Foundations of Domestic and Family Violence (DFV) Work Practices - (Online) - September 2026

Strong foundations build safer, more confident practice, supporting better outcomes for victim-survivors, families and communities. This course provides a shared foundation of knowledge, language and practice principles for workers engaging with domestic and family violence, supporting consistency, confidence and accountability across the sector, regardless of prior qualifications or experience. 

This three part training series provides an essential introduction to domestic and family violence (DFV) practice for workers entering the sector, or those seeking to strengthen their foundational knowledge. Designed to support informed and ethical responses, the workshop explores how DFV is experienced, understood and responded to across diverse contexts. 

By completing this course, participants will build understanding of: 

• Gender inequality and its relationship to domestic and family violence 

• Types and tactics of DFV, including technology facilitated abuse 

• The impacts of DFV on victim-survivors and children 

• Health and wellbeing impacts for victim-survivors 

• Trauma-informed practice principles 

• Intergenerational trauma and the ongoing impacts of colonisation 

• Intersectionality and culturally responsive, sensitive approaches to practice 

• Understanding victim-survivor experiences across diverse communities 

• An introduction to the Queensland DFV Common Risk and Safety Framework 

• An introduction to the Queensland DFV Information Sharing Guidelines. 

This course supports participants to think critically about DFV, reflect on their role as practitioners, and develop confidence in recognising and responding to violence with care, accountability and respect. 

What previous participants have said 

 “Thank you for putting on such an informative and interesting training session. I really enjoyed it and will be recommending it to others.” 

“As someone who has just started learning about gendered violence, this training has significantly shaped how I think about the nature of DFV, its cyclical patterns, and what this means for different and diverse communities.” 

Learning Outcomes:  

1. Recognise the social, economic, political, and historical contexts of DFV. 

2. Review work practices when recognising and responding to DFV safely. 

3. Identify work health and safety considerations when recognising and responding to DFV.  

These learning outcomes are based on the principles of trauma-informed practice, safety, respect, access and equity, human rights, intersectionality, social justice, empowerment, and accountability. 

Event Details:

Dates: 

Session 1: Tuesday, 15th September 2026
Session 2: Wednesday, 16th September 2026
Session 3: Thursday, 17th September 2026

Time: 9:30am - 12:00pm AEST - Queensland Time (All sessions)
Location: Online

Please note this is a three part series. Participants should attend all sessions.

Who should attend:

Early career, allied staff, practitioners and practitioners and leaders who have moved into DFV work from other sectors. 

Please note this event is only for workers in specialist domestic and family violence, sexual assault or women’s services funded by the Office for Women and Violence Prevention, Department of Families, Seniors, Disability Services and Child Safety. 

Presenters

Elizabeth Boardman (Liz) 

Liz Boardman has spent over 15 years working directly with women and children who have experienced gender-based violence in Southeast Queensland and in the United Kingdom. In 2019 she was excited to transition to QCDFVR to take on a new role supporting practitioners within the sector through facilitating Communities of Practice and upskilling generalist practitioners through training. 
 

Liz’s years working as a domestic violence advocate in Queensland equipped her with a thorough and practical knowledge of the challenges Queensland women, children, and families face. She looks forward to applying this knowledge and developing her research skills within the dedicated QCDFVR team. 

Mellisa Taggart  

CQUniversity Indigenous Student Wellbeing Project Officer, Mellisa Taggart is a proud Wonnarua woman from the Hunter Valley of NSW. Mellisa works in the Counselling & Wellbeing Team at CQUniversity and is passionate about the Social & Emotional Wellbeing of our Indigenous student cohort and working on initiatives to make our students learning journey successful. Mellisa is a facilitator of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health First Aid, Talking About Suicide and Deadly Thinking training courses and delivers these to students, staff and community members of CQUniversity.