Intersections of Family Law and Family Violence

RMIT's Graduate Certificate in Domestic and Family Violence is delighted to invite you to this important in person panel discussion. This forum will explore the intersection of family law and family violence. Speakers at this free event include: 

MC:

Prof Anastasia Powell, a Professor in Criminology & Justice Studies at RMIT University. Anastasia teaches into the Graduate Certificate in Domestic and Family Violence and is specialised in policy and prevention concerning violence against women. Her research lies at the intersections of gendered violence, justice and digital culture.

Panel Speakers:

• Skye Gooch is a proud Aboriginal woman, born and raised on Wurundjeri Country. Her grandmother’s line is from Cunnamulla in QLD. Skye is a Social Worker who practices from an Indigenous Feminist framework and leads Djirra’s Specialist Family Violence Program as the manager of the Individual Support Service.
  
• Maria Pejoski-Aleksovski is the Manager of Legal Services at Djirra. Maria has been a part of the legal profession since 2011, with the last 12 years focusing on the areas family law and family violence.
  
• Dr Christine Craik is a Family Violence Accredited social worker and has been a social worker for over 30 years, working in a variety of roles from housing through to trauma debriefing.  Most of her work has been working in crisis situations and crisis debriefing, with women and children dealing with family violence and/or sexual abuse. Christine’s PhD was arguing for routine screening for FV in all emergency departments throughout Australia, for all women. Christine currently lectures in the Social Work undergraduate and postgraduate programs at RMIT University, where she has developed and teaches the ‘Working with Violence and Abuse’ course.  Christine is an expert witness for victim/survivors of family violence dealing with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, is a past National President of the Australian Association of Social Workers, and volunteers as a survivor/advocate for Safe Steps.
  
• Louise Sheehan is a Family Violence Specialist and graduate of the RMIT Grad Cert in Family & Domestic Violence. Currently undertaking her Masters in Public Policy at RMIT, Louise is also working as a Project Manager at Women’s Legal Service Victoria. In her current role, Louise is managing projects that aim to build family law capability of community lawyers, and the capacity of community legal centres to provide family law services.  Following two decades of project management success in the IT and tertiary education sectors, Louise is now focused on a career creating meaningful change for women and children impacted by family violence.
  

For more information about the Graduate Certicate in Domestic and Family Violence, visit the RMIT website.