03/18/2025

03/20/2025

2025 Coercive Control & Children - A Safe & Together Conference

A Global gathering for Change Makers

Embark on a transformative journey at the 2025 Coercive Control & Children Conference, hosted by the Safe & Together Institute. Gain valuable international and regional insights tailored to your local context, empowering you to create lasting change in your community. Connect with a global network of practitioners dedicated to turning commitment into action.

Location, Dates, and Attendance Options

Join us in person or virtually for this impactful three-day event, running from Tuesday, March 18th, to Thursday, March 20th.

In-Person

We are excited to once again welcome attendees to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Address: 1 Convention Centre Pl, South Wharf VIC 3006, Australia
Event Hours: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM daily
Doors Open: 8:00 AM local time for registration and breakfast

Tickets
In-Person | Masterclass Only -- $476.67
In-Person | 2-day Conference + Masterclass -- $1,117.67
In-Person | 2-day Conference Only --$896.89

Virtual Attendance

For those joining us online, the conference will be live-streamed via the InEvent virtual event platform. Stay engaged with all sessions and connect with fellow participants from the comfort of your home or office. Attendees will need to be registered and logged in to the platform before the conference begins

Tickets
Virtual | Masterclass Only -- $476.67
Virtual | 2-day Conference + Masterclass -- $1,117.67
Virtual | 2-day Conference -- $896.89
Early Bird tickets will be available until Jan 21 2025, 11:59pm EST on Stripe. prices include taxes & fees.

About the program

There are two ways to view the program. Scroll down the page for a day-by-day agenda OR click this link to download the current version of the program, with details about presenters and their workshops. *These are the confirmed sessions. The program may go through slight changes before the event. Please check back for the most recent version.

NEW IN 2025!
The Family Law Track at the Coercive Control and Children Conference.

The Safe & Together Institute is proud to present a first-of-its-kind Family Law Track, designed to revolutionize how family courts address domestic abuse and prioritize children's safety and wellbeing. This dedicated track brings together a powerhouse of expertise, including Independent Children’s Lawyers, family law practitioners, judicial officers, and domestic abuse experts, to explore transformative, practical approaches to coercive control cases.

What You’ll Gain

✔ Practical Tools: Learn how to identify and document coercive control patterns in custody, parenting time, and property disputes.

✔ Stronger Advocacy: Build confidence in presenting evidence of harmful parenting behaviors and advocating for protective parents.

✔ Effective Accountability: Discover strategies for holding perpetrators accountable while centering children's safety.

✔ Legislative Insights: Master applying recent legal reforms through a domestic abuse-informed lens.

Whether you're an ICL advocating for children, a family lawyer seeking better outcomes for clients, or a judicial officer making pivotal decisions, this track equips you with actionable strategies you can implement right away. This track also welcomes child protection workers, women’s sector advocates, and anyone eager to enhance their practice in family court-related matters.

FEATURED FAMILY LAW TRACK WORKSHOP:

Improving the Family Law System Response to Domestic and Family Violence

Speakers: Janet Carmichael, Anne-Marie Rice, & Hayley Foster

Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia

Additional Family Law Track Workshops

● Beyond 'High Conflict': A Domestic Abuse-Informed Framework for Independent Children's Lawyers

● Making it Count: Maximizing the Impact of Family Law Reforms on Children's Safety and Well-being

● From Paper to Practice: Real Accountability for Domestic Abuse Perpetrators in Family Court

Secure Your Spot Today—Limited Space Available!
Check the full program for a list of the current workshops for this track

2024 Conference Highlights

3 Reasons to Attend

1. Master the coercive control framework to safeguard children's best interests.
2. Revolutionize your approach to family assessment and intervention
3. Acquire practical skills to elevate outcomes for families in your community.

Need Assistance?

We're here to help! If you have any questions or need further information, please feel free to reach out to us. Our team is available to support you and ensure you have the best experience at the event.

Large Group Registration: mandyrousselle@safeandtogetherinstitute.com
Program & Agenda Questions: events@safeandtogetherinstitute.com
Technical Support: digitalevents@mcec.com.au

We look forward to assisting you and can’t wait to see you at the event!

Agenda

Mar 18

Master Class: Documenting Harm to Children from Coercive Control

As CEO and creator of the Safe & Together Model, David Mandel has spent more than two decades pioneering approaches to understanding how domestic violence and coercive control impact children and families. In this Masterclass, he will examine how professionals across child-serving systems can better document and demonstrate the harmful patterns of coercive control that often go unrecognized. Mandel will share strategies for capturing how perpetrator patterns affect children's wellbeing, focusing on practical tools for practitioners to identify and respond to these dynamics within their specific roles. Through this presentation, he aims to equip professionals across multiple sectors with concrete methods for making coercive control visible and actionable, ultimately supporting decisions and interventions that prioritize child safety.

Speaker: David Mandel

Start

9:00 AM

End

4:00 PM

Master Class: Intersections: When Domestic Violence Perpetration, Substance Abuse, and Mental Health Meet

Drawing from the “Myth of Trauma-Informed Practice” and other material from David Mandel’s recent book, this masterclass explores the complex intersections between domestic violence, substance abuse, and mental health issues in families. Participants will learn strategies for comprehensive assessment and intervention when multiple issues intersect.

Key topics include:

● Understanding how domestic violence perpetrators' coercive control tactics can cause, exacerbate or interfere with survivors' substance use and mental health

● Considering how perpetrators weaponise allegations of substance use and mental health against survivors

● Identifying how perpetrators may use survivors' substance use or mental health issues as part of their pattern of coercive control

● Developing integrated safety planning that addresses domestic violence, substance use and mental health concerns holistically

● Collaborating effectively across domestic violence, substance abuse and mental health service systems

● Engaging men who use violence as parents while addressing intersecting issues

Through lecture, case studies, small group exercises, and guided discussion, attendees will enhance their ability to provide trauma-informed, integrated care that addresses the unique dynamics of families facing multiple, intersecting challenges. Participants will leave with practical tools and strategies to improve outcomes for adult and child survivors.

Key topics include:

● Understanding how domestic violence perpetrators' coercive control tactics can cause, exacerbate or interfere with survivors' substance use and mental health

● Considering how perpetrators weaponise allegations of substance use and mental health against survivors

● Identifying how perpetrators may use survivors' substance use or mental health issues as part of their pattern of coercive control

● Developing integrated safety planning that addresses domestic violence, substance use and mental health concerns holistically

● Collaborating effectively across domestic violence, substance abuse and mental health service systems

● Engaging men who use violence as parents while addressing intersecting issues

Start

9:00 AM

End

4:00 PM

Master Class: Introduction to the Safe & Together Model

In this masterclass, participants will be introduced to the Principles, Critical Components, and other key aspects of the paradigm-shifting Safe & Together Model. Participants will learn how the Model’s concepts, skills and tools can transform individual practice, agency culture and systems, and cross-sector collaboration. Learn about partnering with survivors, keeping children safe and intervening with perpetrators as parents. Participants are guaranteed to leave the session with new practices they can implement immediately.

Speaker: Deb Nicholson

Start

9:00 AM

End

4:00 PM

Mar 19

Keynote: Nothing More Relevant: Post-Separation Coercive Control and Children

Join David Mandel, creator of the Safe & Together Model™, for a transformative keynote that challenges the dangerous myth that domestic abuse becomes "historic" and "irrelevant" after separation. Drawing on the Institute’s recent years of work with the family court sector in Australia and the UK, Mandel demonstrates why post-separation coercive control remains profoundly relevant to judicial decision-making around custody and parenting time.
This session will examine how allegations of parental alienation are often weaponized to dismiss legitimate safety concerns, while perpetrators continue patterns of abuse through court processes and their parenting role. Participants will learn how to expand assessment beyond immediate physical risk to document the full spectrum of harm to children from coercive control. Mandel will connect these themes to recent changes in Australian family law, offering practical strategies for operationalising these reforms.

Family law and other professionals will gain concrete tools for identifying, assessing and responding to post-separation coercive control in ways that prioritise child safety and well-being. This keynote provides crucial insights for implementing domestic violence-informed practice that holds perpetrators accountable as parents while supporting protective parents' efforts to keep children safe.

Start

9:30 AM

End

10:30 AM

Mar 20

Champion Awards Presentation

Honoring individuals excelling in the Safe & Together Model™, these awards celebrate outstanding achievements in two categories: Excellence in Systems Change, recognizing transformative leadership in domestic abuse-informed practices, and Excellence in Case Practice, highlighting exceptional application of the model in individual casework.

Start

3:45 PM

End

4:45 PM

All in person and virtual attendees get full access to all the conference recordings for 12 months.