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.

Description of image

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
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

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
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.

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.

Start
9:00 AM
End
4:00 PM
Master Class: Introduction to the Safe & Together Model
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

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
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.
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
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.

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

Speakers

Keynote/Plenary

Amanda Morgan

Trauma-Integrated Lawyering Advocate, Researcher and Survivor

Judge Kylie Beckhouse

Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia

Marlene Lauw

Principle Policy Officer, Ministry Of Health NSW

Prof. Cathy Humphreys

Honorary Professor of Social Work at the University of Melbourne

Dr. Margaret Kertesz

Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne

Deb Nicholson

Subject Matter Lead Safe & Together Institute

Cherie Toivonen

Director at CLT Byron Consulting

David Mandel

CEO, Safe & Together Institute

Masterclass

Jackie Wruck

Asia Pacific Regional Manager, Safe & Together Institute

Workshop

Cathy Oddie

Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Lived Experience Consultant

Hayley Tuttle

Director - Consultancy and Training Empowering Growth Pty Ltd

Jennifer Marshall

Training and Development Consultant, Uniting Vic.Tas

Karis Ryder

Team Manager Department of Communities - West Kimberley

Kyalie Moore

First Nations Lead, Stopping Family Violence

Kyra Fathom

Leanne Downes

Walking With Dads Principal Program Manager, Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Services

Lindsay Greatorex

Aboriginal Regional Coordinator, Department of Communities - Kimberley Region

Marcia Friend

Team Leader Casework, Illawarra Women’s Health Centre

Mary Alex

National Independent Children’s Lawyer (ICL) Program Manager, Senior Solicitor.

Metta Trousdell

Domestic and Family Violence Principal WWD Program Officer

Miranda Cousins

Senior Practitioner Family Violence Child Safety Team, Upper Murray Family Care

Peter Coburn

Training and Development Consultant, Uniting Vic Tas

Ruth Reymundo Mandel

Ruth Reymundo Mandel, Co-owner and Chief Business Development Officer, Safe & Together Institute

Toby Hemming

Chief Executive Officer Victoria Legal Aid representing National Legal Aid

Heather Douglas

Deputy Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (CEVAW), Melbourne Law School.

Hayley Foster

Director of Family Violence and Director of Access, Equity, and Inclusion, Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia

Jacinta Maloney

Domestic and Family Violence Senior Practitioner, Mission Australia

Rowena Moffatt

Manager, The Benevolent Society - Centre for Women's, Children's and Family Health

Michelle Thiele

Team Leader, The Benevolent Society - Centre for Women's, Children's and Family Health

Sophie Curson

Educator/Behaviour Change Facilitator/Social Worker TAFE Queensland

Tanya Brooks-Cooper

Practice Leader - Strong Families Safe Kids Tasmania Baptcare Tasmania

Hamish Mepham

Clinical Services Manager Home and Family Trust

Brooke Staff

Program Manager, Mission Australia Intensive Family Support

Jolene Ellat

CEO, DART Institute Inc.

Carmen Sampson

Principal Policy and Practice Officer - Office for Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence; Strategic Policy and Practice Team, Department of Communities

Laura Brooks

Mental Health Team Leader, Illawarra Women's Health Centre

Zara Robson

ISR Team Leader, Home and Family Charitable Trust - Christchurch

Rachael Biffen

Manager Strategic Policy and Practice, Office for Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence, Department of Communities

Anne-Marie Rice

Senior Judicial Registrar, Executive Director – National Registrar Operations and Practice, Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia

Janet Carmichael

Executive Director of the Court Children’s Service in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia

Kelly Daley

Practitioner Family Violence Child Safety Team, Upper Murray Family Care

Christina Melrose

Child Youth & Family Training & Coaching Leader Uniting Vic Tas

Amanda Exley

Group Manager – Child Youth & Family (Northern) and Settlement Services, Uniting Vic Tas

Download app