of the partnership with VSAC and how VSAC was now seen as a ‘critical stakeholder’ within government.

“I had to mature my thinking on how the system can work with victim survivors and how we can hold ourselves accountable to that.”

Engagement with VSAC members assisted in maintaining connection to their organisations’ purpose for many government staff. It also helped to shift perspectives.

“Every time I’ve had a conversation with a VSAC member I always walk away feeling more passionate about what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. When they put forward priorities, they aren’t saying it from an academic sense, they’re talking about it from their life experience, so that can only be a humbling and deeply moving thing. It’s been a highlight of my job this year.”

Resources

^[7] Theobald, J., Murray, S. and Smart, J., (2016) From the Margins to the Mainstream: The Domestic Violence Services Movement in Victoria, Australia, 1974-2016

^[8] Lamb K, Hegarty K, Amanda, Cina, Fiona, and the University of Melbourne WEAVERs lived experience group, Parker R. (2020) The Family Violence Experts by Experience Framework: Domestic Violence Victoria. Melbourne, Australia. https://safeandequal.org.au/resources/family-violence-experts-by-experience-framework/

Phase One was focused on establishing the role of lived experience in the reforms. During the second phase, the focus has been refining, expanding and improving this approach. The Valuing the Lived Experience report, as well an internal participatory evaluation with Victim Survivors’ Advisory Council (VSAC) members, provided some important insights that have helped strengthen the VSAC model and inform the next phase of government’s work with lived experience.

Critical insights from the VSAC Model

Family Safety Victoria (FSV) has gained important insights from an internal evaluation with the first Council, the Voices of Hope report, the Family Violence Reform Implementation Monitor’s reports, and the Family Violence Experts by Experience Framework^[9]. FSV shares these lessons to assist other jurisdictions and communities to learn from these experiences. These observations helped FSV to gather critical insights to support people with lived experience to continue as leaders in this emerging field.

There were a range of key insights, including:

• developing allyship between members, promoting healing and building new skills are vital to ensuring that people with lived experience feel supported to work in partnership with government
• developing a trauma-aware approach is important to ensure people with lived experience and public servants feel confident and supported to work together
• the importance of valuing the leadership of people with lived experience by using consistent and transparent approaches to remuneration and engaging early in the design phase of government’s work, not at the end of processes
• co-designing practical engagement guidance for the government workforce and principles to guide our work together will help to create cultural change
• investing in members’ learning and development can be healing and lead to greater levels of influence and leadership
• being open to testing and trialling new approaches to partner with people with lived experience will build the foundations for lived experience leadership, including engaging in facilitation, designing training opportunities and being involved in shared decision making.

Critical elements which have helped strengthen the VSAC model

Allyship

VSAC members spoke of being an ally to each other and stated that this was the foundation of the group’s achievements. This strengthened the groups’ collective impact and ability to influence government. Members learn about different experiences of, and perspectives on, family violence and find significant common ground. They carry other members’ experiences with them, advocating for change on a collective basis, for the needs of a diverse community. They learn from each other which leads to shifts in their own belief systems.

“I’ve learnt a lot from the other council members about their own issues. Now I have a greater understanding from other perspectives. When I speak now, I don’t just talk from my perspective, but from other perspectives. I have learnt from the other members so much.”

Healing

VSAC promotes healing for members. Members talked about how the healing process was reinforced when government identified how their insights had impacted individual projects or larger system-wide reform work. Many members spoke about how they had previously felt shame and stigma about being a victim of family violence. Being asked for their expertise returns a sense of legitimacy, intelligence and worth. Once members felt safe and supported, they are better able to work in a strengths-based way and build leadership skills.

“Four years ago, I felt like I was under something so heavy and I didn’t know how I was going to get out from underneath it. Now [after being part of VSAC] I stand on top of it. What was on top of me before, I now feel I stand on top of.”

Developing new skills

VSAC members spoke of the skills they develop through being on the Council. This includes influencing skills – through direct experience in speaking to senior public servants and ministers, as well as participating in training delivery. It also includes an increased understanding of government and politics. Being on VSAC also builds personal qualities, including confidence, patience and a tolerance for discomfort in challenging conversations. They commented that opportunities to be part of a team with government employees is satisfying and rewarding.

“I was so set in my thinking about my own experience and my beliefs. Dropping those walls, by listening to other members and their point of views, changed me. It was really hard but when I came out the other side - I felt really good to have worked through that.”

Opportunities for growth and development

Alongside the focus on allyship, healing and recovery and developing new skills, VSAC members have built on their strengths and leadership skills through structured learning and development opportunities.

This includes:

• support in delivering the functions of their VSAC role, including media training and an understanding of government
• briefings on priority areas of family violence reform to build expertise to provide informed advice
• facilitating access to career guidance, including coaching, mentoring and support with job applications and interview preparation
• leadership training for the Chair and Deputy Chair
• many government staff and VSAC members benefit from mentoring, particularly focusing on how their different perspectives inform a specific policy area. FSV has met one on one with members to discuss their personal goals for VSAC and beyond in support of their individual transition out of Council membership at the end of their tenure.

Creating the foundations for lived experience leadership

FSV is partnering with people with lived experience to trial and evaluate ways to increase lived experience leadership opportunities, influence and share decision making.

• There have been several trials to engage with a diverse range of victim survivors outside of VSAC, including partnering with family violence sector agencies to engage with people with contemporary experiences of family violence
• Over the course of the first and second Councils, a range of VSAC members have been offered placements and casual employment within FSV, contributing to the development of strategies and initiatives
• VSAC members are part of the family violence reform governance structure and represent the Council on various advisory and working groups alongside government staff, contributing a lived experience perspective to key reform initiatives
• In 2021, VSAC members were embedded in a range of projects, including the FSV strategic plan, work on perpetrator accountability and prevention, as well as prevention initiatives. VSAC members have worked across government, including with Victoria Police and Respect Victoria
• In 2021–22, there have been trials to build capacity and awareness of victim survivor needs among government and community sector employees through mentoring from victim survivors.

A trauma-aware approach

For many people in government and victim survivors, working together to design policy and services is new. For government workers, it can bring fear and uncertainty around managing risk and re-traumatisation. For people with lived experience, there is uncertainty around stepping into environments that can be rigid and hierarchical, managing trauma and being exposed to unfamiliar jargon, concepts and processes. Having opportunities to contribute in ways that go beyond recounting stories and experiences is important and healing.

FSV and VSAC had several co-design workshops to understand what is important to people with a lived experience of family violence. An important part of this process was recognising what it means to be trauma-aware in the context of government staff working with people with lived experience.

Key findings

• The importance of using plain language and clear communication
• The importance of trusting in the leadership, skills and abilities of people with lived experience
• The importance of being clear about the negotiable and non-negotiable elements of each engagement: including what participants can influence and what has already been decided
• The importance of taking time to provide people with lived experience with information on the context and history of a specific piece of work.
• the importance of taking time to ensure the engagement is conducted in a way where people with lived experience can provide meaningful feedback aligned with their strengths
• The importance of engaging with an intersectional lens to ensure policies and services are meeting the needs of everyone. This includes engaging with people from diverse communities and ensuring engagement is inclusive, accessible, and responsive
• Understanding that public servants inherently occupy positions of privilege and power. Engaging in critical reflection can help public servants to ensure their work with people with lived experience is genuine, respectful and meaningful.

Workforce guidance

Based on these insights, this strategy creates practical guidance for government staff that supports them to engage with people with lived experience of family violence in a purposeful way, which is strengths based and trauma-aware.

This research and practice wisdom from both government and people with lived experience was collated into a government workforce guidance resource which will be implemented as part of this strategy. The workforce guidance was co-designed with VSAC. It will enable increased reflection, capability and confidence for government staff seeking to embed lived experience into their work and support the cultural change required to move through the phases of this work. In particular, the guidance will provide a deeper understanding of how to work with people with lived experience, including being sensitive to victim survivors’ trauma, building on strengths and expertise and upholding victim survivor agency and choice.

The guidance includes:

• a tool to help government workers clarify the purpose and context of the engagement, ensure the engagement is trauma-informed and inclusive
• a self-reflection tool to assist government staff to challenge their assumptions and biases so they can understand how they might unconsciously contribute to power imbalances with the people they are engaging
• advice to acknowledge and manage power dynamics and communicate effectively
• a template to support government staff to ‘close the loop’ following an engagement, to clearly demonstrate where insights have been used.

Resources

^[9] Lamb K, Hegarty K, Amanda, Cina, Fiona, and the University of Melbourne WEAVERs lived experience group, Parker R. (2020) The Family Violence Experts by Experience Framework: Domestic Violence Victoria. Melbourne, Australia. https://safeandequal.org.au/resources/family-violence-experts-by-experience-framework/

Through 6 years of reform, Family Safety Victoria (FSV) has gathered a range of evidence and insights on engagement with lived experience over the first two phases of its work. This includes evidence from the Royal Commission into Family Violence, reports of the Family Violence Reform Implementation Monitor and internal evaluation. This evidence provides a range of opportunities to strengthen the impact of engaging with lived experience.

To move towards phase three, FSV will build on this evidence by working on 4 strategic priority areas. The strategic priorities will see government work together with people with lived experience to fulfill the vision of shaping a system that meets the needs of the people that use it.

The priorities and actions below can be adapted and replicated by government departments, agencies and community sector organisations who are seeking to evolve their partnership with people with lived experience of family violence.

Priority one

Investing in lived experience leadership

To transition to phase three, the priority is to expand the space for people with lived experience to increase opportunities for leadership and influence. Government also needs to apply the lessons from VSAC to engaging with other people with lived experience. This includes clarity on role and remuneration, as well as intentionally supporting professional development opportunities for people with lived experience.

To support this priority, FSV commits to:

• pilot and evaluate a shared decision-making model where people with lived experience and government staff co-design key organisational projects
• support people with lived experience mentor executives to create cultural change and bring a human face to policy and reform
• continuing to build opportunities for people with lived experience to co-produce new policies, services and strategies within teams in government
• support VSAC members to contribute to setting VSAC’s forward agenda, through an annual planning day to collectively develop priorities and present to senior executives
• support the leadership and skills of past members after the conclusion of their term, who choose to continue to contribute to the reforms, for example, through undertaking mentorship and casual engagement work.

VSAC will continue to play a critical role in the next phase of reforms. Its key role will continue to be providing collective advice to government decision makers on policy, law reform and service design priorities.

FSV commits to continuing to strengthen the VSAC model on an ongoing basis, including:

• ensuring a fair, transparent and consistent remuneration model
• providing further opportunities for documenting and learning from peer reflection
• processes for continuous improvement and ongoing evaluation against the principles outlined in this strategy, involving people with lived experience.

Priority two

Engaging with a broader range of experiences

The service system needs to better understand and respond to the complexity and spectrum of family violence experienced and perpetrated by people with a diverse range of social characteristics. Given the significant reforms over past years, government also needs to engage with people with contemporary experience of the service system to create a responsive system.

To move towards phase three, government needs additional streamlined mechanisms to engage with a broad and diverse range of experiences to realise the vision of shaping a system for people who will use it.

To support this priority, FSV commits to:

• trialling a register of people with lived experience, providing opportunities for people with lived experience expertise to inform and participate in the design, implementation and evaluation of the family violence reforms, including clients of The Orange Door
• engaging with a broader range of people, including people from Aboriginal and diverse communities by working closely with specialist community organisations, and leaders with lived experience within those communities
• co-designing engagement methods, with people with lived experience on how to reach more diverse voices
• engaging with individuals with lived experience via current VSAC members’ networks, where applicable
• seeking opportunities to partner and collaborate with other lived experience initiatives within the community sector and across government.

Priority three

Strengthening workforce capacity

Government staff have said they have limited expertise and confidence in engaging with people with lived experience and need clear guidance for the engagement process.

In transitioning to phase three, government needs to support staff to engage meaningfully and respectfully with people with lived experience of family violence. FSV has developed a workforce guidance pack that enables increased reflection, capability and confidence for government staff to embed lived experience and trauma-aware expertise into everyday work and support cultural change to deliver on the vision of the lived experience strategy.

To support this priority, FSV commits to:

• encouraging and supporting all government staff to utilise workforce guidance when designing and delivering engagement with people with lived experience, including engaging in critical reflection
• capacity building workshops for staff that are co-facilitated by lived experience representatives including sharing good practice examples, as well as the experiences of internal champions with expertise in this area
• one-on-one mentoring between people with lived experience and government staff to build engagement capacity for government staff.

Priority four

Stewarding best practice for evolving lived experience work across government and sector

There are many organisations operating a range of initiatives to engage with people with lived experience in the family and sexual violence sectors. There is a need for development of best practice guidance and better collaboration and coordination across these programs. This includes a focus on making workplaces more inclusive and accessible to a diverse range of people who have lived experience.

FSV staff, particularly those with lived experience of family and sexual violence, have commented on the value that their experience and perspective brings to their role in delivering the family violence reforms while at the same time, seeking to avoid feelings of stigma or shame in being a victim survivor in their professional roles. Government acknowledges that the decision to disclose one’s lived experience is a highly personal one and is committed to supporting all staff with a lived experience of family and sexual violence. FSV will lead by example in acknowledging the lived experience in its own workforce.

To move towards phase three of this strategy, government, people with lived experience and sector would benefit from sharing lessons and practice expertise.

To support this priority, government commits to:

• hosting a Lived Experience forum, with contributions from VSAC, other survivor advocates and sector representatives, to showcase how to best engage and share lessons across sectors
• create a virtual space for mutual learning and knowledge transfer for attendees of the forum, co-designed with people with lived experience (please see the Lived Experience Showcase)
• a community of practice led within the community sector to showcase work in engaging with lived experience and share lessons
• ensuring that the perspectives of people with lived experience are ethically and safely embedded within government’s family violence research program, including as participants, and contributing to the design and delivery of research
• supporting the development of sustainable community led initiatives that engage with people with lived experience.

FSV will lead by example as an employer by:

• communicating that all people with lived experience, including employees and stakeholders, should feel safe and respected whether they choose to disclose
• increasing the visibility of lived experience expertise across government through including people with lived experience in communications and events.

The way forward

The Victorian Government looks ahead to a future where our collective vision is realised by working together towards achieving the actions outlined in our strategic priorities. Government will invest in the leadership of people with a lived experience through the co-design of the implementation of this strategy and embedding shared decision making throughout the implementation process. Together we will transform a system to meet the needs of the people who use it.