Now is the Time to Strengthen Cross-Sector Responses to Substance Use Coercion.

With coercive control now a criminal offence in Queensland, the spotlight is on how systems respond. Many practitioners are recognising patterns where substance use is part of the abuse—used to threaten, sabotage recovery or silence disclosure.

This SPARK webinar invites practitioners from across the DFV, sexual-violence, women’s-health, mental-health and AOD sectors to unpack these intersections with leading researchers and on-the-ground experts. Together we’ll look at practical steps to build cross-sector understanding, strengthen referral pathways and create safer, more responsive services for those experiencing substance use coercion.

Learning Outcomes

Increased knowledge about the impact of Substance Use Coercion and how to work together to improve practice across sectors.

Event details

Date: Thursday, 4th December 2025
Time: 1:00pm - 2:30pm AEST
Location: Online

Who should attend

This event is targeted at all levels of the workforce.

About the presenters

Cathy Humphreys 

Cathy Humphreys is Honorary Professor of Social Work at University of Melbourne. She specialises in applied research. Seven projects in the past 8 years have worked with the Safe & Together Institute using practice-led, action research through facilitated multi-stakeholder workshops and Communities of Practice. This research highlights the impact on, and importance of attending to children in the context of domestic violence and addressing issues of complexity including the intersection of domestic violence with substance use. She worked at the University of Warwick for 12 years before returning to Australia in 2006. For 15 years she worked as a social worker. 

Margaret Kertesz

Margaret Kertesz is a social worker and researcher at the University of Melbourne, with nearly three decades of experience in the fields of domestic and family violence, child and family welfare and out-of-home care. Her aim is to build the evidence to support safety, accountability and child-focussed collaborative service responses, especially at the intersection of domestic violence and substance use.  Margaret’s research over the last decade has focussed on evaluation, practice development and cross-sectoral collaboration, . She has extensive experience in building knowledge translation into research and evaluation projects. 

Monique Yeoman  

Monique is a social worker with over 20 years’ experience in child and family services. As General Manager, Child Youth and Family Services at Kids First Australia, she leads programs spanning prevention to tertiary intervention. Her career began in Child Protection in New Zealand and Victoria before moving into community services, where she coordinated major state-funded initiatives, including the Caring Dads trial recognised at the 2021 Victorian Protecting Children’s Awards. A certified Caring Dads trainer, Monique fosters national practice networks and system integration projects such as KODY and Early Help. She received the 2022 Safe and Together Institute Champion Award for Systems Change.

Emma Shaw

Emma Shaw is a social worker based at Odyssey Victoria as the Clinical Manager Child, Youth & Families . Emma has a passion for social justice, advocacy, critical thinking and radical systemic change. She has worked within multiple service areas including alcohol and other drugs, mental health, homelessness and specialist family violence . Emma has held positions in numerous workforce areas including direct client work, leadership, program development, project management, workforce development, training and research. Emma believes that when we work collectively in solidarity, we can encourage incredible systemic change. She is a Safe & Together Trainer and works on Wurundjeri Country.

Van Calally

Van Callaly is an early career researcher at the University of Melbourne whose work focuses on the intersecting systems of DFV and substance use. Her PhD explores how cross-sector collaboration can be improved to better support families affected by both DFV and AOD, with a particular focus on systems change, policy, and workforce development. Van draws on experience as an AOD clinician in Victoria, where she supported to clients and their families with complex needs including substance dependence, family violence, and mental health concerns. Her current research seeks to generate practice-informed, evidence-based insights that improve support for families.