The Readiness Program

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Primary care’s readiness to address family violence

What is The Readiness Program? 

The Readiness Program is a national training program for primary care providers to effectively recognise, respond, refer and record domestic and family violence using a trauma and violence informed approach. Led by Safer Families Centre, University of Melbourne, the program was developed in 2020 in a consortium with RACGP, Blue Knot Foundation and Phoenix Australia.

The program offers a flexible, multifaceted training program to engage general practitioners, primary care nurses, Aboriginal Health Workers and Practitioners, and other primary care workers and practice staff through online workshops, practice-centred training, e-learning modules and a series of webinars. Funded for the program ended in June 2024 however the Safer Families Centre still offer the following training opportunities:

VIRTUAL PRACTICE-CENTRED LEARNING (Pathways to Safety)
SUITE OF E-LEARNING MODULES
RACGP ON-DEMAND WEBINAR SERIES

Who funded this program?

The Readiness Program was funded by the Australian Government Department of Health under the Primary Health Care Quality and Coordination Program - Improving Health System Response to Family and Domestic Violence: National Training for Primary Care Workforce initiative until June 2024. The purpose of the grant was to build capacity of GPs and primary care workers to better support patients experiencing family and domestic violence. The Safer Families Centre still offers some modes of the training and is currently seeking funding to continue and expand the program.

Evaluation of the Program

The Safer Families Centre coordinated a mixed methods evaluation of The Readiness Program including surveys of primary care staff before and after training, and interviews with participants and facilitators. Overall, the evaluation showed The Readiness Program was successful in achieving its aim to build capacity and systems that improved the knowledge, skills and confidence of primary care to respond to DFV. Survey data across all training formats, and data from Pathways to Safety interview participants showed that: the Program reached a large and diverse range of workers in primary care in Australia; a whole-of-practice inclusion and partnering with the Family Violence sector were strengths; and training was well-received and met participants’ expectations.

Watch this video to hear about what those involved are saying about the impact of this training.

 
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