Anna Tudehope Booth

Objective: In light of limited teaching resources and the essential need for Indigenous‐focused learning material, this study sought to contribute to the development of culturally appropriate support for First Nations students training as family therapists. Drawing on the wisdom and experience of graduate students of an integrated family therapy training program that embeds Australian Aboriginal culture and Aboriginal wisdom within mainstream curriculum, we explore the transformative elements of course curriculum and teaching process. Method: As part of the course, First Nations students prepared reflective essays on their learnings related to culturally adapted systemic frameworks for working with Australian Indigenous families, including ethics of practice, and impacts for self. These essays ( n = 9) were subject to grounded theoretical analysis. Results: Findings highlight students’ perceptions of the transformative impact of the graduate program on their personal and professional development. This impact was reflected across three key domains: (i) personal and professional growth, (ii) takeaway learnings, (iii) application of learning in family therapy practice. Conclusion: When taught within a culturally safe process, our findings show the powerful, recursive alignment of Indigenous ways of knowing and Western systemic approaches to family therapy. This integration is not only perceived as professionally enriching by students but also appears to support their personal growth and in turn their capacity to work respectfully and effectively with First Nations families. By embedding these respectful, integrated pedagogies into tertiary clinical training, students and supervisors can contribute to building sustainable practice capacity within First Nations communities, ultimately strengthening family and community wellbeing.

Purpose: Parent separation involving litigation and concurrent family violence (FV) risks is costly on many fronts. Costs borne by society toward improved safety from FV are essential and associated public policy should be well targeted. This study examined legal, safety, health, and well-being costs incurred by litigating parents over the first year of involvement in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 1 and 2, collectively the Courts). We examined whether costs over this year differed for parents by FV risk status. Methods: The sample comprised 416 litigant parents. FV risk was assessed on entry to court, and one year later, together with expenditure throughout this period. Results: Expenditure for the year across safety, health, well-being and legal costs averaged AUD $41,041 (total sample $17.1 million). Expenditure on physical security measures (e.g., locks, alarms, changing phones) for those at continued FV risk was 931% more likely than for parents reporting continuous safety. Expenditure on counseling for the parent or their children was highly associated with becoming safer. Mothers bore highest costs for security and healthcare costs. Fathers incurred higher costs for legal and mediation services. Legal costs were not associated with risk status. Conclusion: Our findings inform an emerging typology of expenditure promoting of risk containment and safety enhancement for court involved families. Within this, early identification of FV risk, investment in counseling for parents and children and targeted support for mothers, who bear highest costs for security and health in the face of FV risks, are key.

The impact of acquired brain injury (ABI) on families is well documented, and there are long‐standing calls for a family focus in treatment. The purpose of this enquiry was to explore clinicians' perspectives on family‐inclusive practices in ABI care. We conducted a semi‐structured focus group with six clinicians working in ABI care within and across acute, rehabilitation and community settings in Melbourne, Australia. Focus group data were subject to qualitative content analysis using a deductive, predetermined coding system. We identified six themes that characterised clinicians' practice with individuals and their families post‐ABI. Themes summarise the complexity of providing care that acknowledges not only the individual's needs but also the familial and relational context that should inform recovery and rehabilitation post‐ABI. Clinicians reported on the importance of responding to the impact of ABI on the whole family, particularly the effects of trauma, and the benefits of maintaining hope and actively resourcing effective family programs and social support systems. Increasing the workforce capacity for family engagement, including training and other related activities, such as organisational and implementation support, would promote these aims.

Background/Objectives: The family constitutes a primary ecological system shaping infant emotional and mental health. Parent responsiveness in particular shapes early regulatory capacities in the developing child. Added contextual stress such as that associated with natural disasters may strain caregiving relationships. Brief, universally accessible parenting interventions offer scalable support for strengthening early relational health and may be useful in contexts of natural disaster-related stress as well as in the general population. This qualitative study examined the perceived impact and contextual relevance of MERTIL (My Early Relational Trust-Informed Learning) for Parents, a brief digital psychoeducational parenting program targeting early relational health, among families raising young children in disaster-affected communities. Methods: Fourteen parents residing in the Hunter New England and Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, with young children aged 0–5 years, participated in semi-structured interviews conducted approximately 6 months after completing MERTIL for Parents. Interviews explored lived experiences of parenting in the context of natural disaster (analysed via applied phenomenological methods) and parents’ perceptions of program components that supported everyday caregiving (analysed via reflexive thematic analysis and content analysis). Results: Parents described interconnected personal, relational, and environmental stressors that influenced aspects of the parent–infant relationship. Key retained knowledge from the program included a normalisation of parenting challenges, a strengthened understanding of attachment, trust, safety and repair, and attuned, emotion-focused parenting practices. Conclusions: This pilot study illuminates the lived experience of parenting in disaster prone regions and highlights the potential for this brief, universal digital parenting program to provide support for early relational health in such contexts.

Young-onset dementia significantly impacts the family members of the person living with young-onset dementia. This includes adolescent and young adult offspring, who are often still living at home, yet their support needs frequently go unmet. The ‘Joint Solutions Project’ sought to articulate a comprehensive system of care for young-onset dementia in Australia. It undertook research, policy analysis and engagement with people with living experience of young onset dementia to develop the system of care. The current study is part of this project and aimed to explore the needs of young people who are living with or caring for a parent with young-onset dementia in Australia. We interviewed young people with lived experience of parental young-onset dementia between 15-25 years of age ( n = 10) and subjected interview transcripts to a qualitative content analysis. We describe findings according to six domains: (i) Family Structure and Roles; (ii) The Emotional Experience of Living with or Caring for a Parent with Young-Onset Dementia; (iii) Sibling Experiences and Relationships; (iv) What Helped to Manage the Situation; (v) Gaps in Support; and (vi) Support in an Ideal World. We found that young people experiencing parental young-onset dementia require support to understand the illness, anticipate changes in their parent and their family life, and access relevant services. Young people need peer support opportunities as well as respite options to ‘step back’ from caregiving roles when living with a parent with young-onset dementia. Professional services that can both support the parent with dementia and build the capacity and knowledge of their family are critical. These services are most effective where they utilise family sensitive practice. Managing the emotional and practical demands of living with and caring for a parent with young-onset dementia can be an overwhelming task for young people, who require tailored individual and family-based support.

Background: Early relational health is critical for childhood development, and disruptions in infant-caregiver trust can heighten risk. MERTIL for Parents is a brief, universal, online program designed to build parental understanding of relational trust and its role in infant development. This pilot study is the first evaluation of the program. Objectives: To evaluate the acceptability and short-term outcomes of MERTIL for Parents. Methods: Seventy-three parents (n = 69 mothers) of children aged 0–5 years, referred by practitioners, completed the program and online questionnaires at baseline (N = 73), post-intervention (n = 50), and three-month follow-up (n = 25). Results: The program demonstrated high acceptability: 98% of parents who engaged with the program found the content useful, 92% felt the length was appropriate, and all would recommend it to others. Program completion and satisfaction did not vary by sociodemographic or psychosocial characteristics. At three-month follow-up, parents reported significant improvements in their enjoyment of the parent–child relationship (p < 0.001), attunement to their child (p < 0.001), parenting confidence/competence (p = 0.004 and p = 0.003), help-seeking amenability (p < 0.001), and a reduction in irritability toward the child (p < 0.001), with medium to large effect sizes. No significant changes were observed for items assessing reflective functioning or perceived rejection. Conclusions: MERTIL for Parents shows strong acceptability and promising preliminary outcomes as a scalable, attachment and trauma-informed intervention supporting early relational health. Future research should examine long-term impacts and evaluate broader implementation across diverse families and service contexts.

For women in prison, having safe and supportive relationships is the greatest predictor of staying safely out of custodial systems, post-release. We describe the development and delivery of ‘ Strengthening Connections ’: an in-prison family therapy service in Victoria, Australia that supported women to strengthen their relationships with family and allies to reduce recidivism risk. We piloted a stepped-care model comprising three levels of service delivery to support women’s relational health: 1) group-level sessions, 2) single-session family therapy, and 3) systemic family therapy approaches involving women along with their family or allies. We developed a trauma-informed, culturally safe approach to practice, and evidence-enriched resources for use in service delivery. During the three-year service pilot, we continuously improved on the service based on clinical consultations and process evaluation findings. This article describes the development, refinement and delivery of the service with reflections on potential for broader application.

The Family DOORS Triage Tool is a self-report measure of family violence victimization and perpetration risk, completed by parties on filing or responding to a parenting matter in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Divisions 1 and 2), collectively “the Courts.” The tool and associated risk rubric inform subsequent risk response processes within the Courts. We sought to test the tool’s utility and fitness-for-purpose within a new family violence response initiative by the Courts. Data from 4,175 adults, collected using the Family DOORS Triage Tool and Court intake records, were used to examine (a) self-reported family violence risk profiles and risk factor clustering; (b) the tool’s acceptability across key sub-groups (using time to completion as a measure of engagement); and (c) the tool’s fitness-for-purpose against the results of subsequent file review by designated court officers. Concern for one’s own safety was the most frequently reported risk. Allocation to a high-risk category was associated with gender (higher for women), applicant status (higher for respondents), culturally and linguistically diverse background status, more recent separation, recent communication with the other party, and having younger children. Survey completion was fastest for those who reported high risk or identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. Risk category was a strong predictor of subsequent referral to the high-risk case management pathway following assessment and file review. Parties who initially self-reported high risk but were reclassified to low/medium risk on file review were more likely to be men, to report low fear for their own safety, and to be in recent communication with their former partner. The Family DOORS Triage Tool coupled with the Court’s risk rubric demonstrates high utility and acceptability to vulnerable sub-populations. The tool may provide a means to detect and respond rapidly and accurately to clusters of risk early in engagement with family court systems.

Relationship separation constitutes a period of significant risk for families, with many parents and children experiencing an escalation in domestic and family violence (DFV) as they move through the separation process. While research demonstrating associated risks and adverse impacts is well documented, modifiable factors associated with increased safety for this vulnerable group have received less attention. This scoping review addresses this gap. Informed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR), articles were retrieved from the Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Embase, and SCOPUS databases. Results were limited to peer-reviewed articles reporting original empirical data, in English. No date restrictions were applied. In the resulting 17 eligible studies, we found inconsistent definition and measurement of safety underscored by a paucity of research focusing on safety as a primary outcome for separating families affected by DFV. Of the available evidence, socioecological factors associated with enhanced safety during this period included physical distance from the perpetrator, strategic use of technology to enhance safety, relational support, survivor-centered service support, and intentional processes to aide safety within the family law and court systems. At the individual level, parents’ active role in navigating safety for themselves and their children, particularly in the face of systemic and service barriers, appears key. Consideration is given to the interface of systems, socioecological and individual factors that may collectively promote safety from DFV during the family separation process.